No. 1691

Lamb Cutlets in Crepinette

Cotelettes d'Agneau en Crepinette

Prepare twelve rather thick but well-trimmed lamb cutlets, leaving the kernel only, and suppressing all the fat and sinews; chop the meats without cutting through, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Make a forcemeat with half a pound of chopped fat pork, half a pound of cooked fine herbs (No. 385), and two ounces of fresh bread-crumbs; mix thoroughly and lay it on both sides of the cutlets; wrap each one separately in a square piece of "crepinette" or caul fat well fattened; butter them over with a brush dipped in butter, and broil for twenty-five minutes on a slow fire, turning them round when done on one side; then lay them on a small baking tin; trim the handles with frills (No. 10); dress in a circle on a dish, adding some reduced clear gravy (No. 404.)

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with a stockpot always going and a butcher's larder downstairs; the dish itself is simple once the cross-references are resolved. The hinge is the caul fat — without it the forcemeat slides off and the whole point collapses.

Caul fat"Crepinette" here means caul, the lacy fatty membrane from a pig's abdomen. Order it from a butcher; it usually comes salted or frozen and needs a soak in cool water (some add a splash of vinegar) until it unfolds without tearing. Cut squares large enough to wrap a cutlet with a slight overlap, and let the fat itself seal the parcel — no string needed.
"Leaving the kernel only"The kernel is the eye of the chop. You are trimming a rib cutlet down to the round of lean meat plus the bare bone handle, removing cap fat, the fat between the ribs, and all sinew; cleaning the bone itself is what a modern butcher calls Frenching.
"Chop the meats without cutting through"Score the surface of the eye shallowly on both sides, or flatten it lightly with the side of a heavy knife. It is tenderising and giving the forcemeat something to grip, not butterflying the cutlet.
The forcemeatNo. 385 is Ranhofer's cooked fines herbes, which by most accounts is a cooked mixture of chopped onion or shallot with mushrooms and parsley, closer to a duxelles than to fresh chopped herbs; check the numbered recipe rather than assuming. Half a pound of chopped fat pork with half a pound of that and two ounces of fresh breadcrumbs makes more than twelve cutlets are likely to need; spread it as a thin layer and hold the rest back rather than building a thick paste that will not cook through.
"Broil" and "a slow fire"This is grilling over coals, not a modern overhead broiler. Aim for gentle, moderate direct heat, or use the cooler side of a two-zone fire; caul fat renders and flares readily over high heat.
Twenty-five minutesThat timing suits nineteenth-century taste for lamb cooked through. Thick cutlets in caul will reach medium in roughly 10-14 minutes total on a moderate fire; pull them at 130-135F internal and rest five minutes. The caul needs long enough to render and crisp, so keep the heat gentle rather than shortening the time drastically.
Reduced clear gravyNo. 404 is Ranhofer's clear gravy, a brown stock reduction; consult the numbered recipe for its exact make-up. A good unsalted veal or beef stock reduced by two-thirds, seasoned at the end, does the job; it should nap a spoon, not thicken like a flour gravy.
Frills and serviceThe paper frills of No. 10 are optional pageantry, though they do keep fingers off hot bone. Twelve cutlets dressed in a circle serves four to six as a main course, with the gravy spooned into the centre of the ring.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book's method of numbered cross-references — forcemeat at No. 385, gravy at No. 404, frills at No. 10 — reflects a professional kitchen where each component was somebody's standing job. Crépinette takes its name from crépine, the French word for caul, and the term does double duty in French cookery: it names both the membrane and the small flat sausage patties traditionally wrapped in it. Wrapping lean meat in caul is old, thrifty butchery logic — the membrane melts as it cooks, basting from the outside in and holding a stuffing in place without pastry or string — and it is the reason a fully trimmed cutlet, stripped of every scrap of its own fat, does not dry out on the grill. That caul was a normal larder item in 1894 and a special order today says a good deal about how whole-animal butchery has receded from the retail counter.