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Lamb Cutlets, Cold
When a loin or any other joint of lamb has been under-dressed, it is a good plan to divide it into cutlets of a neat shape and fully three-quarters of an inch in thickness, to dip these in beaten egg, strew over nicely-flavoured bread-crumbs, and fry or broil them until lightly browned on both sides. As there is a danger that the meat will be dry when it is dressed the second time, care should be taken not only to cook the cutlets over a good fire, but also to dip them into a little clarified butter before broiling them. Time, five or six minutes to cook. Probable cost, 1s. per pound. Sufficient, half a dozen cutlets for three persons.
This is a salvage recipe: it takes lamb that came off the fire too rare for the household's taste and gives it a second, crisper life. The whole point is speed at high heat, since the meat is already partly cooked and will dry out if you linger.
- "Under-dressed" means underdoneThe recipe assumes a roast loin or shoulder that came out rarer than intended and was set aside cold. If your lamb was cooked to your liking the first time, this treatment will overcook it.
- Cut thicker than you thinkThree-quarters of an inch is the minimum. Thinner cutlets lose their remaining juice in the pan and go grey and stringy in the time it takes the crumbs to colour.
- Heat, stated plainlyA "good fire" here means a heavy pan at medium-high with enough fat to sizzle on contact, or a broiler element preheated fully with the meat 3-4 inches beneath it. Five or six minutes total, turning once.
- Clarified butter, and whyButter with the milk solids removed can take the heat without burning, which ordinary butter cannot at broiling temperature. Dipping rather than brushing gives the crumb coat enough fat to crisp under dry heat instead of drying out.
- The crumbs"Nicely-flavoured bread-crumbs" is left undefined here; dry white crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper, and possibly a little chopped parsley, thyme or grated lemon zest, would suit. Panko is coarser than intended but works; press the crumbs on firmly and rest the coated cutlets ten minutes so they adhere.
- Handling cold cooked meatKeep the joint refrigerated until you cut it, and cook the cutlets through in this second frying rather than just browning the surface. Reheated meat should reach 165F at the centre.
- Cost and yieldOne shilling a pound is a nineteenth-century price and means nothing today. Six cutlets for three people is a fair modern estimate as well, served with a sharp sauce or a plain gravy to compensate for the dryness the recipe itself warns about.
Cassell's belongs to a generation of household dictionaries written for kitchens where nothing left the house uneaten, and it carries a number of entries like this one that begin with a fault to be corrected rather than a dish to be made. Egg-and-crumbing was a common Victorian treatment for cold and reheated meat: the coating adds fat and seasoning and turns an obviously second-day cut into something that looks deliberate on the plate. The same technique underlies breaded veal cutlets, croquettes and the rissoles of the period's repertoire. Note too that the recipe treats underdone lamb as a failure to be fixed rather than a preference.