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Broiled Lamb Chops
Trim the required quantity of chops that have been cut from a loin of lamb, put them on a heated gridiron and broil them over the fire. When they are nicely browned on both sides, put a mound of mashed potatoes on a hot dish, lean the chops against it, and serve.
A restaurant instruction rather than a domestic one: Oscar assumes a coal grill, chops of a known thickness, and a cook who knows doneness by touch. The gaps are all worth filling.
- Loin chops, and how thickChops cut from the loin are the small T-bone-shaped ones, not shoulder or rib. Ask for them cut a full inch to an inch and a quarter thick; the thin half-inch chops sold prepacked overcook before they take colour.
- "Trim" means the tail and most of the fatOn a loin chop, wrap the thin flank tail around the eye of meat and secure it with a toothpick or short skewer so it does not char and curl. Leave about a quarter inch of fat cap for flavour and trim the rest, since dripping lamb fat is what causes flare-ups.
- A heated gridironThe gridiron was set over live coals and thoroughly preheated before the meat went on. On a modern grill, that is direct high heat, roughly 450-500F at the grate; under a broiler, put the rack so the chops sit 3 to 4 inches from the element and preheat it a full ten minutes.
- The hinge: a dry, seasoned surfacePat the chops completely dry and salt them before they go on. Wet meat steams instead of browning, and the browning is the whole point of the method - there is no sauce here to hide behind.
- TimingFor inch-thick loin chops over high heat, 3 to 4 minutes a side gives medium-rare to medium, an internal temperature of 130-140F. Lamb loin is lean and turns grey and dry past about 145F.
- Rest before platingGive the chops 5 minutes on a warm plate before leaning them against the potatoes, or the juices run out into the mash. Oscar's hot dish matters: cold plates undo a fast broil immediately.
- YieldLoin chops of this size run 3 to 4 ounces of meat each. Count three per person as a main course, two if the mashed potato mound is generous and something green follows.
The gridiron he names was standard equipment through the nineteenth century, a hinged or flat iron grate set over coals, and broiling in this period usually meant radiant heat from below rather than the overhead gas and electric broilers that became common in the twentieth. The bareness of the instruction - the quantity is "the required quantity" - suits a kitchen cooking to order. The presentation, a mound of mashed potato with the chops propped against it, fits a period when American restaurant cookery was consciously following French service, and loin chops suit this treatment because they cook fast enough for a la carte ordering.