No. 1756

Stewed Lamb, Parisian Style

Ragout d'Agneau a la Parisienne

Bone and cut off all fat and sinews from a shoulder of lamb; divide it into one inch and three-quarters pieces and fry these either in butter or good fat; when the meat is a golden color, drain off all the fat and moisten with one quart of brown sauce (No. 414), a pint of stock (No. 194a) and a pint of white wine; add a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme, bay leaf and garlic, salt and pepper. Boil, skim and simmer, and after it has been cooking for three-quarters of an hour put in forty small onions fried in butter and as many potato balls, three-quarters of an inch in circumference, half a pint of tomato puree (No. 730), and a pound of small, cooked mushroom heads; it takes about an hour and a half to cook this stew properly. When cooked remove the bunch of parsley, skim off the fat from the stew and dress in the center of a dish, surround it with the vegetables and pour the strained sauce over all.

← No. 1755 Stewed Lamb, Navarin Lamb No. 1757 Stewed Lamb, Peruvian Style →

For the Modern Kitchen

A classic French brown lamb ragout scaled for a restaurant brigade. The cross-references to numbered sauces are the main obstacle; everything else is ordinary braising practice.

The hinge: brown the meat, then dump the fatRanhofer has you fry the lamb to a golden color and drain off all the frying fat before the liquid goes in. He still has you skim during the simmer and again before dressing the dish.
Brown sauce (No. 414)This is espagnole — a brown roux moistened with veal stock and mirepoix, simmered and strained. A well-made, lightly thickened brown veal or lamb stock reduction stands in for it; a quart is a lot, so plan ahead or reduce good stock with a little roux.
Stock (No. 194a) and tomato purée (No. 730)Stock (No. 194a) and tomato puree (No. 730) -- No. 194a is the book's basic stock; an unsalted chicken or veal stock works. No. 730 appears to be a cooked, sieved tomato puree rather than modern tomato paste -- use about a cup of passata or thin canned puree, not concentrate.
"Three-quarters of an inch in circumference"Taken literally that is a ball a quarter-inch across, smaller than a pea. Read as diameter it makes sense: potato balls about three-quarters of an inch across, cut with the small end of a parisienne scoop.
Quantity of lambThe recipe gives no weight. A bone-in shoulder trimmed of all fat, sinew and bone loses a substantial share of its weight; the quart of brown sauce with a pint each of stock and wine suggests a large, brigade-scale quantity of meat.
Onions and mushroomsForty small onions means pearl or button onions, peeled and browned separately in butter so they hold their shape. The "cooked mushroom heads" are trimmed caps cooked beforehand; adding raw mushrooms at this stage will thin the sauce with their liquid.
The bouquetThe "bunch of parsley garnished with thyme, bay leaf and garlic" is a bouquet garni — tie it with string so it comes out whole at the end, as instructed.
TimingVegetables go in at 45 minutes and the whole thing runs about 90 minutes at a bare simmer. Shoulder can take longer than that; judge by the meat yielding to a fork rather than the clock, and hold the potato balls back until the last 25 minutes if the lamb is slow.
Oven or stovetopThe original assumes a stovetop simmer with skimming. A covered pot at 325°F gives steadier heat and less scorching, though you will still want to skim the fat before dressing the dish.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summation of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is essentially a French professional manual written in English for an American kitchen. A ragoût à la parisienne takes its name from the garnish rather than the meat: pearl onions, turned or scooped potatoes and small mushroom caps are often said to be the "Parisian" trim, and the potato balls in particular are still cut with the tool called a cuillère à pommes parisienne. The dish sits next to No. 1755, the navarin, for good reason — both are brown lamb stews, and the difference between them in the classical repertoire is almost entirely which vegetables are set around the mound of meat. That numbered cross-referencing is the book's real signature: Ranhofer assumed a kitchen where the brown sauce and the tomato purée were already standing on the stove.