And the price of spring lamb has dropped perceptibly too by this time.
Now, please, whichever part of the lamb you select, don't have it
roasted. Have it sliced for steaks, and broiled to the stage most in
favor in your family circle, then salted well, but buttered sparingly,
as you must--there is no use in trying to dodge the issue--serve a
Béarnaise sauce with lamb steak. Have lobster salad without the
lobster, omit the crabs from devilled crabs, if it pleases you, but
never under any circumstances serve a lamb steak without a Béarnaise
sauce. It would be barbarism--nothing short of it! And to make the
sauce? Well, put into a saucepan a gill of vinegar and water, equal
parts, half a teaspoonful of minced onion, and a few tarragon leaves.
Let this cook, tightly covered, till reduced one-half; then take it
off the fire, and when cold mix with it the well-beaten yolks of four
eggs; season with salt and mignonette, and return to the fire; add
slowly to it three ounces of melted butter, stirring continually till
it thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise. Then strain it through a
fine sieve, and add to it chopped tarragon, a teaspoonful, and the
same quantity of chopped parsley.