No. 1625

Leg of Mutton a la Chipolata

Gigot de Mouton a la Chipolata

Select an eight pound leg of mutton, saw the handle off two inches below the joint, bone the loin end and pare well the fat; trim and round the end around the loin. Line a braziere (Fig. 134) with a layer of carrots and minced onions, adding the bones and parings from the meat, also a garnished bouquet; lay in the meat and moisten with beef stock (No. 194a) then cover the braziere and reduce till the liquid falls to a glaze; remoisten to three-quarters its height with more broth, let come to a boil, skim and set it in the oven to cook for three to three hours and a half, being careful to baste it constantly during this time. Remove the leg, strain the stock and return both it and the leg to the braziere with some square pieces of breast of pork fried in butter, mushroom heads, small onions fried in butter, roasted chestnuts and fried sausages (No. 754) having their skin suppressed; let the whole simmer slowly for one hour, skim off the fat, dress the leg ranging the garnishings tastefully around; pour the sauce over and serve.

← No. 1624 Leg of Mutton a la Bourgeoise Mutton No. 1626 Leg of Mutton a la Reglain →

For the Modern Kitchen

A classic French braise translated for a Delmonico's kitchen, written for cooks who already knew what a chipolata garnish was. Two things need spelling out: the vessel and the fact that this is a braise, not a roast.

The braziereA braziere is a heavy, close-fitting braising pan with a lid — an oval Dutch oven or a covered roasting pan does the job. The leg sits on the vegetable bed and the pan is covered for the first reduction; in the oven the recipe calls for constant basting, so the lid comes off or is lifted regularly.
Oven heatNo temperature is given; the book was written for a coal range. A moderate oven, somewhere in the region of 300–325F, suits a three-hour braise: too hot and the liquid boils away before the meat gives way.
The hinge: reduce to a glaze firstThe first moistening is cooked down until the liquid is a sticky glaze on the bottom of the pan. That caramelized layer is the whole flavour of the finished sauce — remoistening too early leaves you with pale mutton broth.
Mutton versus lambAn eight-pound leg of true mutton (an adult sheep, usually reckoned at over a year and often over two) is a special-order item now. A 6–8 lb leg of lamb will substitute but is far more tender: check it at two hours rather than three, and shorten the final simmer accordingly.
Trimming termsThe "handle" is the shank bone, sawn off two inches below the joint. "Bone the loin end" means removing the hip bone from the sirloin end; the recipe has the bones and parings go into the pan to enrich the stock.
Garnished bouquetA bouquet garni — parsley stems, thyme, bay tied with leek greens or in string.
Breast of porkPork belly, cut into squares. If you use salt pork, blanch it first or the sauce turns aggressively salty after reduction.
The sausages and chestnutsRecipe No. 754 is the book's own sausage recipe, cross-referenced here; small pork sausages such as chipolatas or breakfast links stand in, and "skin suppressed" means the casing is removed after frying. Vacuum-packed peeled chestnuts save a good deal of work over roasting and peeling fresh ones.
YieldAn eight-pound leg with this quantity of garnish serves ten to twelve. The sauce is unthickened by design — degrease it thoroughly and let the reduction carry the body.

A Little History

The name is generally traced in French cookery to the Italian cipollata, an onion dish, and by the nineteenth century à la chipolata had settled into a fixed garnish: glazed button onions, chestnuts, lardons of pork, mushrooms and the small sausages that English speakers still call chipolatas. Charles Ranhofer, who ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894, gives the garnish here in its full form, cross-referencing his own stock and sausage recipes the way a working kitchen manual does. The dish also shows how much mutton mattered to a late-Victorian menu: an older, stronger-flavoured animal was the respectable choice for braising, and the long moist cooking with a sweet, fatty garnish may well have helped make its heavier flavour agreeable at a formal table.