Home › Sandwiches › Lamb Breasts Braised
Lamb Breasts Braised
Braise two breasts of lamb, using white stock in the pot; when done take up carefully, remove all the bones and reserve them for use as cutlet bones, and press the meat between two dishes until cold and firm. This may be cut up when wanted into cutlet-shaped pieces, stick in a small bone in the narrow end to give it a more natural appearance. Make a sauce of the stock in which the breasts of lamb were praised by adding two or three very fresh mushrooms and stewing gently until reduced to a proper thickness; then add the yolks of three eggs to a pint of sauce, a little cream, a pat of butter and a little lemon juice (if desired), and stew again, but do not boil or you will curdle the eggs. when this sauce is cold spread a thick coating of it over the cutlets as prepared above, then roll in cracker or bread crumbs, dip in well-beaten egg, then again roll in crumbs, fry in deep fat to a rich brown, garnish with peas and serve very hot. As a variation you may serve either spinach, cucumbers, or asparagus, or you may serve with the cutlets some white sauce. Another way of cooking the cutlets is to coat very lightly with the sauce as indicated above, and then bread crumb them twice over the sauce, first dipped in beaten egg and then in clarified butter, over which bread crumb them a second time. Fry them a light brown in butter, drain on paper and serve with any vegetables you may wish or have, for a garnish. If cooked the latter way, be careful that you do not burn the cutlet. Of course it is not necessary to cut the pressed lamb into cutlet shape but it adds to the appearance of the dish, and we must pay some attention to appearances.
A classic braise-press-crumb-fry treatment of lamb breast, written for a cook who already knows how to braise. The hinge is temperature control in two places: the egg-yolk sauce must never boil, and the pressed meat must be thoroughly cold before it is coated.
- What to buyTwo breasts of lamb, bone in, run roughly 1.5-2 lb each and are usually among the cheaper lamb cuts; the same primal is sometimes sold cut down as riblets or Denver ribs. Ask for them whole and untrimmed rather than cut into strips, or the pressing step is impossible.
- The braiseCover the breasts with white stock (an unroasted veal or chicken stock, kept pale) and cook covered at a bare simmer for about 2 to 2.5 hours, until a bone pulls clean. The book assumes you know the method; low and slow is the whole of it.
- PressingBone the breasts while hot, lay them flat between two trays or sheet pans, weight with a few cans and refrigerate overnight. Cold and firm means genuinely cold through; warm meat will not cut into clean cutlet shapes.
- The bonesThe reserved rib bones are decorative only. Scrape them clean, boil briefly and dry them before pushing one into the narrow end of each cutlet.
- The sauce is a liaison, not a custardReduce the braising liquid with the mushrooms, then temper the three yolks into it off the heat and hold it below about 180F. "Stew again, but do not boil" is literal: past roughly 185F the yolks scramble and the coating breaks. Three yolks to a pint, over a well-reduced and gelatinous braising liquid, gives a sauce firm enough when cold to be spread and crumbed.
- "Praised"A typesetting slip for "braised." Nothing is missing from the method.
- FryingDeep fat at 350-375F, two or three minutes, just long enough to brown and heat the interior; the meat is already cooked. In the second version the clarified butter belongs to the coating, and the cutlets are fried in butter over moderate heat, which is why the original warns against burning.
- YieldTwo breasts, pressed and trimmed, give roughly eight to twelve cutlets, enough for four to six as a main course.
- Cool it fastBoth the pressed meat and the sauce should go into the refrigerator promptly rather than being left to cool on a sideboard as the original assumes. Chill the sauce in a shallow dish so it sets quickly.
This is the old French épigramme d'agneau in English dress: a braised lamb breast boned, pressed flat under weights, cut into cutlet shapes, breaded and fried, often served alongside true rib chops so that a cheap cut and an expensive one arrive on the same platter. The name is generally traced to an eighteenth-century joke about a hostess who ordered "epigrams" for dinner and got a dish instead of witticisms; the story is traditional rather than documented, but the technique itself is firmly attested through nineteenth-century professional cookery. What the recipe really shows is the period's respect for the cheapest end of the lamb, and its willingness to spend hours of labour making it look like something dearer. The closing line -- "we must pay some attention to appearances" -- is the whole ethic of turn-of-the-century table cookery in nine words.