No. 1637

Loin of Mutton Roasted, on the Spit or in the Oven

Longe de Mouton Rotie a la Broche ou au Four

Have a three pound loin of mutton; bone it entirely without detaching the minion fillet; remove the skin covering the fat and roll the flank over on itself as far as the minion fillet, then tie it firmly with five rounds of string, making a knot in each round, giving the loin the shape of a long square. Set it to roast either on the spit or in the oven; if for the former it will take from thirty to forty minutes, and a few more if for the latter. When the loin is cooked and of a fine color, untie, dress, and glaze it, strain the gravy, free it of its fat, and serve a part of it under the meat and the remainder separately.

← No. 1636 Leg of Mutton with Rice Mutton No. 1638 Loin with Puree of Carrots →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a butcher's competence and a kitchen with a spit, but the dish is simply a boned, rolled loin roast. Two things carry it: the roll must be tied tightly enough to hold a square section, and the meat must come out pink.

The minion filletThis is the tenderloin strip lying under the loin bones — what a modern butcher calls the fillet or, on lamb, the eye of the tenderloin. Bone the loin carefully so it stays attached; it is the best meat in the cut and it cooks in place inside the roll.
Ask the butcherA bone-in loin of about 3 lb yields roughly 2 to 2 1/2 lb boned. Order a loin with the flank (the thin belly flap) left on, since that is what wraps around the roll. Without the flap you have nothing to roll with.
TyingFive rounds with a knot in each, evenly spaced along the roll, keeps the flank from unwinding and gives the even square section that makes for tidy slices. Butcher's twine only; do not substitute anything synthetic.
Oven temperatureThe original gives none because it assumes a spit before an open fire, which is fierce and direct. In an oven, 425°F for the first 15 minutes to colour the fat, then 350°F to finish, is the closest equivalent.
Timing and donenessThirty to forty minutes on the spit is right for a roll this size, and Ranhofer's "a few more" in the oven is sound. Judge by an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part rather than the clock: 130–135°F for medium-rare, pulled and rested ten minutes before untying and carving.
"Glaze it"In this book glaze means brushing the surface with glace de viande — meat stock reduced to a syrup — for shine and colour, not a sugar coating. A few spoonfuls of heavily reduced brown stock, or the pan gravy boiled down hard, does the same job.
The gravyStrain the pan drippings, let them settle a minute, and spoon off the fat. There will not be much; a splash of stock or water swirled in the hot pan stretches it. Some under the meat, the rest in a sauceboat, as written.
YieldA 3 lb loin, boned and rolled, serves four generously as a main course. Ranhofer sends it to table in a course among many, so at a Delmonico's dinner it would have stretched further.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York for more than thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is his attempt to set the whole repertoire down in order — some 3,500 numbered entries, French titles first, English after. The mutton section reflects a period when mutton, the meat of a mature sheep, was ordinary American and European eating rather than the rarity it has since become; lamb had not yet displaced it on restaurant menus. The instruction to roast "on the spit or in the oven" catches a kitchen mid-transition: the closed range was standard by the 1890s, but the spit before a fire was still held to give a better roast, and Ranhofer notes the oven needs a few minutes longer without quite conceding the point. Boning, rolling and tying a loin into a long square is straightforward butchery in the service of the carving-room — a uniform roll cuts into uniform slices, which matters when a dining room is plating for a hundred.