No. 1740

Hind Saddle of Lamb a la Florentine

Selle d'Agneau a la Florentine

Roast a saddle of yearling lamb in the oven having it laid in a baking pan; salt and baste with dripping. It will take from an hour to an hour and a half to have it properly roasted if the oven be very hot. When done, dress and glaze the meat, surround it with a garnishing of artichoke bottoms a la Florence (No. 2677), and serve with a separate white Colbert sauce (No. 451).

← No. 1739 Hind Saddle of Lamb a la Chanceliere Lamb No. 1741 Hind Saddle of Lamb a la Paganini →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional brigade with a larder of prepared garnishes and mother sauces, so the entry is really one line of roasting instruction hung between two cross-references. The roast itself is straightforward; the work is in what surrounds it.

What a saddle isThe hind saddle is the whole loin section, both loins with the backbone intact, cut from the last rib to the hip. A butcher will need notice to prepare one, and will usually trim the flaps, remove the kidneys and tie it. From an animal of this age it is a large joint; confirm the weight with the butcher rather than assuming one.
Yearling lambNineteenth-century "yearling" lamb is an animal approaching a year old, closer to what is now sold as hogget than to spring lamb. It is darker, fuller in flavour and slightly firmer. A modern saddle of ordinary lamb will roast faster than the time given here.
A very hot ovenThe recipe gives no temperature. "Very hot" is usually read today as somewhere around 450F. Starting hot and then dropping to about 375F gives colour without drying the ends of the loin.
Timing and donenessAn hour to an hour and a half suits a large saddle taken to the pink side. Go by an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the loin, not by the clock, and rest the joint 15-20 minutes before carving; the loin muscles are lean and lose juice quickly.
Dripping and bastingDripping here is the rendered fat in the pan, topped up with beef or veal dripping if the lamb is lean. The recipe says only to baste; every 15 minutes or so is a practical interval.
"Glaze the meat"Glaze is heavily reduced brown stock, syrupy and near-solid when cold, brushed over the rested joint for shine. Reduced veal or lamb stock does the job; a commercial demi-glace thinned slightly is the shortcut.
The garnish and sauceArtichoke bottoms a la Florence and white Colbert sauce are separate recipes elsewhere in the book. Florentine garnishes in this period generally involve spinach; the "white" in white Colbert distinguishes it from the compound butter that carries the same name in later French practice. Both must be looked up if the dish is to be reproduced as written.
Carving and yieldCarve the loins in long strips parallel to the backbone, or in slices across it, and return them to the bone for service. A full saddle serves 8-10 as a main course.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows how the book works: a numbered dish that assumes you own all the other numbers. Saddle of lamb was a display roast, which is why so much attention goes to glazing and to the ring of garnish around it. The a la Florentine tag is one of the standard French garnish names of the period, generally taken to signal spinach, though nineteenth-century usage was looser than the codified list Escoffier later fixed in place. Ranhofer gives the saddle a run of such treatments -- Chanceliere before it, Paganini after -- each differing only in garnish and sauce, a reminder that in a grand-restaurant kitchen the roast was the constant and the vocabulary of the menu was built from what went round it.