No. 1643

Rack of Mutton with Small Roots

Carre de Mouton aux Petites Racines

Have two racks of six ribs each and five inches wide; beginning at the fillet, bone the loin on the spine end, and saw through the spinal bone, pare the racks and lard it with medium lardons (No. 3, Fig. 52), then place the two racks in a sautoir containing slices of fat pork, carrots, onions, cloves, a garnished bunch of parsley (No. 123), moisten with a pint of water, reduce entirely and remoisten to three-quarters of its heighth with beef stock (No. 194a); let cook for one hour, basting frequently in such a way that they become both cooked and glazed at the same time. Dress the racks on a garnishing of small roots cut in balls, or else on a garnishing of cream chiccory puree (No. 729).

← No. 1642 Quarter of Mutton with Gastronome Potatoes Mutton No. 1644 Saddle of Mutton, Duchess Style →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a braise disguised as a roast: the racks cook covered in a small amount of liquid that is reduced twice, so the meat finishes cooked through and coated in its own glaze. Ranhofer assumes mutton — mature sheep over two years old — which tolerates an hour of moist heat that would ruin a rack of spring lamb.

Mutton versus lambTrue mutton is sold mainly by halal butchers and a few specialty farms; most supermarket "lamb" is under a year old. If you substitute lamb rack, the hour of braising will take it well past medium and the recipe loses its point. Older, stronger meat is what the long glazing treatment is for.
The hinge: two moisteningsThe pint of water is reduced to nothing so the sugars in the vegetables and meat catch on the pan bottom; only then does the stock go in, to three-quarters the height of the racks. Skipping the first reduction gives you boiled mutton in gray liquid instead of a glaze.
SautoirA straight-sided shallow pan, wide enough to hold both racks flat — a large braiser or heavy roasting pan works. Ranhofer gives no oven and no temperature; hold the braise at a bare simmer. Frequent basting, as the recipe directs, is what builds the glaze.
LardingMedium lardons drawn through the meat with a larding needle. Modern racks have little intermuscular fat and the pork strips keep the eye of the loin from drying; if you have no needle, the slices of fat pork under the meat plus frequent basting will do most of the work.
Garnished bunch of parsleyRanhofer's No. 123 is a bouquet garni — parsley stems, thyme, bay tied together, sometimes wrapped in a leek leaf or celery. Pull it out before serving.
Small roots cut in ballsCarrots and turnips scooped with a melon baller or turned with a paring knife, then glazed separately in butter and a little stock until tender and shiny. They are cooked apart from the braise, not in it, so they keep their shape and color.
Cream chicory puréeThe alternate bed is a purée of chicory greens (curly endive), braised soft and finished with cream; Ranhofer's own version is No. 729. Chicory here means the salad green, not the roasted root used as a coffee extender.
Pint and yieldA pint here is 16 fl oz. Two racks of six ribs give twelve ribs in all, enough for roughly six to eight portions as one course of a longer menu.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, and the mutton chapter is a good measure of how far American taste has moved: Ranhofer gives dozens of mutton preparations — saddles, quarters, racks, braised shoulders — because mutton was the ordinary meat of mature sheep in a country that still kept large flocks for wool. As lamb came to market younger over the following decades, the flavor of full-grown sheep fell out of American favor, and the word "mutton" acquired the unappetizing associations it still carries here. The dish itself is classic French service in an American dining room: carré aux petites racines means small turned roots, and the cross-references to numbered preparations (the bouquet garni, the beef stock, the chicory purée) show how Ranhofer's book was built as a working brigade manual rather than a household cookbook, each recipe assuming a pantry of standard components already made.