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Lamb, Fricandeau Of
Take a breast of lamb, and lard it in the usual way (see LARD, To), with three strips of fat bacon. Put it into a stewpan with two bunches of parsley, a small bunch of thyme and marjoram, a small bunch of green onions, six or eight peppercorns, a bay-leaf, one or two slices of fat bacon, and as much boiling water as will barely cover the meat. Simmer gently for half an hour; then take it out, and boil the gravy quickly until it is reduced to one half. Put the meat back again, skim the fat carefully from the liquid, and simmer gently once more until a glaze is seen on the top of the meat. Drain it upon a dish, and keep it hot until the sauce is reduced to a glaze. Brush the lamb over with two or three coats of this, and serve it upon dressed vegetables, such as sorrel, spinach, or green peas. Time, from three to four hours. Probable cost, 10d. per pound. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A braise of lamb breast finished with its own reduced cooking liquor. The technique is sound; the only real difficulty is that the stated times inside the method and the total time at the foot do not agree.
- The hinge: reduce, don't rushThe dish lives or dies on the final reduction. The liquor must be cooked down until it is syrupy and coats a spoon — a true glace — before it will brush onto the meat in coats. Stop short of that and you have thin gravy; take it too far over high heat and it scorches and turns bitter.
- The timings contradict each otherThe method only times one stage explicitly (half an hour), and the reduction stages are left untimed, so it reads much shorter than the three to four hours given at the foot. Trust the longer figure: breast of lamb is fatty, sinewy and full of connective tissue, and needs roughly 2 to 3 hours at a bare simmer before it is tender. The half-hour is best read as the first stage only.
- Breast of lambA 2 to 3 lb bone-in breast, or a boned and rolled one. It is still sold cheaply by butchers and often called riblets or lamb belly. Very fatty — chill the strained liquor and lift the fat off in a cap rather than trying to skim it all hot.
- LardingThreading strips of fat bacon through the meat with a larding needle. Breast of lamb is already rich enough that this is optional now; if you skip it, the recipe's own slices of fat bacon in the pan will supply some of the same richness.
- Green onionsSpring onions or scallions, tied in a bunch with the herbs so they can be lifted out whole. The parsley, thyme, marjoram and bay are a bouquet garni in all but name.
- StewpanA wide, heavy pan or Dutch oven with a lid, broad enough that the meat lies flat and the liquid barely covers it. Too much water means a longer reduction and a weaker glaze.
- ServingThree or four portions. The dressed vegetables — buttered sorrel, spinach or peas — are the plate, with the glazed meat set on top; the acidity of sorrel in particular cuts the fat of the breast.
- The price10d. per pound is Victorian money; breast was among the cheaper cuts, dressed up here with French method rather than presented as a luxury.
A fricandeau in French cookery properly means a thick cut of veal, usually from the leg, larded with bacon and braised until it can be cut with a spoon, then glazed with its own reduced liquor. English kitchens borrowed both the word and the treatment and applied them freely to other meats, which is how a breast of lamb — one of the cheapest cuts on the board — comes to be handled like a piece of veal. That transfer is the point of the entry. Cassell's readers were middle-class households running on a budget but wanting the vocabulary and appearance of a French table, and the glazing technique here does exactly that: it takes a fatty, awkward cut, cooks it slowly into tenderness, and gives it the lacquered surface that a restaurant dish would have. The bed of sorrel or spinach is likewise traditional with fricandeau, generally traced to the French practice of serving braised veal on a sharp green purée to balance the richness.