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Mutton, Mix-Grilled
Neatly trim and flatten six thick mutton chops and skin six very fresh mutton kidneys. Mix on a plate a tablespoon oil, one good teaspoon salt and a half teaspoon white pepper; repeatedly turn both chops and kidneys in seasoning. Arrange and broil chops on a brisk fire six minutes on each side, remove and dress on a dish and keep hot. Arrange kidneys on a double broiler and broil three minutes on each side, then arrange them on dish with the chops. Broil six very thin slices ham two minutes on each side, dress over the chops, spread a maitre d'hotel butter over all and serve.
A British mixed grill under a French name, and it depends entirely on staging the three components so they all reach the plate hot. Read the order through before lighting the fire.
- Mutton is now lambTrue mutton (sheep over two years) is sold mainly by specialty butchers and halal shops. Loin or shoulder lamb chops cut 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick stand in directly, though the flavor is milder and they cook slightly faster.
- "A brisk fire"Direct, high heat: coals glowing red with no flame, or a gas grill run at or near its highest setting. Under a domestic broiler, use the top rack position with the element thoroughly preheated.
- The double broilerThis is a hinged wire grid that clamps the food between two halves so it can be flipped in one motion. A grill basket does the same job. For kidneys, halving them lengthwise and threading each one flat on two skewers keeps them from curling.
- KidneysSkin means peeling off the thin outer membrane; also snip out the white core of fat and ducts at the center. Three minutes per side is right and is the hinge of the dish. Kidneys taken past faintly pink at the center turn tough and grainy, and there is no recovering them.
- Chop timingSix minutes a side suits genuinely thick mutton chops. For inch-thick lamb, four to five minutes a side gives medium-rare to medium; go by an instant-read thermometer at 130-135F rather than the clock.
- The hamHam of this period was typically dry-cured and cut thin, unlike modern wet-cured deli slices, which weep and steam. A thin slice of country ham or other dry-cured ham works; two minutes a side is generous, and a minute is often enough.
- Maitre d'hotel butterSoftened butter worked with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then chilled into a log and sliced. Make it first and refrigerate, so it goes on cold and melts into the meat juices at the table.
- YieldSix chops, six kidneys and six slices of ham serve six as written, though it is a substantial plate; four is more realistic as a main course.
The mixed grill belongs to the chophouse and the club dining room, where a hot fire was always going and a plate could be built to order from whatever was on the grill bars. Chops, kidneys and a rasher were the standard trio, and the same combination appears on British breakfast and grill menus. Sheep kidneys were cheap, plentiful offal in an era when a butcher sold the whole animal, which is why they turn up here as a matter of course rather than as a delicacy. The finishing butter gives away the book's ambitions: maitre d'hotel butter is standard French kitchen equipment, and dressing an English grill with it is exactly the kind of cross-Channel move that a volume calling itself an international cook book was published to make.