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Lamb Chops, Fried, with Parmesan
Take some lamb chops from the loin or neck, as in the last recipe. Mix the bread-crumbs with a little grated Parmesan cheese, and dip the chops first into clarified butter and the bread-crumbs, and afterwards into beaten egg and again in the bread-crumbs. Fry the chops as before until they are lightly browned on both sides, dish them in a circle, and send tomato sauce to table in a tureen. Time, ten to fifteen minutes. Probable cost, 1s. per pound. Sufficient, half a dozen chops for two or three persons.
A straightforward crumbed cutlet, but the coating order is unusual and the stated time belongs to a thicker, older cut. Two things need attention: the double breading and the doneness.
- The double coatingButter and crumbs first, then egg and crumbs again, gives a thicker, crisper shell than a single egg-and-crumb pass. Chill the coated chops 20-30 minutes before frying so the layers set and do not slide off in the pan.
- "As in the last recipe"The back-reference points to the preceding fried-chop entry, which is not reproduced here; the usual trimming of surplus fat and evening-out of thickness is a reasonable assumption rather than something this page states.
- Loin or neckLoin chops are tender and suit frying. Victorian "neck" spans the best end, which corresponds to today's rib cutlet and fries well, through the middle neck and scrag, which are tougher and better braised; if you use neck, take the chops cut nearest the loin.
- TimingTen to fifteen minutes suits a thicker chop than most sold now. A modern loin chop about 3/4 inch thick needs roughly 3-4 minutes a side over medium heat, to about 130-135F for pink. Push it to fifteen minutes and you get grey meat under a burnt crust.
- Clarified butterWhole butter will scorch before the crumbs colour. Clarify it, or use half butter and half a neutral oil, and keep the pan at medium rather than high so the cheese in the crust browns without bittering.
- Cheese proportionThe recipe says "a little." Something like 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan to 1 cup dry breadcrumbs is a reasonable reading; much more and the crust is apt to catch and turn acrid.
- Dishing in a circleThe chops are ranged around the rim of a hot dish, with the sauce sent separately in a tureen rather than poured over. What, if anything, filled the centre of the ring is not stated.
- Yield and costSix chops for two or three people, as stated. The "1s. per pound" is a period price note and no guide to anything today.
Cassell's places this among a run of variations on the fried lamb chop, each differing only in the coating or the sauce sent to table, which is exactly how large Victorian dictionaries of cookery were built: one method, then a family of small departures from it, so a cook could vary a week of dinners without learning anything new. The crumbed and fried cutlet came into English kitchens through French practice, where a cotelette panee dipped in egg and breadcrumbs was standard, and grated Parmesan in the crumbs is a habit that turns up elsewhere in cookery of the same period, in macaroni dishes, potato balls and fried whitings, Parmesan being a hard cheese that kept and travelled well and grated fine enough to bind into a crust. The sauce is sent apart in a tureen rather than poured over the chops.