No. 1648

Saddle of Mutton Roasted on the Spit

Selle de Mouton Rotie a la Broche

The saddle is the whole loin and first rib; cut off the two legs below the tail in a round-shape, directing the knife toward the flanks (Fig. 340). Carefully remove the fat both on the top and the under toward the loin end, and part of the kidney fat. Roll the flanks of the meat over on themselves, make incisions in the fat on the top of the saddle, more or less deep according to its thickness, and keep the saddle in position with four or five rounds of string. Place the saddle on the spit, hold it in place with skewers run through the flanks of the meat and the holes in the spit; thrust a fork into the meat of the sirloin near the bone, and place on the top a long skewer, tying it firmly at the two ends. Cover the meat with several sheets of buttered paper, tie them on, and one hour and a quarter before serving roast the saddle before a good, clear and well regulated fire. Fifteen minutes before serving, unwrap, glaze over and let it acquire a fine color; dress it on a very hot long dish, pour over some clear gravy (No. 404), and serve at the same time a sauce-boatful of clear gravy (No. 404), and half-glaze sauce (No. 413), half of each.

← No. 1647 Saddle of Mutton, Printaniere Mutton No. 1649 Saddle of Mutton with Glazed Roots-Braised →

For the Modern Kitchen

A spit-roasted saddle is a large, expensive cut cooked by radiant heat, and the whole method turns on managing that heat rather than on any complicated seasoning. Everything below is about translating open-fire roasting into equipment you actually have.

What the cut isThe saddle is the unsplit double loin — both loins with the backbone between them, plus the first rib. Order it by name from a butcher and ask for it chined but left whole; a supermarket will not have one sitting in the case. Depending on the animal, a trimmed saddle may run somewhere in the region of 8 to 12 lb and serve eight or more.
Mutton means muttonMutton of this period is a sheep over a year old, with darker, stronger meat and firmer fat. What is sold as lamb today is generally slaughtered at well under a year and will cook faster and taste much milder. If you can get genuine mutton or hogget, the recipe is written for it; with young lamb, check for doneness well before the stated time.
Buttered paperUse parchment brushed with butter, several layers, tied on with cotton twine. It is a heat shield, not a wrapper — it keeps the exposed fat from scorching in front of the fire during the long part of the cooking, and comes off for the final browning.
The hinge: heat management"A good, clear and well regulated fire" means a bed of settled coals with no flame licking the meat, radiating steadily from one side. On a rotisserie, aim for steady indirect high heat, with a drip pan beneath to catch the fat for basting.
Timing and donenessAn hour and a quarter suits a moderate saddle taken no further than rare to medium-rare. Rather than the clock, use a thermometer in the thickest part of the loin, clear of bone: 125–130F for rare, 135F for medium-rare, then a 20-minute rest. Pushed well past 145F the loin tends to dry out.
If you have no spitAn oven roast is the practical substitute: papered, on a rack, at 425F, turned once, then unwrapped for the last 15 minutes to colour. You lose the dry radiant crust the fire gives, so raise the heat to 475F for that final quarter hour rather than lengthening the roast.
The saucesNo. 404 is the book's clear gravy, and No. 413 its half-glaze, i.e. demi-glace: brown sauce reduced with more stock until it coats. A good reduced lamb or beef stock and a demi-glace from the same, served half and half in one boat, does the job.
CarvingA saddle is carved along the loin, in long slices parallel to the backbone, not across in chops. Serve it on a warmed platter as directed — the fat sets quickly and a cold dish ruins the texture.

A Little History

The saddle was the grand roast of the nineteenth-century English and Franco-American table, and Ranhofer, running Delmonico's kitchen in New York, gives it three consecutive numbers here because it was the sort of centrepiece a private dining room ordered by name. Mutton was then the everyday sheep meat of both countries; lamb was a spring luxury, and the strong, fatty flavour of an older animal was something cooks worked with rather than against — hence the careful removal of the top and kidney fat, and the scoring of what remains so it renders instead of blistering. That the recipe still assumes a turning spit before an open fire in a book published in 1894 says a good deal about professional kitchens of the period, though Ranhofer himself does not explain why the spit was kept.