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Forequarter Of Lamb, A L'Hotel
Take a forequarter of lamb and cover with the caul; when the meat is done, it will be a light gold color, then put a quarter of a pound of Maitre d'hotel butter into a pan, and as it melts add about half a pint of cream, stir well until hot, but not near boiling, and the moment you serve pour it upon the dish, and dress the forequarter upon it.
The original assumes you know how to roast a forequarter and gives no temperature, time or seasoning — the writing is all about the finish. Two things need supplying: the roast itself, and the discipline of the sauce.
- What a forequarter isThe front section of the carcass — shoulder, neck, breast and foreribs — usually 8 to 12 lb on a young lamb. Few butchers cut one now; order ahead, or substitute a bone-in shoulder of 4 to 5 lb and reduce the roasting time accordingly.
- Caul fatThe lacy membrane from around a pig's or lamb's stomach, used here as a self-basting wrapper that melts away and leaves a burnished surface. Butchers still sell it, frozen or salted; soak salted caul in warm water and pat dry before draping it over the joint.
- Oven heatNone is given. As modern guidance, start at 425F for 20 minutes to set the caul and colour the surface, then drop to 350F for the remainder. The recipe uses "a light gold color" as its doneness cue, but that colour is largely the caul browning, so check internal temperature as well: about 145F at the thickest part for a rosy shoulder, or take it well past that to 190F if you want it to pull apart.
- Maître d'hôtel butterMaitre d'hotel butter -- Butter creamed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper; some versions add little else, others a shallot or a grating of nutmeg. A quarter pound is one US stick, 113 g; that is a generous amount, and it is effectively the entire seasoning of the sauce, so make it assertive.
- Half a pint of creamAbout one US cup, 240 ml; if the source is British, an imperial half-pint is 10 fl oz, 284 ml. Heavy cream is the safer choice, as lighter creams are more likely to split as the butter goes in.
- The hinge: keep it below a simmer"Hot, but not near boiling" is the whole technique. This is a butter emulsion loosened with cream, not a reduction — bring it above roughly 180F and the butter will break out in an oily layer. Warm it gently, stir constantly, and take it off the heat while it still looks glossy.
- Timing the twoMake the sauce while the roast rests, and pool it on a warmed platter at the last second. On a cold dish it will set and dull within a minute.
- YieldA true forequarter serves 8 to 10; a shoulder substitute, 5 or 6.
A l'hotel here appears to be shorthand for a la maitre d'hotel -- in the manner of the house steward -- a French dressing current in the nineteenth century that in practice usually meant butter worked with parsley and lemon. It travelled into English and American cookbooks as one of the French terms a middle-class kitchen was expected to recognise, and by 1900 maitre d'hotel butter turns up in many general household manuals as a standby for grilled steak, fish and boiled vegetables as much as for roasts. The caul wrapping belongs to an older habit of thrift: when an animal was bought or butchered whole, the membrane, like the fat and the offal, was expected to earn its place. A forequarter roasted whole likewise suggests a household feeding a large table at a sitting, and a kitchen equipped to handle it.