_To select._--The flesh must be like that of mutton, rather black, and
the fat white.
There is no difference in the wether and ewe. The shorter the quarters
are the better the meat, and the fore as well as the hind quarter. With
the exception that the breast-piece is prepared also in _epigramme_, and
that it is cut in quarters instead of dividing it like mutton, lamb may
be prepared in the same and every way like mutton. The quarters may be
prepared like shoulder, leg, and saddle of mutton.
_Chops_ may be cut and prepared the same as mutton-chops.
_Fore-Quarter._--According to the opinion of a great many epicures, the
fore-quarter is the best part of the lamb; but, as we have previously
said, every one to his liking.
Lard it slightly, and envelop it with buttered paper, place it upon the
spit before a good fire; when done take from the fire, and take the
paper off, sprinkle on it salt, pepper, and chopped parsley; put back on
the spit before a sharp fire, just long enough to allow it to take a
fine color; then take off, run a knife under the shoulder to make a
small hole, pour _maitre d'hotel_ sauce in it, and serve either as it
is, with its gravy, or on a _puree_ of sorrel.
_To bake it._--Put it in a baking-pan, spread a little salt, pepper, and
butter over it; cover it with a piece of buttered paper; have the bottom
of the pan covered with cold water and put in a warm oven, baste often
till done. If the paper burns, put on another piece. Run a small knife
or a skewer into the meat, to ascertain when properly done.
It may be served with the gravy only, after having removed the fat, or
with a _piquante_, _poivrade_, or _maitre d'hotel_ sauce.
It is also served with a garniture of mushrooms or onions, or with a
_macedoine_, or on a _puree_ of spinach, or of sorrel.
_Hind-Quarter._--Throw it in boiling water for five minutes, and drain.
Put in a stewpan a piece of butter the size of an egg, and set on the
fire; when melted, mix in it a tablespoonful of flour; after which, pour
in, little by little, a pint and a half of boiling water, stirring with
a wooden spoon all the time; then put the meat in the pan, add four
onions, a bay-leaf, two cloves, three sprigs of parsley, two of thyme,
salt, and pepper; about fifteen minutes before it is done, add two or
three mushrooms cut in slices, take from the fire when cooked, place the
meat on a dish with the mushrooms and onions around, or if preferred,
without either; strain the sauce on the meat, and serve.
If the sauce is not thick enough, mix the yolk of an egg in it just
before serving.
_Roasted._--Roast and serve the hind-quarter in the same way as directed
for the fore-quarter.
_Baked._--Bake and serve it also in the same and every way like the
fore-quarter.
_Epigramme._--Put a breast of lamb in a saucepan, cover it with cold
water, season with a small onion and one clove stuck in it, two stalks
of parsley, a piece of carrot, one of turnip, and salt. Boil gently till
you can pull off the bones easily. It may also be boiled in the
soup-kettle while making broth. When the bones come off easily, take
from the fire, pull out all the small bones and cut out the large one.
Place the breast in a large bakepan, with some weight over so as to
flatten it, and leave it so till perfectly cold. Then cut it in pieces
of rhombic shape about four inches long and two inches broad; salt and
pepper each piece on both sides; dip them in beaten egg, roll in
bread-crumbs and fry them with a little butter, and serve on a tomato,
_piquante_, _ravigote_, or _soubise_ sauce, or on any _puree_.
When the sauce is spread on the dish, place the pieces of lamb all
around it, one lapping over the other, and forming a kind of oblong
string, and serve warm.
_Another._--When the _epigramme_ is prepared as above and ready to be
served, have as many mutton-chops as you have pieces of meat from the
breast; dish in the same way, except that you put one piece of the
breast and then a mutton-chop fried in the same way as the pieces of
meat; the chops lapping over the pieces of breast, and _vice versa_.
_Broiled._--The same may be broiled instead of fried, and served in the
same way.
_Roasted entire._--Skewer a lamb properly on the spit, envelop it with
buttered paper, place before a good fire, baste often with melted butter
first, and then with the drippings; when nearly done take the paper off,
let the lamb take a fine color around, and serve it with the gravy. It
may be served with a garniture around and decorated with skewers, the
same as directed for fillet of beef; it then makes a sightly as well as
a delicious dish.
Served with a garniture and decorated as directed for a fillet of beef,
it is served as a _releve_ at a grand dinner, and as an _entree_ at a
family dinner.
_Cold._--Cold lamb is served in every way like cold mutton. A part left
from a roasted piece may be enveloped in buttered paper, put on the spit
just long enough to warm it, and served just in the same way as roast
lamb.
_Lamb's head_, _feet_, _kidneys_, etc., are prepared and served like the
same parts of the sheep, and as directed in the different receipts.