No. 1769

Lambs' Trotters with Tarragon Gravy—Stuffed and Broiled

Pieds d'Agneau au jus d'Estragon--Farcis et Grilles

Prepare and cook the trotters the same as for the Poulette (No. 1768); (do not remove the shank bone before cooking); drain them from their stock and while yet hot suppress this bone without deforming the foot; fill the empty space made by abstracting the bone with a fine quenelle forcemeat (No. 92) containing half its quantity of foies-gras from a terrine and chopped up truffles, seasoning very highly. Beat up two raw eggs, add salt and two spoonfuls of cooked fine herbs (No. 385); dip the lamb trotters in this egg mixture one by one, drain well, then roll them in white bread-crumbs, afterward steeping them in melted butter; range them as fast as they are completed on a broiler and broil for twenty minutes over a slow fire, turning them over. Dress on a hot dish, pouring some clear gravy (No. 404) on the bottom of the dish to which has been added some blanched tarragon leaves.

← No. 1768 Lambs' Trotters a la Poulette and a la Didie Lamb No. 1770 Whole Lamb a la Theodora—Hot and Cold →

For the Modern Kitchen

A Ranhofer construction that depends on three other numbered recipes, so the work is mostly in the components. Everything hinges on cooking the trotters to complete tenderness first, since the twenty minutes on the grill only browns the crumb and sets the stuffing.

The cross-referencesNo. 1768 gives the method for cooking the trotters (with the caveat here that the shank bone is left in during cooking); No. 92 is a quenelle forcemeat; No. 385 a cooked fines-herbes preparation; No. 404 a clear gravy. Look each one up in the book for the actual ingredients and timings, since this dish is mostly the sum of those components.
Sourcing the trottersLambs' feet are usually a special order from a halal butcher or a whole-animal shop, and may arrive with the hoof and hair still on, in which case they need scalding and scraping before the long cook. Two per person is a reasonable first-course portion.
Boning while hotThe shank bone slips out cleanly only while the foot is hot from the pot and the connective tissue is still soft. Once chilled and set it will tear the foot apart. Work with a towel and a small knife, and stuff the cavity immediately.
The stuffing must reach temperatureThe quenelle forcemeat goes in raw and the foie gras is from a terrine, so the interior is cool when it hits the fire. Twenty minutes over a slow grill is intended to cook it through; verify 165F at the centre of the stuffing rather than trusting the crumb colour.
"A slow fire"Coals well burned down, or a broiler set low with the rack six to eight inches from the element. A hot fire will scorch the buttered crumbs long before the forcemeat sets.
Foies-gras from a terrineRanhofer means cooked foie gras terrine, not raw lobe. A block of mi-cuit foie gras, chilled and diced, folded into the forcemeat at half its weight, is the intent. Substituting a good chicken-liver parfait changes the dish but works with the same proportions.
Crumbing sequenceEgg with the cooked herbs beaten in, then white breadcrumbs, then melted butter poured or brushed over — the butter goes on last, over the crumb, which is what gives the browning. Dry the trotters well after their stock or the egg will not grip.
Blanched tarragonWhole tarragon leaves dropped in boiling water for ten seconds and refreshed keep their green and lose the aggressive anise edge. Add them to the hot gravy at the last moment; held in it they turn olive.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York for more than thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the restaurant's working repertoire set down in over 3,500 numbered entries that reference one another like a technical manual. Sheep's and lambs' feet were standard European kitchen material long before this — cheap, gelatinous, and prized for exactly the body they give a sauce — and English and French cookery both treated them as a dish worth dressing up rather than a scrap. What Ranhofer does here is characteristic of the period's grande cuisine: take an offal cut, bone it, refill it with forcemeat enriched by foie gras and truffle, crumb it, and serve it under a herbed gravy, so that the humble origin is entirely concealed by labour. The tarragon finish marks it as French rather than Anglo-American.