No. 2637

Lamb Salad a la Somer

Salade d'Agneau a la Somer

Cut slices of braised lamb a quarter of an inch in thickness; arrange on a deep dish in straight rows over a bed of sliced cooked potatoes. Decorate the whole with some anchovy and bloater fillets, slices of pickled gherkins, capers, small pickled onions, chopped chervil and chives, salt, pepper, oil vinegar and mustard. Garnish the dish with hard-boiled eggs (Fig. 492) and lozenge-shaped pieces of beetroot, also a few tarragon leaves. Serve without stirring, so as to avoid breaking the slices of meat.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A composed cold salad from Ranhofer's Epicurean, built to be looked at before it is eaten. The only real technique is restraint: everything is dressed and layered, never tossed.

Bloater filletsA bloater is a whole herring, cold-smoked without gutting, so it carries a stronger, gamier note than a kipper. Smoked herring or a good matjes fillet stands in; drain and blot oil-packed fish so it does not slick the potatoes.
Braised lambThe recipe names no cut; a braised shoulder or leg answers it. Chill the meat solid before slicing, or it will shred under the knife at a quarter inch.
The dressing"Oil vinegar and mustard" is left unmeasured; a vinaigrette in the region of three parts oil to one of vinegar with mustard whisked in will answer it. Spoon it over the arranged rows rather than dressing the components separately.
PotatoesUse a waxy variety, boiled in the skin and peeled while warm so the slices hold their edge. Season and dress the potato bed while it is still slightly warm; cold potato absorbs almost nothing.
Salt from two directionsAnchovy, bloater, capers, gherkins and pickled onions are all salted or brined. Salt the lamb and potatoes lightly and taste before adding more to the finished dish.
Lozenge-shaped beetrootCut cooked beet into a sheet a quarter inch thick, then into diamonds. Keep it dry and place it last, or the red bleeds across the potatoes.
ChervilRarely stocked; its flavour is parsley with a faint anise edge. A mix of flat-leaf parsley with a few tarragon leaves is the usual substitution, and tarragon already appears in the garnish.
ServingThe book gives no yield. As written it fills a deep platter, enough for perhaps six to eight as a luncheon course. Assemble shortly before serving and keep it cold; the fish and dressing will soften the potatoes if it stands.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this recipe sits in its "Cooked Salads" chapter. Salads of this type have relatives in the French salade de boeuf and in the central European habit of dressing cold sliced meat with potato, anchovy, beet and pickles. The suffix a la Somer is one of many proper-name dedications in the book; no documented Somer has been reliably attached to it.