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Lamb, Larded
Lard the surface of a leg of lamb with thin slices of fat bacon (see LARD, To), cover it with buttered paper, and put it down to an even fire. Half an hour before it is done enough, take off the paper and sprinkle over the joint finely-grated bread-crumbs, seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and pounded mace, and let it remain until it is brightly browned. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over it before serving, and send mint sauce to table. Time to roast, twenty minutes for each pound, and twenty minutes over. Sufficient for four or five persons. Probable cost, 1s. per pound.
A spit-roasting recipe written for an open fire, translatable to an oven with two changes: the timing and the way the crumb crust is applied.
- The hinge: internal temperature, not minutesTwenty minutes per pound plus twenty gives well-done, greyish meat by current taste. Roast to an instant-read reading of 130-135F at the thickest part for pink lamb, 145F for medium, and rest 15 minutes before carving.
- "Down to an even fire"The joint was hung or spitted before a steady, well-established fire with no flare-ups. In an oven, 350F throughout, or start at 425F for 20 minutes and drop to 350F for colour.
- LardingFat bacon added to lean meat compensates for the drying effect of open-fire roasting; note that this recipe directs the surface to be larded with thin slices rather than the joint threaded through with a needle. A modern leg is fattier and bastes itself; if you skip the larding, lay a few rashers over the top instead, or make deep incisions and push in slivers of garlic and rosemary with a little fat.
- Buttered paperGreased kitchen paper was the period's foil. Loosely tented foil, removed for the last half hour as directed, does the same job.
- The crumb crustFine dry crumbs will only stick to a wet surface. Brush the joint with pan drippings or mustard before sprinkling, then leave it uncovered until it browns. Watch it -- crumbs go from golden to bitter in a few minutes.
- Pounded maceMace is the outer covering of the nutmeg seed, sold ground or as blades. A pinch of ground mace, or a scant quarter teaspoon, is enough for a leg; it is warmer and less sweet than nutmeg.
- Yield and costFour to five persons implies a small leg of about 3 lb, or half a larger one. The shilling per pound is a Victorian butcher's price and has no modern equivalent worth calculating.
- Mint sauceSent separately "to table" rather than poured over. The standard version is chopped mint steeped in vinegar with a little sugar, made an hour ahead so the mint softens.
Larding, the insertion of fat into lean meat, and the finishing crumb were both associated with French practice and were thoroughly domesticated in nineteenth-century English kitchens. Larding mattered to cooks working before the closed range was universal, since meat turning on a spit lost moisture to the open air, and larding needles were standard batterie de cuisine. Mint with lamb is often traced to the habit of pairing rich meats with sharp, herbal accompaniments, and by the time this book appeared the pairing was familiar enough that the entry could simply say "send mint sauce to table" without giving the formula.