No. 1770

Whole Lamb a la Theodora—Hot and Cold

Agneau Entier a la Theodora--Chaud et Froid

Bone the neck as far down as the third rib, break the rib bones in the middle of the breast, disconnect the sinews at the joints of each shoulder, and run an iron skewer through them; fasten the thigh bones well on this skewer, then break the kernel leg bone and sever the two leg bones; cross over the two handle bones, then wrap the meat in strong buttered paper and lay it in a cradle spit (Fig. 116) to cook for one hour and a half, basting it frequently during this time. Unwrap and let it acquire a fine color, then dress it on a large dish and lay around plenty of Sarah potatoes (no. 2802). Serve some clear gravy (No. 404) separately, pouring part of it over.

Cold.—After the lamb has been prepared and cooked the same as the above, let it get cold, then glaze it over several times with meat glaze (No. 402); garnish around with chopped jelly. On this jelly and all around arrange five kinds of egg garnishings, for instance eggs glazed with chaufroid (No. 2509); eggs a la Justine (No. 2505); eggs with salpicon (No. 2514), eggs a la Rouennaise (No. 2506) and eggs Juliet (No. 2504). Serve separately a tartar sauce (No. 631).

PORK (Porc).

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For the Modern Kitchen

This is a banquet centerpiece from Delmonico's kitchen: a whole milk-fed lamb, boned at the neck, trussed flat on a cradle spit, and served either hot with fried potatoes or cold under glaze with a ring of composed egg garnishes. The butchery notes are the heart of it — everything else is assembly.

What size animal this assumesAlmost certainly a small lamb, the sort sold as hot-house or milk-fed, rather than a modern market lamb; the recipe itself gives no weight. An hour and a half is only plausible for a small carcass; a larger animal needs far longer and is better cooked to an internal temperature of 130-135F in the thickest part of the leg for pink, 145F for medium, rather than by the clock.
The boning is structural, not decorativeRemoving the neck bones to the third rib, cracking the ribs at the breast, cutting the shoulder sinews and severing the leg bones lets the whole animal lie flat and spring open so it fits a cradle and cooks evenly. Skip it and the shoulders and legs finish at wildly different times. Ask a butcher to do it; it is a saw-and-boning-knife job on a bench, not a countertop task.
Cradle spit substitutesA cradle spit is a hinged iron frame that clamps the carcass and turns before an open fire. A modern equivalent is a basket rotisserie over charcoal, or the lamb laid flat on a rack in a very large roasting pan at 400-425F, turned once. Without rotation you must baste more often, as the recipe already insists.
Buttered paperUse parchment, buttered heavily, tied on with butcher's twine — not foil, which steams rather than shields. Its job is to keep the surface from scorching during the long turn; the final uncovered stretch, ten to twenty minutes, is what gives the color.
Cross-referenced components"Clear gravy" (no. 404) is a strained, degreased brown reduction rather than a thickened pan gravy. Meat glaze (no. 402) is glace de viande: brown stock reduced to a syrup that sets firm when cold, which is what makes the glazing coat build up in layers. Sarah potatoes (no. 2802) are a fried potato preparation given elsewhere in the book; consult that entry for the cut and method.
The cold version needs cold disciplineA whole carcass cools slowly. Get it into refrigeration promptly rather than leaving it out to come to room temperature over hours, glaze it chilled, and keep the finished piece and its egg garnishes under refrigeration until service. Chaud-froid and aspic hold their shape only below about 60F in any case.
Five egg garnishes is optional ambitionThe listed egg preparations are separate recipes elsewhere in the book, coated or garnished egg dishes. Two well-executed styles ringed around the chopped jelly read as intentional; five demand a brigade.
YieldA boned lamb of this kind will serve a large table, perhaps twenty or more as one course of a longer menu, depending on the size of the animal. It is not scalable downward: for four people, roast a leg or a saddle and use the same gravy and potato treatment.

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 the house style exactly: a single spectacular piece of meat, offered either hot, carried whole to the table, or cold for a later meal or a ball supper, re-dressed with glaze, aspic and a parade of garnishes. Ranhofer named dishes for patrons and for the stage figures his patrons admired, and both "à la Théodora" and the Sarah potatoes served with it are generally traced to Sarah Bernhardt, whose Théodora — the title role in Sardou's 1884 play — was among her most famous parts and toured America to great noise. The cradle spit called for here was already becoming a period piece by the 1890s, a survival of open-hearth roasting in a kitchen that otherwise ran on coal ranges.