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LAMB, FORE-QUARTER OF, TO ROAST (another way)
Prepare the joint as in the last recipe. Skewer three or four slices of bacon securely to the outer side, brush three ounces of clarified butter over the inner part, and strew upon it a thick covering of finely-grated bread-crumbs, seasoned with pepper and salt, and a little finely-minced parsley. Cover the whole with a large sheet of buttered paper, and lay the lamb down to a clear even fire. When nearly done, remove the paper and bacon, baste the meat with yolk of egg mixed with the gravy, throw some more bread-crumbs over it, and let it remain until nicely-browned. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over it before serving, and send mint sauce to table with it. Time, from two hours to two hours and a half. Probable cost, 11d. per pound. Sufficient for eight or nine persons.
A crumbed and glazed fore-quarter, written for a joint turned before an open fire. It adapts cleanly to an oven provided you treat the crumb coat as a two-stage operation rather than one.
- What a fore-quarter isThe shoulder, foreleg and rib set from one side, usually 8-10 lb bone-in, and no longer a standard supermarket cut. Order it from a butcher, or substitute a bone-in shoulder of 5-6 lb and reduce the time accordingly.
- The missing first step"Prepare the joint as in the last recipe" refers back to the preparation given in the preceding entry, which for a fore-quarter would normally mean wiping and trimming the joint and skewering it into a compact shape so it cooks evenly. A butcher will do this in a minute if you ask for it tied.
- Fire to ovenA "clear even fire" means a steady, bright, smokeless heat for spit-roasting; the recipe gives no oven setting. As a modern working substitute, a moderate oven of around 325-350F with the joint on a rack over a tray, so the drippings collect for basting, will suit the stated timing.
- Buttered paperParchment, buttered and laid loosely over the top, is the direct equivalent. Foil works but traps steam and softens the crumb, so vent it or use parchment.
- The hinge: crumb in two stagesThe first crumb layer is there to be protected by the paper and the bacon, and it will look pallid when they come off. The second dusting, over the egg-and-gravy baste, is what actually browns, so keep half the crumbs back and expect the last 15-20 minutes uncovered.
- Crumbs and egg washUse fresh crumbs grated from stale crustless bread, not dry packaged crumbs, which scorch before they colour evenly. The yolk beaten with a spoonful or two of pan gravy is a glaze; brush it on thinly or it sets in streaks.
- TimingTwo to two and a half hours suits the full fore-quarter. Judge by a thermometer in the thickest part away from bone: about 145F for pink, higher if you prefer the shoulder well done, then rest 20 minutes before carving.
- Cost and yield"11d. per pound" is pre-decimal British currency and tells you only that lamb was a middling expense. Eight or nine servings is realistic for the whole joint.
- Mint sauceSent to table separately, as here: chopped mint, sugar and vinegar, made an hour ahead so the mint softens. The lemon squeezed over at the last moment is doing a similar job and both together can be sharp, so go lightly on one.
Cassell's belongs to the era when the fore-quarter was still bought whole, and the entry sits alongside a plainer roasting method as an alternative "dressed" treatment for the same joint. The bacon skewered to the outside and the sheet of buttered paper are both answers to the same problem: an open fire cooks the surface far faster than the interior, so the cook armoured the meat and unwrapped it only for the final browning. Crumbing and glazing a roast with egg yolk gave an awkwardly shaped cut a more finished appearance. Mint sauce with lamb is by then already fixed as a British convention, and it is generally traced to the long-standing pairing of sharp herb-and-vinegar sauces with rich young meat rather than to any single source.