From The Menu · 2022 · Reconstructed
The Mess
Serve when
Bring it out as the heart of the meal — a roasted filet of beef, potato confit, and a marrow-rich jus over pressure-cooked vegetables. The one course on the menu that eats like an actual, generous dinner.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 00:39:10 Chef Slowik introduces sous-chef Jeremy and his course: 'Jeremy created the next dish. It's called The Mess.' A composed plate of pressure-cooked vegetables, roasted filet, potato confit, beef jus, and bone marrow — served as Jeremy's own breaking point plays out at the pass.
For all the film's contempt for fine dining, "The Mess" is the one tasting-menu course that eats like real food — roasted beef, potatoes cooked in fat, a jus enriched with marrow. That's the cruel joke of the scene: it's genuinely, generously delicious, and it's plated while sous-chef Jeremy comes apart at the pass, having "forsaken everything" for a kitchen that will never make him great. Slowik's little speech is that even when the food is perfect and the critics are happy, there's no avoiding the mess you make of your own life to get there. Cook this one for real, and cook it well — it's the plate the whole movie is secretly homesick for.
Ingredients
- For the potato confit:
- For the pressure-cooked vegetables:
- For the marrow jus:
Method
- Potato confit: nestle the potatoes with the garlic, thyme, and bay in a small pan, cover completely with duck fat or oil, and cook gently at 300°F for about 1 hour until knife-tender. Leave them in the fat until serving, then crisp the cut faces in a hot pan.
- Pressure-cook the vegetables in a little stock and butter for 8-10 minutes until meltingly soft but still holding shape (or braise, covered, 40 minutes). Season well.
- Roast the marrow bones cut-side up at 425°F for 15-20 minutes, until the marrow is soft and glossy. Scoop half into the jus; keep half on the bone to serve.
- Jus: reduce the red wine by half, add the beef stock and demi-glace, and simmer to a napping consistency. Whisk in the scooped marrow and, off the heat, a knob of cold butter for shine. Season.
- Roast the filet: sear the tied tenderloin hard on all sides, then finish in a 400°F oven to your temperature (about 125°F internal for medium-rare). Rest 10 minutes, then slice thick.
- Plate over the pressure-cooked vegetables: a few slices of filet, the crisped potato confit, a marrow bone alongside, and the marrow jus spooned generously over. Finish with flaky salt.
Substitutions
- Marrow bones: if you can't get them split, whole canoe-cut bones roast just as well; a spoon of demi-glace alone still gives you a deep, glossy jus if marrow is out of reach.
- Pressure cooker: a low, slow covered braise gets the vegetables to the same silky place — just give it the better part of an hour.
Beyond the recipe
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