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Lamb, Roast Shoulder of
INGREDIENTS.-Lamb; a little salt. AVER.
AGE COST, 1s. per lb.
Have ready a clear, brisk fire and put down the joint at a sufficient distance from it, that the fat may not burn. Keep constantly basting until done and serve with a little gravy made in the dripping-pan and send mint sauce to table with it. Peas, spinach, or cauliflowers are the usual vegetables served with lamb and also a fresh salad.
TIME. A shoulder of lamb rather more than 1 hour.
SEASONABLE from Easter to Michaelmas LAMB, SHOULDER OF.
This is a spit-roasting instruction rather than an oven one: the joint hangs or turns in front of an open fire, which is why the whole method is about distance from the coals and constant basting. Translating it to an oven is straightforward, but the timing needs rethinking.
- "A clear, brisk fire" in an ovenRoast at 425F for the first 20 minutes to colour the fat, then drop to 350F for the remainder. A single high heat throughout will scorch the outside of a shoulder before the meat near the blade bone is done.
- The timing is optimistic"rather more than 1 hour" likely assumes a smaller spring lamb shoulder than we buy now. A modern bone-in shoulder of 4-5 lb needs closer to 1 1/2 to 2 hours at these temperatures. Go by internal temperature: 145F for pink, 160F for well done at the thickest point away from bone.
- Shoulder rewards slow cookingShoulder is a harder-working, fattier, more sinewy joint than leg. If you are not committed to the period method, 300F for 3 to 4 hours until the meat pulls from the bone gives a far better result than fast roasting.
- Basting"Constantly" made sense in front of a fire where fat ran off quickly. In a closed oven, every 20 minutes with the pan juices is enough; opening the door more often than that costs you more heat than the basting gains.
- Gravy in the dripping-panPour off most of the fat, set the pan over a burner, deglaze with stock or the vegetable water, and reduce. The "little gravy made in the dripping-pan" appears to mean a thin unthickened jus rather than a flour gravy.
- Mint sauceThe standard version is chopped mint steeped in vinegar with a spoonful or two of sugar, made an hour ahead so the mint softens. It is meant to be sharp, not syrupy.
- "Seasonable from Easter to Michaelmas"Michaelmas is 29 September. The window reflects when lambs were actually available, not a rule about flavour; year-round supply makes it irrelevant now.
- YieldA 4 lb bone-in shoulder feeds about four to six with the vegetables suggested.
The shoulder was traditionally the cheaper end of a lamb carcass, awkward to carve around the blade bone and fattier than the leg, which is why Victorian household books give it the same treatment as the prime joints but list it separately. Beeton's "seasonable from Easter to Michaelmas" preserves the older rhythm of the English farming year: lambs born in late winter were killed young in spring and early summer, and the Easter association is long-standing enough that spring lamb with mint sauce became a fixed English holiday dish. Mint with lamb is generally traced to the medieval and early modern habit of pairing rich meats with sharp vinegar-based sauces, mint being one of the few herbs that grew vigorously in every kitchen garden. The instruction to keep the joint far enough from the fire that the fat does not burn is a reminder that this is pre-oven cookery in a book published well into the age of the kitchen range: Beeton's readers were making the same transition modern readers make when they read her.