No. 1665

Breast of Lamb with Veloute Tomato Sauce-Stuffed

Poitrine d'Agneau Farcie a la Sauce Tomate Veloutee

Split open one or several yearling lamb breasts on the rib sides, by slipping the blade of a knife between the bone and the meat so as to make a pocket, season the inside and fill the empty space with forcemeat (No. 65), seasoned highly and to which add a handful of soaked and pressed out bread-crumbs, also some raw onions chopped and parboiled, cooked minced mushrooms and chopped parsley, each of them chopped up separately, and also stir in two whole eggs. Sew up the opening in the breast, cook it in beef stock (No. 194a) and when done properly, which will take about two hours and a half, drain and untie, then serve with a tomato sauce (No. 549) reduced with veloute sauce (No. 415).

← No. 1664 Breast of Lamb with Turnips Lamb No. 1666 Carbonade of Lamb a la Jardiniere →

For the Modern Kitchen

A braised stuffed breast, written in Ranhofer's shorthand of cross-references. Nothing here is difficult, but the recipe assumes you have a kitchen full of prepared components on hand.

The hinge: keep the liquid at a bare simmerBreast is fat and connective tissue, and it needs 2 to 2 1/2 hours at 180-190F to turn tender. A rolling boil will squeeze the forcemeat out of the seams, cloud the stock and toughen the lean muscle before the collagen gives way.
Cutting the pocketWork the knife tip along the flat of the rib bones from the thick end, keeping the blade against the bone. Leave the outer skin intact on three sides. Butcher's twine and a trussing needle do the sewing; do not overfill, as the stuffing swells.
Forcemeat No. 65Ranhofer's forcemeats in this range are pounded meat-and-fat mixtures bound with a panada and eggs; check the numbered entry for the exact one. A modern equivalent: equal parts ground veal (or pork) and fresh pork fat, worked smooth with the soaked bread, the two whole eggs, and the onion, mushroom and parsley folded in last. Season it aggressively as directed; it is tasted through a thick layer of meat.
"Parboiled" onionsChop the raw onion, drop it into boiling water for a minute, then drain and press dry. This removes the harsh sulphur note without browning.
Beef stock No. 194aA plain beef stock; check the numbered entry before salting your own. Any good low-sodium beef stock works; you want enough to come nearly to the top of the breast, and the braise can be covered or held in a low oven of about 300-325F if the stovetop is hard to control (the book itself gives no oven temperatures).
The sauceVeloute (No. 415) is a pale roux-thickened white sauce; the tomato sauce (No. 549) is a cooked, thickened classical sauce rather than a fresh tomato puree -- check both entries. Reduce the two together until it coats a spoon. A quick modern stand-in: reduce the strained, degreased braising liquid by half, whisk in a light roux, then a third its volume of tomato puree and a splash of cream.
Yearling lambOlder and stronger-flavoured than the lamb sold now. A modern breast weighs 1 1/2 to 2 lb and is milder; expect the shorter end of the cooking time.
ServingLift the breast out, cut the twine, and let it rest 15 minutes before slicing across the ribs so the forcemeat sets. One breast serves three or four. Pressing it under a light weight while it cools, then reheating in the sauce, gives cleaner slices.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades as chef of Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows how the book was meant to be used: almost every element is a number pointing elsewhere in the volume, on the assumption that a brigade already had forcemeat, brown stock, veloute and tomato sauce standing ready. The dish itself is thrift dressed for the dining room. Breast is the cheapest part of the animal, all bone, fat and membrane, and the French classical answer was to bone or pocket it, pack the space with a farce that supplies both flavour and body, and braise it long enough to make the gelatine work in the cook's favour. Serving it under a compound sauce of veloute cut with tomato is very much of its moment; tomato sauce had been absorbed into the French repertoire as a thickened, stock-based preparation by the mid-nineteenth century, though its place among the mother sauces came later, with Escoffier's codification, and blending it into a white sauce to make what later kitchens would call an aurore was a standard way to lend colour to a pale braise.