by Julia Child
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: When both lamb and stuffing are chilled, the meat may be stuffed a day in advance; wrap and refrigerate.
3) Browning the lamb
2 to 3 Tb rendered pork or goose fat, or cooking oil; more if needed
A heavy, flameproof casserole just large enough to hold lamb comfortably
The chopped lamb bones
A large, sliced onion
A large, sliced carrot
For sauce consistency: A 6-inch square of blanched pork rind, Volume I, page 401, and/or 1 cup chopped veal knuckle bones
Preheat oven to 325 degrees in time for Step 4. Heat fat or oil in casserole to very hot but not smoking, add bones (including optional knuckle bones at end of list) and sliced vegetables; sauté over moderately high heat for 5 to 6 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon to a side dish. Film pan with more fat or oil if necessary, set lamb in it, seam-side down, and brown for several minutes, lifting occasionally with spoon to prevent lamb from sticking. Turn and brown on another side, and continue turning and browning until lamb is nicely colored on all sides and the two ends. Strew the browned bones and vegetables around the meat, and add the optional pork rind.
4) Braising the lamb—2½ hours at 325 degrees
Salt
1 cup dry white wine or dry white French vermouth
2 or more cups brown stock or bouillon
The following tied in washed cheesecloth: 6 parsley sprigs, 1 bay leaf, ½ tsp thyme, 2 cloves garlic
A piece of waxed paper or foil
Casserole cover
Salt the lamb, add the wine and enough stock or bouillon to come ⅔ the way up the lamb. Bury herb packet in the liquid, and bring casserole to simmer on top of stove. Lay paper or foil over meat, cover casserole, and set in middle level of oven; regulate oven heat so that lamb simmers quietly for 2½ hours. Turn several times during cooking, and baste with liquid in the casserole. Lamb is done when a fork will pierce it fairly easily.
5) Sauce and serving
A hot serving platter
A sieve set over a saucepan
1 Tb cornstarch blended to a paste with 2 Tb wine or stock in a small bowl
A warm sauce bowl
Parsley, watercress, or whatever vegetable garnish you wish
Remove lamb to hot platter. Do not untie yet; cover with waxed paper or foil and set in turned-off oven with door ajar while finishing sauce as follows: Strain braising liquid into saucepan, pressing juices out of ingredients. Skim surface fat off liquid, bring to simmer, skimming off additional fat, and taste carefully for seasoning and strength. Boil down rapidly, if necessary; you should have about 2½ cups. Remove from heat, and beat in starch mixture; return over heat and simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove string and trussings from lamb, pour a spoonful of sauce over the meat to glaze it, and pour rest of sauce into warm bowl. Decorate platter with greenery or vegetables, and serve.
To carve, cut down in bias (diagonal) slices across the grain, first from one side of the short end, then from the other, and spoon a little sauce around the edge of each serving. (If the stuffing does not hold in place, carver should arrange meat attractively around it on plate, for each slice.)
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES: If you are not to serve the lamb at once, replace it in the casserole, pour the sauce around, cover loosely, and set in a 120-degree warming oven, or over barely simmering water, where it will keep nicely for at least 30 minutes.
Other stuffings
Other stuffing possibilities are listed, and 6 stuffings specifically for lamb are in Volume I, pages 336–8.
BREAST OF LAMB
Poitrine d’ Agneau
Breast of lamb (the bottom of the rib cage, similar to that of veal) is the most reasonably priced of any cut of meat, and is delicious when boned, stuffed, and braised. However, it must be very carefully peeled, and all the fat from the plate must be cut out, as well as other extraneous fat. If you do find a well-trimmed breast, follow the general system outlined for stuffed breast of veal, using either that stuffing or any of the preceding suggestions for shoulder of lamb.
SADDLE OF LAMB
Selle d’ Agneau
A saddle of lamb is one of the most luxurious and attractive roasts you could pick to serve at a small, elegant dinner party for 4 to 6 people. When you have prepared it for the oven, which is not difficult as you will see from the illustrated directions, you will find it far easier to roast and to carve than a leg of lamb, and absolutely delicious to eat.
HOW TO ORDER A SADDLE OF LAMB
The saddle of lamb is the loin. On a beef carcass it would be the whole porterhouse and T-bone steak section on both sides, and on lamb it is the whole loin-chop area. It is, in fact, a giant butterfly loin chop 8 to 10 inches thick, consisting of the 2 meaty loin strips that run along either side of the backbone on top, and the 2 smaller tenderloin strips that run its length underneath. What would constitute the tail of the chop is the flank, or flap of meat attached to each side.
Because names of meat cuts vary from one part of the country to another, your butcher may understand the term “saddle” to mean the whole loin-hip-leg section of lamb, and he may only know what you mean when you ask him for the double kidney loin. Show him this picture if you have trouble communicating, or point the saddle out to him on yourself. It is equivalent to the small of your back on both sides of the backbone, and includes the front part of you; in other words, it is the whole area from the top of your hip bone to where your ribs begin. Tell him to leave it whole; he is not to saw it in two at the backbone. The choicest saddle will come from a carcass of spring lamb that weighs not more than 45 pounds; the saddle will weigh around 6½ pounds untrimmed, 3½ pounds ready to roast.
FRENCH TERMINOLOGY
You may also have communication problems in France, because the saddle can be called selle d’agneau, selle anglaise, or les deux filets réunis. Again, point it out on yourself if there is any confusion. Their saddle of lamb will be a little smaller than an American one, while a selle de mouton from their excellent mutton will be a little larger and should be well aged, bien rassie.
HOW TO PREPARE A SADDLE OF LAMB FOR ROASTING
This is the way the topside of the saddle will look before the flanks have been trimmed off. Ask that the fell (skin) be removed, which will leave a covering of fat over the top of the meat. Have the thirteenth rib removed also, if attached.
Remove all excess fat from the underside; this may include the kidneys. The strips of tenderloin meat run parallel to the backbone on either side, and parallel to their outside edge is a partially hidden strip of fat.
Cut and pull fat out, being careful not to pierce the flanks and make holes in outside covering of meat. Cut off all but about 3 inches of flank, leaving enough on each side for flanks to cover the underside of the backbone.
Shave off all but ⅛-inch layer of covering fat on the topside, and make a criss cross of bias cuts ½ inch apart in the surface, going just down to the flesh. These will help the meat to cook evenly, and make attractive decorations on the crisp, roasted surface later on.
Sprinkle underside with salt, pepper, and a big pinch of thyme or rosemary, fold flanks against backbone to cover tenderloin strips, and tie circumference of saddle in 3 or more places with white string. If you are not to cook the saddle now, wrap and refrigerate it.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Saddle may be prepared to this point a day before roasting.
SELLE D’AGNEAU RÔTIE
[Roast Saddle of Lamb]
A plain roast saddle of lamb is so good in itself that you need go into no elaborations, although one or two are suggested at the end of this recipe. A classic accompaniment is that crusty, buttery mound of sliced potatoes, pommes Anna, or one of the two variations following it, and either braised lettuce or braised endives. Another suggestion would be eggplant, such as the gratin provençal with its tomatoes and cheese; you would then need only an excellent loaf of homemade French bread. A fine, red Bordeaux-Mé
doc would be your best choice of wine.
For 4 to 6 people
1) Preparations for roasting
A saddle of lamb trimmed, seasoned, and tied according to the preceding directions (4 to 5 lbs. trimmed weight)
A heavy, shallow baking dish just large enough to hold the saddle comfortably
4 Tb melted butter in a pan and a basting brush
½ cup each, sliced carrots and onions
2 large cloves garlic, unpeeled
Optional but recommended: a meat thermometer
Preheat oven to 475 degrees for Step 2. Set saddle right side up in the roasting pan and paint exposed ends of meat with melted butter, reserving rest for later. If you are using a meat thermometer, insert it at a long, slanting angle into the thickest part of one of the loin strips. Be sure point of thermometer reaches middle of meat and does not touch bone. Prepare the vegetables and garlic, and reserve in a bowl for Step 2.
2) Roasting—about 45 minutes—oven preheated to 450 degrees
ROASTING START. Set lamb in upper-middle level of preheated oven for 15 minutes.
15-MINUTE MARK. Turn thermostat down to 425 degrees. Working quickly, baste 2 ends of saddle with melted butter, and strew the vegetables and garlic around the meat. Baste vegetables with fat in baking dish, or with butter.
22-MINUTE MARK. Rapidly baste meat and vegetables again, with fat in dish.
30-MINUTE MARK. Baste again rapidly. If vegetables are blackening, turn thermostat down to 400 degrees.
37-MINUTE MARK. Baste again. If you are using a meat thermometer, it should be at 125 to 130 degrees for rare meat. Meat should feel springy rather than squashy and raw, and the first juices should be exuding from the meat into the pan. Roast a few minutes longer if necessary; if you wish your meat medium rare and pink rather than red, roast to 140 degrees. (Note that if meat was chilled when it went into the oven, it may take a few minutes longer to roast. A heavier saddle will take 50 to 55 minutes in all. Baste every 4 to 5 minutes when roasting longer.)
WHEN DONE. Turn off oven and set lamb on a platter near outside end of open oven door; a rest of 10 to 15 minutes before carving will permit juices to retreat back into meat tissues. Discard trussing strings after the rest period. Meanwhile, make the sauce, next step.
3) The sauce
⅓ cup dry white wine or dry white French vermouth
1 cup beef stock or bouillon
Optional: 1 medium tomato, chopped (not peeled)
Salt and pepper
A sieve
A small saucepan
Spoon all but a tablespoon of fat out of roasting dish, pour in wine and stock, and add optional tomato. Set over high heat and boil, scraping up coagulated roasting juices with a wooden spoon; mash cooking vegetables into liquid as it boils. Reduce liquid by about half, correct seasoning, strain into saucepan, and keep warm. You will have only enough sauce to moisten each serving of meat.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: If you can control the heat, you may leave the finished lamb in a warming oven of no more than 120 degrees for at least half an hour. With your sauce all made, you can then serve immediately.
4) Carving and serving
CARVING AT THE TABLE. If you wish to carve at the table you may follow the system of many maîtres d’hôtel, which is to make long, thin slices on each side, parallel to the backbone. (The first slice, which shaves off the fat, is not served.) Then turn the saddle upside down, cut off the flanks, and reserve for second helpings; cut out the tenderloin strips, and slice into crosswise pieces.
CARVING IN THE KITCHEN AND REASSEMBLING. This works out nicely, and the carved pieces are replaced on the saddle bone. Although you may cut the long thin slices described in the preceding paragraph, we suggest cutting across the grain for better eating texture. Provide yourself with a long, very sharp knife, a fork, and a carving board; heat oven to 475 degrees for a brief warm-up after the reassembly, and carve rapidly, as follows:
Turn saddle upside down and slice off the flanks. Cutting down parallel against the backbone and then following its outward curve, slice out first one whole tenderloin strip, then the other.
Turn the saddle right side up, shave off outside fat on each side if you wish, then cut down parallel against backbone and follow its outward curve to slice off the whole loin strip on each side. Slanting knife at a 45-degree angle parallel to board, rapidly slice each strip into cross-grain pieces ¾ inch thick; season lightly with salt and pepper but keep slices in order, so that you may replace them again on the bone. Slice and season tenderloin strips.
Arrange the flanks lengthwise on a hot ovenproof serving platter and settle the saddle bone on top.
Pile the tenderloin pieces at each end of the saddle, and rearrange the loin slices back in place on each side of the backbone.
Pour the carving juices over the meat; set platter for 2 minutes in oven to give a sizzling impression. Pour a spoonful or two of sauce over the meat, rapidly decorate platter with parsley, watercress, or a vegetable garnish, and serve immediately.
VARIATIONS
Selle d’Agneau, Persillade
[Saddle of Lamb Garnished with Parsley and Buttered Bread Crumbs]
A garnish of bread crumbs sautéed in butter with shallots and seasonings, tossed with parsley, and spread over the finished saddle of lamb is fragrant, attractive, and especially called for when you are carving in the kitchen and serving the reassembled lamb on the saddle bone. Make the persillade at any convenient time as long as it is ready to serve with the roast, as follows:
4 Tb clarified butter (melted butter, skimmed; clear liquid butter poured off milky residue)
A medium (10-inch) frying pan
3 Tb finely minced shallots or scallions
1 cup (lightly pressed down) moderately fine, fresh crumbs from non-sweetened homemade-type white bread
Salt and pepper
3 to 4 Tb minced fresh parsley
Melt butter to bubbling in pan, add shallots and stir for 1 minute, then add bread crumbs and stir over moderately high heat for several minutes until a nice, golden brown. Remove from heat, stir in salt and pepper to taste, and set aside. When the meat is on its platter, mix the parsley into the crumbs and spread the persillade over the lamb; reheat for a moment in hot oven, and serve.
Selle d’Agneau, Milanaise
[Saddle of Lamb Garnished with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs]
Another attractive finish to a roast saddle of lamb is to spread on a coating of cheese and bread crumbs, then set it into the oven for a moment to brown. Make the mixture as follows:
4 Tb melted butter
½ cup fairly fine, stale bread crumbs
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
A small bowl
Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 475 degrees in time for serving. Blend the butter, crumbs, and cheese together in the bowl; season to taste with pepper and set aside. When saddle is roasted, has rested, and is ready to serve, spread on the crumbs and cheese. Set in upper third of pre-heated oven for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly; serve immediately.
VEAL
Veau
Not too many years ago veal was appreciated only by Europeans or sophisticated and traveled Americans. Now the delights of the scallop quickly sautéed in butter and served in a cream and tarragon sauce, or the roast stuffed with mushrooms, or a blanquette—that deceptively simple and marvelous stew—are quite common dishes on the American table wherever good veal is to be found. Happily for us all, much better veal is now being raised in this country, due to improved feeding methods and to the growing demand for top-quality meat. If your market has not yet begun to carry the large, pale, fine veal that is now available, you can perhaps urge them to feature it in the hope that a demand will be created in your shopping area.
Some 25 pages are devoted to veal, its quality, and its cuts, in Volume I, starting on page 350. Recipes include casserole roasts with herbs and aromatic vegetables, the sumptuous veau Orloff, veal stuffed with ham a
nd cheese, two fine stews, a detailed section on how to fix your own scallops, another on chops, and some useful suggestions for ground-veal patties, an excellent solution for the quite reasonably priced little pieces of neck meat you sometimes find packaged at the meat counter. Here we have three groups of recipes for braising veal: shoulder chops, stews, and illustrated directions on how to bone and stuff a breast of veal in the French manner. We end with two dishes from the haute cuisine, veau en feuilletons and noisettes de veau, Perigourdine, both requiring the ultimate in fine wines, truffles, foie gras, and well-filled porte-feuilles.
BRAISED VEAL CHOPS AND STEAKS
Côtes de Veau Braisées