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Spring Lamb Steaks, Bearnaise
Procure three even slices, about three-quarters of a pound each and one inch in thickness, from a leg of spring lamb; neatly flatten with a cleaver and make a few small incisions on the skin all around the steaks. Season all over with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper. Thoroughly heat two tablespoons lard in a frying pan, lay the steaks in the pan, one beside another, and briskly fry on the range for six minutes on each side. Dress on a hot dish, decorate with a little watercress and serve with a hot Bearnaise sauce in a saucebowl separately.
A straightforward pan-fry that stands or falls on the cut and the sauce. The only real hazard is the twelve minutes of total cooking time, which will take an inch-thick lamb steak well past pink.
- The cutSlices cut straight across a leg of lamb — sometimes sold as leg steaks or lamb round steaks — each with a section of the round leg bone. Three-quarters of a pound each at one inch thick is generous; ask a butcher to cut them, since most retail packs are thinner.
- Twelve minutes is too longSix minutes a side on a one-inch steak will bring it to well done and grey through. Three to four minutes a side over high heat gives 130–135F at the centre for medium-rare, which is where leg lamb is at its best. Rest five minutes before serving.
- Score the fat, not the meatThe "small incisions on the skin all around" means cutting through the rim of fat and connective tissue at intervals so the steak does not curl and cup in the pan. Cut just to the meat, no further.
- LardThe recipe specifies two tablespoons of lard, one of several common frying fats of the period. Clarified butter, beef dripping or a neutral high-smoke-point oil all work; whole butter alone will burn at the heat needed here.
- Flattening"Neatly flatten with a cleaver" is best read as evening the thickness rather than tenderising: use the flat of the blade or a heavy pan. Do not pound it thin — the steaks start at an inch and want to stay close to it for uniform cooking.
- BéarnaiseB his the entry — the recipe assumes the cook knows it: a reduction of vinegar, shallot and tarragon finished as an emulsion of egg yolk and butter. Make it last, hold it barely warm, and never over direct heat or it will break.
- YieldThree steaks of twelve ounces each will serve three generously or six modestly if carved off the bone and portioned onto plates.
Leg steaks with b o the hotel-and-restaurant French repertoire that chefs such as Alexander Filippini and his contemporaries carried into American kitchens at the turn of the century — a plain grilled or fried piece of meat, a green garnish, and a sauce served separately in its own bowl. B is generally traced to the Pavillon Henri IV at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the 1830s, its name nodding to B the birthplace of Henri IV, though the connection is traditional rather than documented. "Spring lamb" meant something more specific then than now: young animals born in late winter and killed at a few months old, available seasonally rather than year-round, and priced accordingly. Watercress was a conventional garnish for fried and grilled meats in this repertoire, and a peppery raw green still works against rich meat and an egg-and-butter sauce.