No. 1710

Slices of Leg of Lamb a la Dordogne

Tranches de Gigot d'Agneau a la Dordogne

These are slices of meat cut from a leg of raw spring lamb, free of all fat and sinews and should be three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness; season and cover them all with a chicken or forcemeat into which as much fine cooked herbs (No. 385) have been mixed; roll them up into cylinder shapes, run on small metal skewers (Fig. 176), then dip in melted butter and bread-crumbs; broil them over a slow fire till done, dress and pour over a half-glaze sauce (No. 413) buttered at the last moment with maitre d'hotel butter (No. 581).

← No. 1709 Leg of Lamb, King's Pilau Lamb No. 1711 Slices of Leg of Lamb a la Previllot →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's cross-references make this look harder than it is: strip away the numbered sauces and it is lamb scaloppine rolled around a chicken forcemeat and grilled on skewers. The critical detail is the thickness of the meat.

Three-sixteenths of an inchThat is about 5 mm — thin enough to roll without cracking, thick enough not to shred. Cut from the top round or sirloin end of the leg, trim every scrap of fat and silverskin, then flatten between plastic sheets with the side of a cleaver.
"Spring lamb"In Ranhofer's day this meant a very young animal sold in season, generally milk-fed and only a few months old. Ordinary supermarket lamb leg is older and stronger in flavour; the recipe still works, but the meat will take the grill a little longer and taste less delicate.
Chicken forcemeatRanhofer numbers several chicken farces; the quenelle type is pounded raw chicken bound with eggs, butter or panada and cream, kept ice-cold, close to what a food processor now makes as a mousseline. A quenelle-style farce spread thinly is what holds the roll together; a coarse sausage stuffing will squeeze out.
"Fine cooked herbs" (No. 385)Not raw fines herbes; the cross-reference is to a cooked preparation, which in this period normally meant chopped mushrooms, shallot and parsley sweated in butter until dry — in effect a duxelles. Cook off all moisture before mixing it into the farce or the rolls will steam themselves loose.
SkewersThe recipe specifies small metal skewers, of the type Ranhofer illustrates. Any thin metal skewer works; thread two or three rolls per skewer and leave a gap so the ends brown.
"Broil over a slow fire"Direct heat, but moderate — the crumb coating burns before the raw forcemeat sets otherwise. Medium coals or an oven broiler at some distance, turning often, roughly 8 to 10 minutes. The chicken filling should reach 165F/74C; that, not the lamb, sets the timing.
Half-glaze and maitre d'hotel butterHalf-glaze is demi-glace: reduced brown stock, thickened or reduced to a coating consistency. Maitre d'hotel butter is softened butter worked with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, whisked into the sauce off the heat so it does not split.
YieldRanhofer gives none. Reckon two or three rolls per person from a leg slice apiece; a boned leg yields plenty, and the trimmings go to the forcemeat or to stock.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book's structure shows it: nearly every recipe leans on a numbered stock, farce or compound butter prepared elsewhere in the kitchen, the way a brigade actually worked. Dishes like this one — thin meat spread with forcemeat, rolled, crumbed and grilled on skewers — sit alongside a family of French restaurant preparations such as attereaux and paupiettes, designed to be portioned in advance and finished fast to order. The name points to the Dordogne in southwestern France, though such regional tags in this book often function as menu decoration rather than as claims of provenance; the neighbouring recipes carry names such as "a la Previllot" and "King's Pilau". What the entry does record precisely is the standard of knife work expected of a Gilded Age hotel kitchen, where a cook was told to cut lamb to three-sixteenths of an inch and understood why.