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Roast Saddle of Lamb, Mint Sauce
Remove the red skin from a small, tender, fat saddle of lamb, fold up the flanks underneath, firmly tie it all around, then lay it on a roasting pan, spread a little melted butter over the surface, pour two tablespoons water in the pan, season with teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper, set in the oven for one hour, turning and basting it once in a while. Remove, untie, dress on a dish, decorate with a little watercress and serve with saucebowl of mint sauce separately.
The instructions assume a butcher who knows what a saddle is and a cook who can judge an oven by hand. Both gaps are easy to close.
- What a saddle isThe saddle is the unsplit double loin — both loins and the flanks still joined across the backbone, taken from behind the ribs to the hip. It is a special order at most counters; ask for it tied, with the flanks left long enough to fold. A small one runs 4-6 lb and serves six to eight.
- Oven temperatureNo number is given; recipes of this period generally left the heat to the cook's judgement, and ranges of the day had no thermostat. Roast at 450F for the first 15 minutes to set the surface, then drop to 350F for the remainder. A steady 375F throughout also works and is more forgiving.
- The red skinThis is the fell — the thin papery membrane over the fat. Strip it with your fingers and a knife tip; it is generally taken off before roasting, as it shrinks and toughens in the heat. Leave the fat itself; on a saddle it is the whole point.
- One hour is a guide, not a ruleCook to internal temperature at the thickest part of a loin, away from bone: 130-135F for pink, which is where lamb loin belongs. A 5 lb saddle will reach that in roughly 55-70 minutes at the temperatures above. Rest it 15 minutes tented before carving.
- The two tablespoons of waterThat is not braising liquid, it is insurance against the drippings scorching in a shallow pan. Top it up if the pan runs dry, and keep the meat itself above the liquid on a rack if you have one.
- CarvingCut the strings, then carve each loin in long strips parallel to the backbone, or in thin slices across it down to the bone. The tenderloins on the underside come away in one piece each and are the best of it.
- Mint sauce, not jellyThe sauce assumed here is the English kind: finely chopped mint steeped in hot vinegar with a little sugar, served cold and thin. American mint jelly is a different condiment and a sweeter one.
The saddle is a joint of prestige rather than economy — it wastes the flanks as covering, needs a large oven and carves best in front of the company, which is why it is so at home in the hotel and restaurant cookery of the early twentieth century. The International Cook Book came out of that professional world, and the method here is the classic French selle d'agneau handled with almost no seasoning beyond salt, pepper and butter, on the principle that a good loin needs nothing else. The mint sauce alongside is the English contribution: a sharp vinegar-and-mint relish for lamb is documented in English cookery from at least the eighteenth century, and the pairing was familiar enough that a book like this could name it in a title without explanation.