No. 1744

Hind Saddle of Lamb, French Style

Selle d'Agneau a la Francaise

Pare a saddle suppressing the skin and superfluous fat, roll the flaps or flanks under; truss and braise it in a braziere (Fig. 134) with bits of fat pork, minced carrots and onions; season and let the meat smother while turning it over; cover with a pint of stock (No. 194a) and reduce it slowly to a glaze, then recover to its exact heighth with hot broth, and let cook with the lid on over a slow fire or in a moderate oven, basting and turning frequently; should it be insufficiently moistened, add more hot broth. When the saddle is almost done, drain and trim it; strain the stock, skim off the fat carefully, and return the meat to the braziere to finish cooking, and glaze in a moderate oven.

Dressing.—Drain the saddle, detach both fillets from the top, and cut them into even slices, then return them to their original position; lay the saddle on a dish that can be placed in the oven. Have three quarts of bechamel sauce (No. 409), reduced with cream and mushroom broth; when sufficiently reduced take it from the fire and stir into it a quarter of a pound of grated parmesan, three ounces of butter, and a little cayenne pepper; beat it thoroughly until partially cold, then cover the saddle with it smoothing the surface neatly; bestrew with grated parmesan, and finish baking in a hot oven. Pour a little of the stock around the meat, serving the remainder separately, and send to the table accompanied by a vegetable dish of glazed cucumbers (No. 2733).

← No. 1743 Hind Saddle of Lamb, American Style Lamb No. 1745 Hind Saddle of Lamb with Mashed Turnips—Brai →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's saddle is a braise finished as a gratin: the meat is cooked in its own reduced stock, sliced in place, masked with a parmesan-enriched béchamel and browned. Two things decide whether it works — keeping the liquid level right during braising, and not letting the sauce slide off the meat.

What a hind saddle isThe whole undivided loin section of both sides, from the last rib to the hip, flaps attached. Butchers now call it a saddle or double loin and will need notice; a 5-7 lb saddle serves roughly six to eight. The flanks are rolled underneath and tied so the joint holds its shape and the thin edges do not overcook.
The braziereA brasière is simply a heavy lidded braising pan, oval and just larger than the joint. A covered roasting pan or oval Dutch oven does the same work. Fitting the meat closely matters, because the recipe depends on a shallow depth of liquid.
"Recover to its exact height"After the first pint of stock has reduced to a glaze on the meat, add hot broth to come exactly level with the top of the saddle, no more. Too much and you are poaching; too little and the glaze scorches. Top up with hot, never cold, broth as it evaporates.
Oven temperaturesA moderate oven is roughly 325-375F; the hot oven for the final gratin nearer 425-450F. Braise at the lower end, with the lid on, until the meat is tender rather than to a fixed internal temperature -- nineteenth-century braising took the meat well past what would now be called pink.
Scale the sauceThree quarts of bechamel is restaurant quantity for a banquet service. For a single saddle at home, about 1 quart of bechamel reduced with cream and mushroom liquor, finished with parmesan, butter and cayenne in the book's proportions (roughly 1.5 oz parmesan and 1 oz butter to the quart), is ample. The sauce must be reduced until it mounds on a spoon and then beaten as it cools, or it will run off the sliced fillets in the oven.
Mushroom brothThe strained cooking liquor from mushrooms, a by-product a kitchen of this scale would have had to hand. Substitute the soaking liquid from dried mushrooms, or reduced stock in which button mushrooms have simmered, strained through a cloth.
Slicing and reassemblingLift each loin fillet off the bone whole, slice it crosswise, then set the slices back on the bone in order so the joint looks intact. Do this while the meat is hot and let it rest under the sauce coating rather than uncovered, or the cut faces dry out.
GlazingTo glaze here means to brush the joint with its own reduced, skimmed cooking liquid and return it to the oven until the surface shines and turns deep brown. It is a separate step from the final parmesan gratin and gives the meat its colour underneath the sauce.
AccompanimentNo. 2733 is not given here; glazed cucumbers of this period were generally peeled, seeded, cut to even lengths and stewed in butter and a little stock until translucent. They cut the richness of a parmesan-masked joint and are worth keeping.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, where he was chef for over thirty years, and the numbering system running through the book — stock No. 194a, béchamel No. 409, cucumbers No. 2733 — reflects a brigade working from cross-referenced base preparations rather than standalone recipes. Dishes labelled à la française in this period rarely denote a regional French tradition; they signal the grand service style, meat masked in a rich sauce, gratinéed, and presented whole before carving. The technique here is essentially a mornay gratin, béchamel enriched with cream and grated cheese, applied to a braised joint rather than to fish or eggs. A saddle of lamb was a show piece, carved at the table or on the sideboard, and the whole joint would arrive looking untouched even though the fillets had already been sliced and replaced in the kitchen — a labour-intensive courtesy that says a good deal about how many hands the restaurant had at the stove.