No. 1638

Loin with Puree of Carrots

Longe a la Puree de Carottes

Suppress part of the fat without uncovering the meat from a loin of mutton; beat and flatten the flap, bone the loin without separating the tenderloin from the fillet, then season with salt, mignonette and nutmeg; roll it up in the shape of a muff and tie it well, lay the meat in a saucepan with some grated fat pork and let fry to a fine golden color; drain off the fat and moisten with a pint of stock (No. 194a) and a gill of brandy, adding a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme and bay leaf; cover over with a strong sheet of buttered paper, set it on the fire and when it comes to a boil push it into a moderate oven until thoroughly cooked, then untie, glaze and dress on a puree of carrots (No. 709).

← No. 1637 Loin of Mutton Roasted, on the Spit or in th Mutton No. 1639 Neck of Mutton Jugged and Marinated, Thicken →

For the Modern Kitchen

A braised boned-and-rolled mutton loin, given in Ranhofer's telegraphic professional shorthand. A few of its terms and cross-references need unpacking before it will run in a home kitchen.

The hinge: braise, don't roastDespite the oven, this is a braise in a shallow pool of liquid, not a roast. The recipe's cover is a strong sheet of buttered paper laid over the pan, which slows the drying of a rolled joint's edges; keep the oven no hotter than moderate, or the pint of stock reduces away before the meat is tender.
Moderate ovenRoughly 325-350F; Ranhofer gives no figure. His thoroughly cooked for a rolled loin means fork-tender rather than pink: reckon on 2 to 2 1/2 hours for a 3-4 lb boned loin, turning it once.
MignonetteCoarsely cracked black and white peppercorns, not a dressing. Crush the corns under a pan bottom rather than grinding them fine.
A gillHalf a cup, so 1 pint stock to 4 fl oz brandy.
Grated fat porkFresh unsmoked pork back fat or fatback, shredded on a coarse grater so it renders quickly and evenly for the initial browning. Unsmoked salt pork, blanched first to draw the salt, is the usual substitute; bacon changes the flavor entirely.
Mutton itselfMutton is sheep over two years old and is now a special-order item from a halal butcher or a direct-sale farm. A lamb loin will work but is milder and cooks faster; check it an hour in, since lamb goes from tender to stringy sooner than mutton does.
Rolling it upIn the shape of a muff means a fat, even cylinder: flatten the flap with a mallet, keep the tenderloin lying against the fillet, roll from the loin edge and tie at 1-inch intervals. Loose tying is the usual cause of a joint that carves into pieces.
GlazeAfter untying, strain the braising liquid, skim the fat and reduce it to a syrup that coats a spoon, then brush the joint. Ranhofer's kitchen kept a standing pot of meat glaze for this; the reduced braising liquid does the same work.
The cross-referencesNo. 194a is a stock, and any good unsalted beef or veal stock stands in. No. 709 is a puree of carrots.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is a French professional's book written in English for cooks who already knew the trade -- hence the numbered cross-references standing in for whole recipes and the assumption that a reader knows what a mignonette or a glaze is. Mutton had a far larger place on nineteenth-century American tables than lamb; sheep were kept for wool and eaten at the end of a working life, and the strong flavor of older meat suited exactly this treatment of long moist cooking with brandy, thyme and bay. Pairing it with a sweet root puree is standard French practice of the period: the sieved-vegetable purees that Careme and his successors codified were the accepted foil to rich braised meat. The muff shape, tied and glazed, belongs to the era of service a la francaise, when a joint was carried whole to the dining room and carved in view.