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A Loin of Lamb Roast
Remove the outer skin carefully and sear; roast lamb an hour and seven minutes.
Two lines of instruction that assume the cook already knows what a loin of lamb looks like and how her range behaves. The gaps are worth filling in.
- The "outer skin"This is the fell, the papery membrane over the fat. On a loin it shrinks and tightens in the oven, so removing it is right; on a leg many butchers still leave it on to hold the joint's shape.
- Sear means searIn a modern oven the equivalent is a very hot start, 450-475F for the first ten to fifteen minutes, then dropping to moderate, about 325-350F, for the rest. A hot pan on the stovetop does the same job for a boned loin. The book itself gives no temperature; period cooks worked from a 'quick' oven judged by feel.
- That oddly exact hour and seven minutesBooks of this era commonly gave roasting as minutes per pound, and this may be such a figure already worked out for a particular joint, though the book does not say so. Treat it as an indication rather than a rule.
- Cook to temperature, not the clockA loin is lean and small, and an hour will overshoot most of them. Pull at 130-135F at the thickest point for pink, 140-145F for medium. A bone-in loin of about 4 lb will reach that well inside the stated hour.
- Period tasteLamb of this date was often cooked through and grey-brown at the center. If you want the meat as the author may have intended, cook it further.
- RestingNot mentioned. Ten to fifteen minutes loosely covered before carving, or the juices run out onto the board.
- YieldA whole loin of about 4 lb bone-in serves four to five; boned and rolled, about three.
- What went with itMint sauce, currant jelly, or a gravy made from the pan drippings with a little stock were the usual accompaniments for roast lamb; the recipe itself specifies none.
Terseness like this is a house style rather than carelessness. The Twentieth Century Cook Book belongs to a generation of American compilations that gave a joint, a method and a time rather than a full lesson. Loin of lamb was a choice cut of a spring animal and carried a price to match. The searing-then-moderate method described here predates reliable oven thermostats; cooks judged a 'quick' oven by holding a hand inside or by how fast a scattering of flour browned, and a timing given to the minute was a way of imposing precision on a range that offered none.