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Lamb, Breast of, Rolled
Take the bones out of a breast of lamb, being careful not to cut the upper skin. Put them into a saucepan with an onion stuck with one clove, and a pint of stock or water. Let them simmer gently for gravy. Make a quarter of a pound of good veal forcemeat, spread this upon the under side of the breast, then roll it round and round, and skewer it firmly and neatly. Put three ounces of fresh butter into a saucepan, let it melt, then put in the breast of lamb, and brown it brightly and equally all over. When sufficiently coloured, strain the gravy from the bones upon it, add a little pepper and salt, cover the saucepan closely, and simmer gently until the meat is tender. A spoonful of browning may be added, if required. Spinach or green peas may be served with this dish. Time to stew, from one and a half to two hours, according to the size. Probable cost, 6d. to 8d. per pound. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A braise built on the cheapest cut on the lamb, and it still works. The hinge is the boning: keep the outer skin intact so the roll holds together and browns evenly.
- The cutBreast of lamb is the belly flap, fatty and full of connective tissue. Ask a butcher to bone it and leave the skin whole, or work a flexible knife along the ribs from the underside. Sizes vary a good deal; a breast is commonly a couple of pounds bone-in and less once boned.
- Veal forcemeatVictorian veal forcemeat was typically minced veal, or veal and suet, bound with breadcrumbs and egg and seasoned with lemon zest, parsley and mace. A quarter pound is about 115 g, a thin layer over the meat rather than a thick stuffing. Ground pork or a coarse sausagemeat with herbs substitutes cleanly if veal is hard to find.
- Rolling and skeweringSkewers may not hold a stuffed roll on their own through two hours of simmering. Roll from the narrow end and tie at 1-inch intervals with butcher's twine; remove the twine before carving.
- MeasuresA pint here is the imperial pint, 20 fl oz or about 570 ml. Three ounces of butter is 85 g, which is generous for browning: two will do, since the breast renders plenty of its own fat.
- The bone stockSimmering the rib bones with an onion and clove for the braising liquid is worth doing while the roll is prepared. Strain it, and skim the braise before serving because breast throws a great deal of fat.
- BrowningVictorian 'browning' was usually burnt-sugar caramel, made at home or bought ready-bottled, and used mainly for colour. A teaspoon of dark soy or a little gravy browning does the same job; deep browning of the roll in butter makes it largely unnecessary.
- TimingAn hour and a half to two hours at a bare simmer is right for this cut, which needs long moist heat to soften. The recipe is a stovetop stew, though a tightly covered pot in a low oven would serve the same purpose if stovetop control is awkward.
- ServingThree or four portions, as stated. Let the roll rest ten minutes before slicing into rounds; the forcemeat sets and the slices hold their shape. Spinach or peas cut the richness, and so does a spoonful of the reduced, skimmed gravy.
Breast of lamb was long the resort of thrifty households: the recipe gives its price as sixpence to eightpence a pound in the late nineteenth century. Boning, stuffing and rolling a flat, bony, fatty cut is a technique that runs through European cookery under many names, and the logic is always the same, that forcemeat turns a difficult piece into something that carves like a joint. The veal forcemeat itself is a marker of the period; veal was a common butcher's item in Victorian Britain in a way it no longer is, and forcemeat balls or a forcemeat layer recur elsewhere in this dictionary. The instruction to simmer the rib bones for gravy while the roll is being made is the same household economy in miniature: nothing from the cut is thrown away, and the braising liquid costs nothing but time.