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Haricot of Lamb
Cut a small breast of lamb into one-and-a-half-inch squares. Heat three tablespoons melted butter in a medium-sized saucepan, add the lamb and cook for ten minutes, or until a nice golden colour, occasionally turning the pieces with a spoon. Transfer the meat only to a dish; place four tablespoons flour in the pan, stir well until a perfect roux; then replace the meat in the pan, pour in a quart of hot white broth and mix with a wooden spoon for two minutes.
Cut three medium, sound, peeled potatoes into one-inch squares and add them to the haricot. Season with two teaspoons salt, half teaspoon white pepper and one saltspoon grated nutmeg; gently mix. Tie in a bunch two leeks, four branches parsley, one sprig bay leaf, two cloves and half sprig thyme; add it to the stew. Cover the pan and let slowly cook for one hour and a half. Remove the "bouquet" of herbs; pour the haricot into a hot dish, sprinkle a tablespoon chopped chives over and serve.
A plain white lamb stew of the sort every French kitchen brigade could turn out without thinking. Two things need attention: the fat that renders out of a lamb breast, and the potatoes, which will not survive ninety minutes of cooking.
- Potatoes go in lateOne-inch cubes of potato simmered for an hour and a half will collapse into the sauce and thicken it into paste. Add them for the last 30 to 40 minutes and they will hold their shape while still giving up a little starch.
- Breast of lamb is very fattyA whole breast runs perhaps 2 to 2.5 lb bone-in and renders a great deal of fat. Trim the heavy exterior fat before browning, and skim the surface repeatedly during the simmer or the finished sauce will be greasy.
- SaltspoonA quarter teaspoon. The two teaspoons of salt assume an unsalted broth; with commercial stock, start with half that and correct at the end.
- White brothA pale, unroasted veal or chicken stock. Low-sodium chicken stock is the practical substitute; the point is that nothing in the dish should be browned dark, which is what distinguishes a white stew from a brown one.
- The rouxFour tablespoons flour to three of butter plus rendered lamb fat is a stiff roux. Cook it two or three minutes over moderate heat without letting it colour, then add the hot broth gradually and whisk to avoid lumps before returning the meat.
- Keep it at a bare simmer"Slowly cook" means barely bubbling, lid on, on the lowest burner; the recipe keeps the covered pan on the stove throughout. A hard boil will emulsify the fat into the sauce and toughen the meat.
- The bouquetA "sprig" of bay means one leaf; "branches" of parsley are stems. Tie everything inside the split green tops of the leeks, or in cheesecloth, so the two cloves can be fished out whole.
- YieldFour servings as a main course. Bread or nothing else is wanted alongside; the potatoes are already in the pot.
Haricot here has nothing to do with beans, despite the modern French word for them. The dish name is generally traced to the old verb harigoter, to cut into pieces, and older English cookbooks often spell it harrico or hericot of mutton; the bean sense attached itself later. What is described here is a blanquette-adjacent white ragout: the meat is only lightly coloured, the roux is kept pale, and the liquid is white stock rather than the browned gravy of a brown stew. Breast of lamb was the cut for it because it was cheap, well-marbled and full of gelatine from the rib bones, all of which suits a long slow braise. Its vocabulary is that of the professional Anglo-American compilations, and it reflects how thoroughly French bourgeois cooking had become the shared professional vocabulary of hotel and restaurant kitchens in Europe and America.