No. 1705

Leg of Lamb a la Bercy

Gigot d'Agneau a la Bercy

Remove the thick loin and bone from a leg of yearling lamb and saw off the knuckle, remove about five inches of the meat to form a handle. Line a saucepan with fragments of fat pork, raw suet, roots, minced onions, and aromatics; lay in the meat, salt it over, and place on the fire for a few moments, turning it round; moisten to its height with light broth (No. 194a), and let boil; continue the boiling process while skimming well the surface, then close the saucepan and remove it back to a slower fire in order that it continue to cook but much more moderately; it will take from three to four hours, and the liquid should then be reduced to two-thirds; drain the leg, lay it in a small, deep, narrow baking pan, also its strained and skimmed stock reduced to a half-glaze (No. 400) with Madeira and gravy (No. 404); put it in the oven to become a fine color while basting frequently with its own stock, then strain this off, remove all its fat and reduce; pour a third of it over the dressed leg, garnish it with a frill (No. 10), and serve separately a bordelaise sauce (No. 436), stirred into the remainder of the stock.

← No. 1704 Stewed Lamb Kidneys with Madeira and with Mu Lamb No. 1706 Leg of Lamb a la Britannia, or Green Sauce o →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a braised leg of lamb, glazed at the end — Ranhofer's method produces both the meat and its own sauce base in one pot. The cross-references to numbered preparations are the main obstacle for a modern cook.

The hinge: braise low, then glazeThe whole point is a long, barely-trembling braise followed by a short glazing with the reduced stock. If the braise boils hard throughout, the leg shreds and the liquid clouds; the finishing stage calls for a hot oven and frequent basting, though Ranhofer specifies neither a temperature nor a time, only "to become a fine color."
Yearling lambMeat from a sheep in its second year — bigger and stronger-flavoured than the spring lamb sold today. A whole bone-in leg of ordinary lamb, 6-8 lb, behaves the same way but will reach doneness nearer the low end of the time range.
Three to four hoursThat is right for a braise of this size at a bare simmer, and it is meant to go past pink to fork-tender. Check the liquid level rather than the clock; it should reduce to about two-thirds, not dry out.
"Roots" and "aromatics"Carrot, turnip and parsnip, plus a bundle of thyme, bay, parsley stems and a few peppercorns.
Fat pork and raw suetThe pan lining is a layer of fat that keeps the meat off the metal and enriches the stock. Salt pork or unsmoked bacon works; beef suet is sold by butchers and some supermarkets, or substitute more pork fat.
The numbered referencesNo. 194a is a light white broth; No. 400 is a half-glaze, meaning stock reduced until it coats a spoon; No. 404 is a meat gravy; No. 436 is bordelaise, a red-wine and shallot sauce finished with marrow. Any competent modern versions of demi-glace and bordelaise stand in without harm.
The handle and the frillScraping five inches of shank bone clean is French trimming; the paper frill (No. 10) is a nineteenth-century service flourish and can be skipped.
YieldA leg of this size, once the loin and shank meat have been trimmed away, will serve roughly 6 to 8 as a main course, carved across the grain and served with the glazing liquid, with the bordelaise passed separately.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's repertoire, which is why almost every recipe in it leans on a numbered stock, glaze or sauce prepared elsewhere in the book: it was written for a brigade with a stockpot already going. The name Bercy comes from the Bercy quarter of Paris, for centuries the city's wine-landing and warehousing district on the right bank of the Seine, and in classical French cookery it marks a preparation involving white wine and shallots — though Ranhofer, characteristically, sends this one out with Madeira in the glaze and a red-wine bordelaise alongside. Braising a leg rather than roasting it suited older, tougher yearling mutton, and the two-stage finish, long moist cooking followed by a hard glazing in the oven, was standard restaurant practice for producing a joint that was both tender and burnished for the dining room.