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Lamb Hash, Browned
Pick off all the meat from the leg of lamb left over from yesterday. Cut it into small square pieces. Cut half the quantity of cold, boiled potatoes to the same size as the lamb and mix both together. Finely chop up one medium white onion and lightly brown it in a small saucepan with a light tablespoon butter, frequently mixing with the wooden spoon. Add the lamb and potatoes. Season with a teaspoon salt, half teaspoon white pepper and a saltspoon ground nutmeg. Moisten with a pint of white broth; thoroughly mix. Cover the pan, cook for five minutes on the range, then set in the oven to bake for thirty minutes. Remove, uncover; heat a tablespoon lard in a large frying pan; place the hash in this pan, give it an omelette form, and let slowly brown on the fire for ten minutes. Turn upon a hot dish, and serve.
A leftover-roast dish that finishes as a browned cake rather than a loose skillet hash. The last step is what distinguishes it, so plan for a wide pan and a patient ten minutes.
- SaltspoonA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. The nutmeg should read as a background warmth, not a flavor of its own.
- White brothAn unbrowned stock — veal or chicken, made without roasted bones. Any light chicken stock works; avoid dark beef broth, which will muddy the color the recipe is aiming for.
- A pint is generousA full pint of broth to the meat and potato from one leg will look like soup at the start. The pan bakes covered, so little will evaporate; if there is free liquid left after thirty minutes, keep it uncovered on the heat until the mixture holds its shape on a spoon. A wet hash will never brown.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given, and the recipe does not even say 'moderate.' Something around 350F suits a covered pan whose job is to reduce and meld rather than to color.
- On the range"On the range" and "on the fire" both mean stovetop. Only the middle stage goes in the oven.
- Omelette formPress the hash into an oval mound in the fat and leave it alone over medium-low heat so a solid crust forms underneath. Turning it out inverted onto the platter puts the browned face up; loosen the edges before you attempt the flip.
- FatsLard gives the cleanest browning, but clarified butter or a neutral oil with a knob of butter behaves the same. Butter alone over ten minutes will darken past pleasant.
- SaltA teaspoon is a lot if the broth and yesterday's roast were already seasoned. Taste before the oven stage.
- YieldA leg's worth of scraps; the recipe gives no yield. Fried eggs or a sharp green salad go well alongside.
Hash of this kind was a common second act of a roast, and the browned, cake-form version — pressed into a pan and turned out whole, "given an omelette form" — reflects a professional French habit of making a leftover look deliberate. The International Cook Book is credited to Alexander Filippini, long associated with Delmonico's in New York, and the recipe can simply assume a leg of lamb was roasted yesterday.