No. 1661

Baron of Yearling Lamb a la de Rivas

Baron d'Agneau Tardif a la de Rivas

Cut a baron from the hind part of the lamb from the first rib to the loin bone (Fig 340). Roast it on the spit or in the oven, and when done trim and dress on a dish; glaze with meat glaze (No. 402) and garnish around with twelve stuffed tomatoes (No. 2842) and twelve stuffed mushrooms (No. 692) and outside of these set small bouchees filled with cream spinach (No. 2820), place on top a ball of potato croquette (No. 2782) one inch in diameter. An aromatic tomato sauce (No. 549) to be served apart.

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For the Modern Kitchen

This is a Delmonico's set piece: a large roast presented whole and ringed with four separate garnishes, each of which Ranhofer expects you to fetch from elsewhere in the book. The roast itself is simple; the assembly is the work.

What a baron isA baron is the whole hind end in one piece — the saddle (both loins) still joined to both hind legs. Ranhofer's cut runs from the first rib back through the loin bone. From a yearling animal this may be a roast of 15-20 lb or more; a butcher will want notice, and you will need to measure your oven before ordering.
"Agneau tardif"Late lamb, or what the title calls yearling: an animal past the milk-fed stage, roughly six to twelve months. Today it sits between what is sold as lamb and what is sold as hogget or mutton. The meat is darker, firmer and considerably more flavourful than spring lamb, and it wants the same treatment, not longer cooking.
Spit or ovenOn a spit before an open fire the roast self-bastes as it turns. In an oven, sear at 450F for 20-25 minutes, then drop to 325F and cook to an internal temperature of 130-135F at the thickest part of the leg for medium rare. A roast this size will take roughly two and a half to three and a half hours, but go by the thermometer, not the clock, and rest it a full 30 minutes.
Meat glazeRanhofer's No. 402 is glace de viande — brown stock reduced until it sets to a syrup and coats a spoon heavily. Commercial demi-glace or a reduced veal stock does the same job. Brush it on warm, after resting and just before it goes to the table; glazed too early it dulls.
BoucheesSmall puff-pastry cases, baked blind and hollowed. They must be filled with the creamed spinach at the very last moment or they collapse into paste. The one-inch potato croquette most likely sits on top of each bouchee as a lid, though the text does not make clear whether it goes there or on the roast; either way it should be fried separately and set on at the same moment.
Ordering the workNothing here reheats gracefully. Tomatoes and mushrooms can be stuffed in advance and finished in the oven while the roast rests; the bouchee shells bake the day before; croquettes fry last. The tomato sauce goes into a warmed sauceboat, served apart as directed, never poured over.
YieldTwelve of each garnish suggests the intended table: around twelve. A baron cannot sensibly be scaled down — for a smaller party, roast a single leg or a saddle and reduce the garnish count accordingly.
CarvingCarve at a side table, not in the dish. The loin is sliced across in strips parallel to the backbone, the legs sliced separately; the garnish ring stays intact and is served alongside.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the baron is exactly the sort of dish it exists to document — a joint too large for a domestic range, roasted whole and dressed for a room that expected to see the whole animal's hind quarters arrive on a platter. The baron is generally traced to English roasting practice, where a baron of beef (the double sirloin, uncut across the backbone) was a ceremonial roast; French kitchens applied the term to lamb and mutton for the same effect of scale. Ranhofer's book is full of dishes carrying the names of patrons, diplomats and public figures, and a la de Rivas may well commemorate one of them rather than describing anything about the cooking, though nothing certain is known of the name. The cross-referenced garnishes are characteristic of his method: the book is built as a system, and a single showpiece may draw on other numbered preparations scattered across a volume of some twelve hundred pages.