CHAPTER SEVEN
MEAT
FACED the awesome problem of what to choose from among the wonderful store of French recipes for beef, lamb, pork, ham, sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and brains, we have picked those which seemed to us especially French, or of particular interest to American cooks. We have not gone into roast beef or broiled chops as they are practically the same everywhere. Besides numerous traditional dishes, we have included a number of French regional recipes for ragoûts, stews, and daubes; their comparative economy and ease of execution, in addition to their robust flavors, make them most appealing.
For those who have collections of original French recipes, or who are living in France, we have in most instances given translations, approximations, or explanations of French meat cuts. Cross-cultural comparisons are a maze of complication as the systems of the two countries are entirely different: the French cut meat following muscle separations, while American butchers usually cut across the grain. Identification is made more confusing as different regions in each country use different names for the same cuts. We have used the Chicago terminology for American cuts, and the Paris terminology for French cuts.
Any cook or housewife is well advised to learn as much as possible about grades and cuts of beef, as a vague beef-buyer is open to countless unnecessary disappointments and expenses. Both the grade of beef and the cut determine the cooking method. Beef carcasses are divided into five grades which are rated according to the form and shape of the carcass, the amount and distribution of fat, and the color and quality of the flesh, fat, and bone. Some packers use their own wording. Federal meat inspectors use Prime, Choice, Good, Commercial, and Utility in descending order, and stamp the grade on the beef so it is visible for each retail cut. Grade is an indication of flavor and tenderness especially for roasting and broiling cuts. A Choice or Prime sirloin steak or roast will be more tender and juicy than one graded Good because the flesh of the latter is less marbled with fat. Chuck or rump from a Good carcass will be quite tough when roasted, while the same cut from a Choice carcass should be reasonably tender. However, both cuts are suitable for braising, so there is no reason to buy Prime beef when Good will do. At most retail markets, the higher grades used for roasting and broiling are aged from three to six weeks to improve their flavor and tenderness.
The best way to learn beef cuts is step by step, or cut by cut. You could begin by peering closely at sirloin steaks every time you go into a market. Is the flesh cherry red and marbled with little veins of fat, and is the surrounding fat creamy white and firm? If so, it is a Choice or Prime steak. Is it a double-bone or round-bone sirloin—the two best cuts, or is it from the wedge-bone or pinbone end? When you feel you have mastered the sirloin, you might move to the leg, familiarizing yourself with top round, bottom round, and sirloin tip. Then proceed to other cuts. Ask questions. Your butcher will be much more interested in serving you well if you show interest in learning about his meat.
French and American methods for cutting up a beef carcass are so dissimilar that it is rarely possible to find in America the same steak cut you could find in France. But this is a point of small significance as the various steak recipes differ from one another only in their sauces, butters, or garnitures.
In France the tenderloin or filet, which runs from the thirteenth rib to the rump, is usually removed in one piece. Then the loin strip, under which the filet was cut, is boned and used for steaks or roasts. Thus there is neither short loin nor sirloin left intact, and consequently no T-bone, porterhouse, or sirloin steak. The best part of the rib-roast section is usually boned and cut into rib steaks called entrecôtes.
CUTS FOR STEAK
Since you often find French steak names on a menu, here is a list explaining them.
Entrecôte. Rib steak, or rib eye steak, from the rib-roast section, ribs 9 to 11. Delmonico or club steak, cut from the rib end of the short loin, is a near equivalent.
Romsteck, or Rumsteck. Rump steak, cut from the end of a rump which faces the sirloin. Rump steaks must be from a well aged Prime or Choice carcass to be tender.
Faux Filet, or Contre Filet. Loin strip steak, or strip steak, corresponds to the loin part of a porterhouse or T-bone steak rather than to the tenderloin part. Top-quality strip steaks are rarely available in American retail markets because of the heavy call for porterhouse and T-bone steaks. Delmonico or club steak is practically equivalent.
Bifteck. Tenderloin butt, or New York butt, cut from the larger and less tender end of the filet, which also makes up the best part of a sirloin steak. In France the term bifteck can also include any lean, boneless steak such as a trimmed Delmonico, club, strip, or rump steak, or a tender steak from the round or chuck. We shall also include T-bone, porterhouse, and sirloin as biftecks.
If the filet is taken from a large Choice or Prime carcass, the meat should be 3½ to 4 inches in diameter at the heart, and the slices delicately marbled with fat. Because most butchers reserve their best beef carcasses for T-bone and porterhouse steaks, it is not always possible to find a filet of this size and quality.
Whole Filet of Beef
Untrimmed Center Cut of Filet, the Châteaubriand Section
Bifteck, or tenderloin butt, is considered to be the less tender part of the filet and is classified in the preceding list of steaks.
Tournedos Wrapped in a Strip of Pork Fat
Châteaubriand (which can also be spelled with a final “t” rather than “d”) corresponds to the tenderloin portion of a Choice or Prime porterhouse steak. It is cut 2 inches thick, should weigh a pound or more before trimming, and is always broiled or grilled. A thinner steak cut from this portion of the tenderloin is called a filet.
Tournedos and filet mignons, which become progressively smaller near the tail of the filet, correspond to the tenderloin of T-bone steaks.
WINE SUGGESTIONS
With all but the filet steaks, which are discussed separately, serve a good, rather young red wine with a certain amount of body, such as a Côtes du Rhône, Bordeaux-St. Émilion, or Beaujolais.
Bifteck et pommes frites are just as popular in France as steak and baked potatoes are in America. A good change from the old rhythm would be the garlic mashed potatoes or one of the scalloped potato casseroles or potatoes sautéed in butter. Vegetables which would go well include the following:
Buttered green peas, or beans, or Brussels sprouts
Ratatouille, egg plant casserole
Here are some of the classical French vegetable garnitures for a steak platter:
Beauharnais, stuffed mushrooms, artichoke hearts cooked in butter
Brabançonne, Brussels sprouts with cheese sauce, potato balls sautéed in butter
Catalane, stuffed tomatoes, artichoke hearts cooked in butter
Chartres, stuffed mushrooms, braised lettuce
Choron, artichoke hearts filled with buttered peas, potato balls sautéed in butter
Maillot, glazed turnips, carrots, and onions, with braised lettuce and buttered green peas and beans
Sévigné, braised lettuce broiled mushrooms, potatoes sautéed in butter
BIFTECK SAUTÉ AU BEURRE[Pan-broiled Steak]
Pan-broiled steak is very French and also a very nice method for cooking small steaks. None of the juice essences are lost, and it is easy to tell when the steak is done.
A 1-inch steak takes 8 to 10 minutes to cook, and the sauce, or pan gravy, 1 to 2 minutes to prepare after the steak is on its platter. The sauce, you will observe, is a deglazing of the pan with stock, wine, or water, and a swish of butter at the end. It is purely an extension of the pan juices, and amounts to only 1 or 2 tablespoons of buttery, concentrated essence per serving.
KIND OF STEAK TO BUY
In France you would select an entrecôte, romsteck, faux-filet, or bifteck. In America buy any tender, well-aged ¾- to 1-inch steak or steaks which will fit easily into a skillet such as:
| Club or Delmonico | Small Sirloin | Tenderloin Butt |
| T-Bone | Loin Strip Steak | Rump Steak |
| Porterhouse | Rib Steak | Chuck Steak |
AMOUNT TO BUY
One pound of boneless steak will serve 2 people, 3 if the rest of the menu is copious. For large sirloins, T-bones, and porterhouse steaks, count on about ¾ pound per person.
PREPARATION FOR COOKING
Trim off excess fat. Cut small incisions around the circumference of the steak wherever there is a layer of gristle, usually between the fat and the meat. This will prevent the steak from curling as it cooks. Dry the steak thoroughly on paper towels. It will not brown if it is moist.
For 4 to 6 people, depending on your menu
One or two heavy skillets just large enough to hold the meat easily in one layer
1½ Tb butter and 1½ Tb oil, or rendered fresh beef suet, more if needed
2 to 2½ lbs. steak ¾ to 1 inch thick
Put the butter and oil, or beef suet, in the skillet and place over moderately high heat until you see the butter foam begin to subside, or the beef fat almost smoking; this indicates the fat is hot enough to sear the meat. Sauté the steak on one side for 3 to 4 minutes, and regulate the heat so the fat is always very hot but is not burning. Turn the steak and sauté the other side for 3 to 4 minutes. The steak is done to a medium rare (à point) the moment you observe a little pearling of red juice beginning to ooze at the surface of the steak. Another test is to press the steak with your finger; it is medium rare when it just begins to take on a suggestion of resistance and spring in contrast to its soft raw state. If you have any doubts at all, cut a small incision in the steak.
Remove the steak to a hot platter and season it quickly with salt and pepper. Keep warm for a moment while completing the sauce.
½ cup stock, canned beef bouillon, red wine, dry white wine, dry white vermouth, or water
2 to 3 Tb softened butter
Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the liquid, and set the skillet over high heat. Scrape up coagulated juices with a wooden spoon while rapidly boiling down the liquid until it is reduced almost to a syrup. Off heat, swirl the butter into the liquid until it is absorbed; the butter will thicken the liquid into a light sauce. Pour the sauce over the steak and serve.
Any of the following are delicious when beaten into your sauce in place of plain butter. They are simply butters creamed with flavorings. If you are serving a broiled steak, spread one of the butters over it just before taking it to the table.
[Pan-broiled Steak, with Shallot and White Wine Sauce]
For broiled steak, use a beurre Bercy, and spread it over the steak just before serving.
For 4 to 6 people, depending on your menu
2 to 2½ lbs. steak
1 Tb butter
3 Tb minced shallots or green onions
Sauté the steak as described in the master recipe and remove it to a hot platter. Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the butter. Stir in the shallots or onions and cook slowly for a minute.
Pour the wine into the skillet and boil it down rapidly, scraping up the coagulated juices from the bottom of the pan until the liquid has reduced almost to a syrup.
4 to 6 Tb softened butter
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 Tb minced parsley
Optional: 2 to 3 Tb diced, poached beef marrow
Off heat, beat in the butter a spoonful at a time until it is absorbed and has thickened the sauce. Beat in salt and pepper to taste, then the parsley. Fold in the optional beef marrow. Spread sauce over the steak and serve.
Use the same procedure described for the preceding Bercy sauce, but substitute red wine for white. If you add the optional beef marrow, the sauce becomes a bordelaise.
[Pan-broiled Steak with Béarnaise Sauce]
For 4 to 6 people, depending on your menu
2 to 2½ lbs. steak
½ cup brown stock, canned beef bouillon, dry white wine, or dry white vermouth.
¾ cup sauce béarnaise
Sauté the steak as described in the master recipe, preceding. Deglaze skillet with stock, bouillon, or wine, boiling it down rapidly to reduce it to 1½ spoonfuls. Beat the liquid by droplets into the sauce béarnaise.
Sautéed or fried potatoes
Fresh water cress
A warmed sauceboat
Decorate the steak platter with sautéed or fried potatoes and fresh water cress. Serve the sauce in a warmed sauceboat.
[Pepper Steak with Brandy Sauce]
Steak au poivre can be very good when it is not so buried in pepper and doused with flaming brandy that the flavor of the meat is utterly disguised. In fact, we do not care at all for flaming brandy with this dish; it is too reminiscent of restaurant show-off cooking for tourists. And the alcohol taste, as it is not boiled off completely, remains in the brandy, spoiling the taste of the meat.
For 4 to 6 people, depending on your menu
2 Tb of a mixture of several kinds of peppercorns, or white peppercorns
Place the peppercorns in a big mixing bowl and crush them roughly with a pestle or the bottom of a bottle.
2 to 2½ lbs. steak ¾ to 1 inch thick
Dry the steaks on paper towels. Rub and press the crushed peppercorns into both sides of the meat with your fingers and the palms of your hands. Cover with waxed paper. Let stand for at least half an hour; two or 3 hours are even better, so the flavor of the pepper will penetrate the meat.
A hot platter
Salt
Sauté the steak in hot oil and butter as described in the preceding master recipe. Remove to a hot platter, season with salt, and keep warm for a moment while completing the sauce.
1 Tb butter
2 Tb minced shallots or green onions
½ cup stock or canned beef bouillon
⅓ cup cognac
3 to 4 Tb softened butter
Sautéed or fried potatoes
Fresh water cress
Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the butter and shallots or green onions and cook slowly for a minute. Pour in the stock or bouillon and boil down rapidly over high heat while scraping up the coagulated cooking juices. Then add the cognac and boil rapidly for a minute or two more to evaporate its alcohol. Off heat, swirl in the butter a half-tablespoon at a time. Decorate the platter with the potatoes and water cress. Pour the sauce over the steak, and serve.
Filets, Tournedos, Filet Mignons
Filets, tournedos, and filet mignons are steaks 1 inch thick cut from the filet of beef as illustrated. The filet, the largest, should be 3 to 3½ inches in diameter, the tournedos about 2½ inches, and the filet mignon can be as small as 1½ inches. Since they are all cooked and served in the same way, we shall refer to all three as tournedos in French, and as filet steaks in English. Filet steaks are trimmed of all fat and surrounding filament. The circumference is usually wrapped in a strip of fresh pork fat or blanched bacon, and tied with string so the steaks will keep their neat circular shape while they are being cooked. The string is removed before serving and also, if you wish, the strip of fat or bacon. Although filet steaks may be broiled, they are usually sautéed quickly in hot butter to a nice brown on the outside and a juicy red inside.
Filet steaks may be sauced and served exactly like the beefsteaks in the preceding recipes, but because of their expense they are usually surrounded with fine wines and truffles or other elaborations. They cook in 8 to 10 minutes, and the sauce takes about 2 minutes, so you can afford to spend a bit of time on the vegetables and garniture you wish to serve with them. Here are three classical combinations. See also the vegetable suggestions for steak.
TOURNEDOS SAUTÉS AUX CHAMPIGNONSA handsome presentation for these steaks would be a platter decorated with whole baked tomatoes, artichoke hearts cooked in butter, and potato balls sautéed in butter. Serve with them a good red Bordeaux from the Médoc district.
For 6 steaks
6 crustless rounds of white bread, 2½ inches in diameter and 3/16 inch thick
3 to 4 Tb clarified butter
Sauté bread rounds in hot clarified butter to brown very lightly on each side. Reheat them for a minute in a 350-degree oven just before serving.
½ lb. fresh mushrooms, whole if very small, quartered if large
2 Tb butter
1 Tb oil
2 Tb minced shallots or green onions
¼ tsp salt
Pinch of pepper
Sauté mushrooms in hot butter and oil for 5 minutes to brown them lightly. Stir in the shallots or onions and cook slowly for a minute or 2 more. Season, and set aside.
6 filet steaks 1 inch thick and 2½ inches in diameter, each wrapped in a strip of fat as illustrated on this page
2 Tb butter, more if needed
1 Tb oil
1 or 2 heavy skillets just large enough to hold the steaks easily
Dry the steaks on paper towels. Place the butter and oil in the skillet and set over moderately high heat. When you see the butter foam begin to subside, indicating it is hot enough to sear and brown the steaks, sauté them for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. They are medium rare if, when pressed with your finger, they offer a suggestion of resistance in contrast to their soft, raw state.
Salt and pepper
A warm serving platter
Immediately remove from heat. Discard the strings and, if you wish, the strip of fat. Season quickly with salt and pepper. Place each steak on a canapé, and keep warm for several minutes while preparing the sauce.
½ cup stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tb tomato paste
Pour the fat out of the skillet; stir in the stock or bouillon and tomato paste. Boil rapidly, scraping up the coagulated cooking juices, until liquid is reduced to 2 or 3 tablespoons.
¼ cup Madeira mixed with ½ Tb of arrowroot or cornstarch
2 Tb minced parsley, tarragon and chervil, or parsley only
Pour in the starch and wine mixture; boil rapidly for a minute to evaporate the alcohol and to thicken the sauce lightly. Then add the sautéed mushrooms and simmer a minute more to blend flavors. Correct seasoning. Spread the sauce and mushrooms over the steaks, sprinkle with herbs, and serve.
[Filet Steaks with Artichoke Bottoms and Béarnaise Sauce]
For 6 steaks
6 filet steaks sautéed in oil and butter
6 canapés (rounds of white bread sautéed in clarified butter)
¼ cup Madeira, dry white wine, or dry white vermouth
¼ cup beef stock or canned beef bouillon
6 fresh artichoke bottoms cooked in butter
¾ to 1 cup sauce béarnaise
Potato balls sautéed in butter, and rolled in 2 Tb minced parsley
Sauté the steaks as described in the master recipe. Season and place on canapés on a hot platter. Keep warm for a few minutes. Pour sauté fat out of skillet, add wine and stock or bouillon, and boil down rapidly reducing liquid to 3 tablespoons while scraping coagulated sauté juices into it. Spoon liquid over steaks. Top each steak with a hot artichoke bottom filled with béarnaise. Decorate platter with the hot potatoes and asparagus. Serve immediately.
A platter of tournedos Rossini takes the filet steak about as far as it can go. Were you living in France during the midwinter, your foie gras and truffles would, of course, be fresh. Most recipes use canapés (rounds of white bread sautéed in butter) as a bed for the steaks; we have chosen artichoke bottoms as a further improvement to an already elegant presentation.
Fitting accompaniments would be potato balls sautéed in butter, buttered peas, asparagus tips, or braised lettuce, and an excellent, château-bottled red Bordeaux from the Médoc district.
For 6 steaks
Slice each cooked artichoke bottom in two, horizontally. Season with salt, pepper, and melted butter. Place in a covered dish. Fifteen minutes before serving, heat them in a 350-degree oven.
6 slices canned “block” foie gras, ¼ inch thick and about 1½ inches in diameter
2 Tb Madeira
3 Tb rich stock, mushroom essence, or canned beef bouillon
Place the foie gras slices in a covered dish and baste with the Madeira and stock, essence, or bouillon. Ten minutes before serving, set over barely simmering water to heat through gently.
18 to 24 slices of canned truffle, 1/16 inch thick
2 Tb Madeira
Pinch of pepper
1 Tb butter
Place the truffle slices and their juices in a small saucepan with the Madeira, pepper, and butter. Five minutes before serving, warm over gentle heat.
6 filet steaks 1 inch thick and 2½ inches in diameter
Salt and pepper
Sauté the steaks as directed in the master recipe. Season with salt and pepper.
A warm serving platter
Arrange the hot artichoke bottoms on the serving platter and place a steak on each. Over each steak lay a warm slice of foie gras, and top with slices of truffle. Decorate the platter with whatever vegetables you have chosen, and keep warm for 2 to 3 minutes while finishing the sauce.
½ cup stock or canned bouillon
Juice from the foie gras and truffles
1 tsp arrowroot or cornstarch blended with 2 Tb Madeira
Salt and pepper
3 to 4 Tb softened butter
Pour the fat out of the steak skillet. Pour in the stock or bouillon, and the juices from the foie gras and truffles. Boil down rapidly, scraping up all coagulated juices, until liquid has reduced by half. Pour in the starch and wine mixture and simmer for a minute. Correct seasoning. Off heat, swirl in the butter. Pour the sauce over the steaks and serve.
Shock is the reaction of some Americans we have encountered who learn that real French people living in France eat hamburgers. They do eat them, and when sauced with any of the suggestions in the following recipes, the French hamburger is an excellent and relatively economical main course for an informal party. Serve with them the same types of red wines and vegetables listed for steaks.
The best hamburgers are made from the leanest beef. Actually some of the least expensive cuts, chuck and neck, are the most flavorful. Top sirloin, rump, and round are really second choice for hamburgers although they are more expensive. Be fussy in choosing your meat; have all the fat and sinews removed, and have it ground before your eyes or better, grind it yourself. The fat content of hamburger should be only 8 to 10 per cent, or 1¼ to 1½ ounces per pound. This may be in the form of butter, ground beef suet, beef marrow, or ground fresh pork fat.
BIFTECK HACHÉ À LA LYONNAISE[Ground Beef with Onions and Herbs]
For 6 hamburgers
¾ cup finely minced yellow onions
2 Tb butter
Cook the onions slowly in the butter for about 10 minutes until very tender but not browned. Place in a mixing bowl.
1½ lbs. lean, ground beef
2 Tb softened butter, ground beef suet, beef marrow, or fresh pork fat
1½ tsp salt
⅛ tsp pepper
⅛ tsp thyme
1 egg
Add the beef, butter or fat, seasonings, and egg to the onions in the mixing bowl and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly. Correct seasoning. Form into patties ¾ inch thick. Cover with waxed paper and refrigerate until ready to use.
½ cup flour spread on a plate
Just before sautéing, roll the patties lightly in the flour. Shake off excess flour.
1 Tb butter and 1 Tb oil, or sufficient to film the bottom of the skillet
1 or 2 heavy skillets just large enough to hold the patties easily in one layer
Place the butter and oil in the skillet and set over moderately high heat. When you see the butter foam begin to subside, indicating it is hot enough to sear the meat, sauté the patties for 2 to 3 minutes or more on each side, depending on whether you like your hamburgers rare, medium, or well done.
Arrange the hamburgers on the serving platter and keep warm for a moment while finishing the sauce.
½ cup beef stock, canned beef bouillon, dry white wine, dry white vermouth, red wine, or ¼ cup water
2 to 3 Tb softened butter
Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the liquid and boil it down rapidly, scraping up the coagulated pan juices, until it has reduced almost to a syrup. Off heat, swirl the butter by half-tablespoons into the sauce until it is absorbed. Pour the sauce over the hamburgers and serve.
Ingredients for 6 plain beef hamburgers or the preceding flavored hamburgers
Sauté the hamburgers in oil and butter as described in the preceding master recipe. Remove them to a hot serving platter.
¼ cup stock or canned beef bouillon
⅔ cup whipping cream
Salt and pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
Drops of lemon juice
Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the stock or bouillon and boil it down rapidly, scraping up coagulated cooking juices, until reduced almost to a syrup. Pour in the cream and boil it down rapidly for a minute or two until it has reduced, and thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and drops of lemon juice.
2 to 3 Tb softened butter
2 Tb minced green herbs such as parsley, chives, tarragon, chervil, or parsley only
Off heat, swirl in the butter by half-tablespoons until it is absorbed. Stir in the herbs, spoon the sauce over the hamburgers, and serve.
Any of the butters listed here may be swirled into the skillet after it has been deglazed with stock, wine, or water.
Any of the following sauces are made separately. After the hamburgers have been sautéed and removed from the skillet, the sauce is poured in and boiled for a moment while the coagulated sauté juices are scraped into it. The sauce is then poured over the hamburgers.
Sauce Tomate, or Coulis de Tomates, tomato sauce
Sauce Poivrade, brown sauce with strong pepper flavoring
Sauce Robert, brown sauce with mustard
Sauce Brune aux Fines Herbes, brown sauce with herbs or tarragon
Sauce Madère, brown sauce with Madeira wine
Sauce au Cari, brown sauce with curry and onions
See also the red wine and the white wine sauce for steaks on this page, and the mushroom sauce for filet steak on this page.
FILET DE BOEUF BRAISÉ PRINCE ALBERTHere is a magnificent recipe for an important dinner, and it is not a difficult one in spite of the luxury of its details. We have chosen braised filet because it is more unusual than roast filet. Everything except the actual cooking of the meat may be done in advance as indicated by the asterisk in the recipe.
Braised lettuce and potato balls sautéed in butter would go beautifully with this, and you should accompany it with a fine chateau-bottled red Bordeaux from the Médoc district. See also the other vegetables suggested for steaks.
For 8 people
4 to 6 canned truffles about 1 inch in diameter
3 Tb Madeira
Cut the truffles in quarters. Place in a small bowl with juice from the can and the Madeira. Cover and marinate while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
The braising vegetables (matignon)
¾ cup each: finely diced carrots and onions
½ cup finely diced celery
3 Tb diced boiled ham
¼ tsp salt
Pinch of pepper
A small herb bouquet: 2 parsley sprigs, ⅓ bay leaf, ⅛ tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth
3 Tb butter
⅓ cup Madeira
Cook the vegetables, ham, seasonings, herbs, and butter slowly together in a small covered saucepan for 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but not browned. Then pour in the wine and boil it down rapidly until it has almost entirely evaporated. Set aside.
The foie gras stuffing
2 Tb very finely minced shallots or green onions
1 Tb butter
4 ounces or ½ cup mousse de foie d’oie (or “block” foie gras, which is much more expensive but also much better)
1 Tb Madeira
1 Tb cognac
Pinch of allspice
Pinch of thyme
⅛ tsp pepper
Cook the shallots or onions slowly in butter for 3 minutes in a small saucepan without browning them. Scrape into a mixing bowl. Beat in the foie gras and other ingredients. Correct seasoning.
A 3-lb. trimmed filet of beef, at least 3 inches in diameter
Salt and pepper
Cut a deep slit down the length of the least presentable side of the filet, going to within ¼ inch of the two ends and to within ¼ inch of the other side, or top. Season the interior of the slit lightly with salt and pepper, and spread it with the foie gras mixture. Insert the truffles in a line down the center of the filled slit—reserve their marinade for later. Do not stuff the filet so full that the slit cannot be closed.
Lay the pork fat or bacon strips the length of the closed slit. Tie securely but not too tightly with loops of white string at 1-inch intervals.
Braising the filet
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A heavy, oval, fireproof casserole just large enough to hold the filet
2 Tb butter
1 Tb oil
Salt and pepper
A meat thermometer
Brown the filet lightly on all sides in the casserole in hot butter and oil. Discard the browning fat. Season the meat lightly with salt and pepper. (Insert meat thermometer, unless you are using the “instant” kind.) Spread the cooked vegetables over the filet.
(*) May be prepared in advance to this point.
2 to 3 cups good brown stock or canned beef bouillon (or a very good brown sauce, in which case the starch liaison at the end of the recipe is omitted)
An oval of aluminum foil
A bulb baster
Pour in enough stock, bouillon, or sauce to come half way up the sides of the filet. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove. Lay foil over the meat. Cover the casserole and set in lower third of pre-heated oven for 45 to 55 minutes. Regulate heat so liquid remains at a very slow boil. Baste the meat with the braising stock 3 or 4 times during its cooking. The filet is done at a meat-thermometer reading of 125 degrees for rare beef, or 135 for medium rare, and if, when you press the filet with your finger, it offers a slight resistance in contrast to its soft, raw state.
A hot serving platter
Place the filet slit-side down on a hot serving platter after removing the trussing strings and pork fat or bacon. The meat should cool for 10 minutes or more before carving, so that its juices will retreat back into the tissues.
Sauce and serving
Wine marinade from the truffles
Skim the fat off the braising juices. Pour the truffle marinade into them, and rapidly boil down this liquid until it has reduced to about 2 cups and its flavor is rich and concentrated.
1 Tb arrowroot or cornstarch mixed with 2 Tb Madeira
Optional: 2 or 3 Tb diced truffles
Beat in the starch mixture (unless you have used the brown sauce) and the optional truffles. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, then correct seasoning. The diced matignon vegetables remain in the sauce.
Decorate the platter with whatever vegetables you have chosen. Pour a spoonful or two of the sauce and diced vegetables over the meat, and pass the rest of the sauce in a bowl. The filet is carved into crosswise slices about ⅜ inch thick.
If you do not wish to stuff the filet, cook it exactly the same way but without slitting and filling it. When you have placed it on a serving platter, you may garnish the top with broiled mushroom caps alternating with sliced truffles.
The following marinade is particularly good if you do not have top-quality filet.
½ cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
¼ cup Madeira
2 Tb cognac
1 tsp salt
6 peppercorns
¼ tsp thyme
¼ tsp basil
3 parsley sprigs
3 Tb minced shallots or green onions
2 or more canned truffles and their juice
Place the raw, trimmed filet in an enameled or pyrex dish or casserole. Pour on the wines and mix in the seasonings, herbs, shallots or onions, and truffles. Cover and marinate for 6 hours or overnight, turning the meat and basting it several times. Drain and dry the meat thoroughly before browning it. Include the marinade, but not the truffles, with your braising liquid. Reserve the truffles for your sauce.
Pot-au-feu
POTÉE NORMANDE[Boiled Beef with Pork, Chicken, Sausage, and Vegetables]
Here is a sumptuous family-style boiled dinner which will serve 12 or more, and always makes a great hit with guests. It is brought to the table in its kettle or a reasonable facsimile, looking for all the world like a plain pot-au-feu. The host starts the proceedings as usual by spearing out the beef and placing it on a platter. Then he finds a sausage, and after that a big piece of pork. Finally, to wild acclaim, he brings out a chicken. Two or three sauces may be served, such as a cream sauce with mustard and tomato, an herbal mayonnaise, and a big bowl of the cooking stock. The potée, like all boiled dinners, is easy on the cook because it can simmer quietly by itself for 4 to 5 hours and if it is done before serving time, it can remain in its kettle where it will keep warm for a good hour.
VEGETABLE AND WINE SUGGESTIONS
Carrots, turnips, onions, and leeks cook along with the meats. Boiled potatoes, risotto, or buttered noodles are prepared and served separately. A nice, simple red wine goes well: Beaujolais, Bordeaux, or Chianti, or a chilled rosé.
BEEF CUTS FOR BOILING—POT-AU-FEU
First Choice: Rump Pot Roast—Pointe de Culotte or Aiguillette de Rum-steck
Other Choices: Sirloin Tip, Knuckle—Tranche Grasse
Bottom Round—Gîte à la Noix
Chuck Pot Roast—Paleron or Macreuse à Pot-au-feu
Brisket—Milieu de Poitrine
For 12 to 16 people
A kettle large enough to hold all the ingredients listed
Beef (cooking time 2½ to 3 hours): a 4-lb. boneless piece of rump pot roast, sirloin tip, bottom round, chuck pot roast, or brisket
Pork (cooking time about 3 hours): a 4-lb. piece from the butt, picnic, rolled shoulder, or fresh ham
Chicken (cooking time 2½ to 3 hours): a 4-lb. ready-to-cook stewing hen of good quality
Sausage (cooking time 30 minutes): 2 lbs. lightly smoked country or Polish sausage
All the meats and vegetables listed at the left are simmered together in the kettle, but are added at various times, depending on how long they take to cook. Start the cooking 5 hours before you expect to serve, to be sure the meats will be done. Trim excess fat off the beef and pork. Tie each piece so it will hold its shape during cooking. Truss the chicken. To each piece of meat and to the chicken, tie a string long enough to fasten to the handle of the kettle, so that the meats may be removed easily for testing.
NOTE: You could do with this chicken only, and it would be called a poule au pot.
Vegetable Garnish (cooking time 1½ hours): carrots, onions, turnips, and, if available, leeks; 1 to 2 of each vegetable per person
Prepare the vegetable garnish: Peel the carrots and turnips and quarter them lengthwise; peel the onions; trim and wash the leeks. Tie the vegetables in one or several bundles of washed cheesecloth so they may be removed easily from the kettle.
Soup Vegetables and Herbs:
3 scraped carrots
3 peeled onions, each stuck with a whole clove
2 scraped parsnips
2 celery stalks
2 leeks, if available
A large herb bouquet as follows: 6 parsley sprigs, 1 bay leaf, ½ tsp thyme, 4 garlic cloves, 8 peppercorns tied in cheesecloth
Cooking Stock: sufficient meat stock to cover ingredients by 6 inches; OR 3 cans of beef bouillon, 3 cans of chicken broth, and water
Optional: raw or cooked beef or veal bones, meat scraps, poultry carcasses, necks, gizzards
Place the beef in the kettle with the soup vegetables, herb bouquet, and optional bones and scraps. Cover with cooking stock by 6 inches. More liquid may be added later if necessary. Set kettle over moderate heat, bring to the simmer, skim. Partially cover the kettle and simmer slowly for 1 hour, skimming occasionally.
Add the pork and chicken. Bring kettle quickly back to the simmer. Skim. Simmer 1½ hours more and skim from time to time.
Then add the vegetable garnish and bring kettle quickly back to the simmer. Taste cooking stock for seasoning and salt lightly if necessary. Simmer 1½ to 2 hours more, adding the sausage ½ hour before the end. The meats and chicken are done when they are tender if pierced with a sharp-pronged fork or skewer. If any piece is tender before the others are done, remove to a bowl and keep moist with several ladlefuls of cooking stock. Return to kettle to reheat before serving.
(*) If the potée is ready before you are, it will stay warm for at least 45 minutes in the kettle, or may be reheated.
While the kettle is simmering, prepare one or two of the sauces suggested at the end of the recipe, using some of the liquid from the kettle if you need stock.
Drain the meats and the vegetable garnish. Discard trussing strings. Arrange vegetables on a large, hot platter and moisten them with a ladleful of cooking stock. Decorate with parsley. Either place the meats in a large casserole for presentation and carving at the table, or carve in the kitchen and arrange on a platter. Strain, degrease, and season enough cooking stock to fill a large serving bowl, and pass it along with whatever sauce or sauces you have chosen from the following suggestions.
Make 6 to 8 cups if only one sauce is to be served; 4 cups each if two sauces are served.
Sauce Alsacienne, hard-boiled egg mayonnaise with herbs, capers, and cooking stock
Sauce Nénette, heavy cream simmered until it has reduced and thickened, then flavored with mustard and tomato
Sauce Tomate or Coulis de Tomates, a good tomato sauce
Sauce Suprême, a velouté sauce made with the cooking stock, and enriched with cream
BOEUF À LA MODE[Beef Braised in Red Wine]
Braised beef is a wonderful party dish; it is not only delicious to smell, look at, and eat, but you have no worries about overdone meat, and you can cook it ahead of time if you need to. The following recipe calls for a 6- to 24-hour marination of the beef in red wine and aromatic vegetables before cooking. If you prefer to omit this step, pour the marinade ingredients into the casserole after browning the meat.
VEGETABLE AND WINE SUGGESTIONS
Boeuf à la mode is traditionally garnished with braised carrots and onions, and is usually accompanied by buttered noodles, parsley potatoes, or steamed rice. Other vegetables could be braised lettuce, celery, or leeks, or buttered green peas. Serve with it a good, characterful red wine, such as a Burgundy, Hermitage, Côte Rôtie, or Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
BEEF CUTS FOR BRAISING
Although it is not essential, beef for braising is usually larded. That is, strips of fresh pork fat are inserted into it, going in the direction of the grain. They baste the interior of the meat as it cooks, and make an attractive design when the meat is sliced. Most butchers will lard the meat for you.
Choose a piece of beef of at least 3 pounds, and, however long it is, its width should be at least 4 inches. It shrinks quite a bit during cooking. Count on 1 pound of boneless beef for 2 or 3 people.
First Choice: Rump Pot Roast—Pointe de Culotte, or Aiguillette de Rumsteck
Other Choices: Sirloin Tip, Knuckle—Tranche Grasse
For 10 to 12 people
Red wine marinade
An enameled, pyrex, or porcelain bowl just large enough to hold all the ingredients listed
1 cup each: thinly sliced carrots, onions, and celery stalks
2 halved cloves unpeeled garlic
1 Tb thyme
2 bay leaves
¼ cup minced parsley
2 whole cloves or 4 allspice berries
A 5-lb. piece of braising beef trimmed and tied for cooking
1 Tb salt
¼ tsp pepper
5 cups young red wine with body—Burgundy, Côtes du Rhône, Mâcon, or Chianti
⅓ cup brandy
½ cup olive oil
Place half the vegetables, herbs, and spices in the bottom of the bowl. Rub the meat with salt and pepper and place it over the vegetables. Spread the rest of the vegetables and herbs over the meat. Pour on the wine, brandy, and olive oil. Cover and marinate for at least 6 hours (12 to 24 hours if the meat is refrigerated). Turn and baste the meat every hour or so.
Half an hour before cooking, drain the meat on a rack. Just before browning, dry it thoroughly with paper towels. It will not brown if it is damp.
Browning and braising the beef
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A fireproof casserole or heavy roaster just large enough to hold the meat and braising ingredients
4 to 6 Tb rendered pork fat or cooking oil
Add the fat to the casserole and place over moderately high heat. When fat is on the point of smoking, brown the meat on all sides. This takes about 15 minutes. Pour out the browning fat.
(*) Recipe may be prepared in advance up to this point.
One or all of these to give body to the sauce:
1 or 2 cracked veal knuckles
1 or 2 split calf’s feet
4 to 8 ounces fresh pork rind, bacon rind, or ham rind simmered 10 minutes in a quart of water, rinsed, and drained
4 to 6 cups beef stock, or canned beef bouillon
Pour in the wine marinade and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced by half. Then add the veal knuckles, calf’s feet, and rind, and pour in enough stock or bouillon to come two thirds of the way up the beef. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove, skim, cover tightly, and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid remains at a gentle simmer for 2½ to 3 hours, and turn the meat several times during its braising. The beef is done when a sharp-pronged fork will pierce it easily.
While the beef is being braised, cook the carrots and onions. Set them aside until needed.
A hot serving platter
When the meat is tender, remove it to the platter. Discard trussing strings. Trim off any loose fat, and keep the meat warm while finishing the sauce (5 to 10 minutes).
1 Tb arrowroot or cornstarch mixed with 2 Tb Madeira or port, if needed
Skim the fat off the braising juices, and strain them through a sieve into a saucepan, pressing the liquid out of the vegetables. Simmer for a minute or two, skimming, then boil rapidly until liquid is reduced to about 3½ cups and is full of flavor. Taste carefully for seasoning. Sauce should be lightly thickened. If too thin, beat in the starch and wine mixture and simmer for 3 minutes. Then add the cooked carrots and onions and simmer for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
A slotted spoon
Parsley sprigs
A warmed sauceboat
Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon and arrange them around the meat. Decorate with parsley. Pour a bit of sauce over the meat and send the rest to the table in a warmed sauceboat. (Or carve the meat and arrange on the platter with the vegetables and parsley, and spoon some of the sauce over the meat.)
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES
For a wait of up to one hour, return meat, vegetables and sauce to casserole, cover loosely, and set over barely simmering water.
For a longer wait, slice the meat and arrange it on a fireproof platter. Place the vegetables around the meat. Baste with the sauce. Half an hour before serving, cover and reheat in a 350-degree oven. Leftover braised beef will be just as good the next day, heated up the same way.
This recipe for beef braised in red wine may easily be turned into an aspic by following the directions for boeuf à la mode en gelée. Cold braised beef may also be served as a salad, by following the directions for salade de boeuf à la parisienne.
From la vieille cuisine française comes an unusual way to serve braised beef for a dinner party. First the beef is braised; then meat is cut out from its top and center to leave a shell of beef which is crumbed and browned in the oven. The removed beef is chopped, combined with sautéed mushrooms, minced ham, and sauce, and is returned to the shell for serving. A nice thing about this recipe is that all may be readied in advance for a 5- to 10-minute heating just before serving.
For 10 to 12 people
Braising the beef
Braise the beef and make the sauce following the master recipe, but simmer the meat only until it is almost tender, about 3 hours for a 5-pound piece. It should still be firm enough to hold its shape when the shell is made. Choose a solid, lean piece of top round with no muscle separations. It should weigh at least 5 pounds and be cut into an even rectangular block about 5 inches wide and 5 inches deep.
Making the shell
When the meat is done, remove it from the sauce. Place it under a board and a 2-pound weight to preserve its shape for about an hour while it cools to tepid. Then trim it, if necessary, into a neat rectangle. Hollow out the center, leaving an open-topped rectangular trough or shell of meat with sides and bottom half an inch thick. Chop the removed meat, including any trimmed-off bits, into ⅛-inch pieces. Place them in a large, heavy-bottomed, enameled saucepan, skillet, or casserole.
Preparing the filling
½ lb. fresh mushrooms, quartered and sautéed in oil and butter with 1 Tb minced shallots or green onions
¾ cup (4 ounces) lean, minced, boiled ham
1½ cups sauce from the braised beef
Stir the mushrooms and ham into the chopped beef, and blend in the sauce. Simmer slowly, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add a little more sauce if the mixture becomes too thick. It should hold its shape fairly solidly in a spoon. Carefully correct seasoning. Film top of mixture with a spoonful of stock or a bit of melted butter and set aside, uncovered, or refrigerate, until needed.
A pastry brush
2 eggs beaten in a small bowl with 1 tsp water and a pinch of salt
2 cups fine, dry, white bread crumbs tossed with ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup melted butter
A rack set on a roasting pan
Using a pastry brush, paint the whole beef shell with beaten egg. Pat on a layer of cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle with butter and set the shell on the rack. Refrigerate until needed.
(*) Recipe may be completed even a day ahead up to this point.
Final assembly
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
A vegetable garnish such as braised onions and carrots, and sautéed potatoes, OR baked tomatoes, and green beans or braised lettuce
The rest of the sauce from the braised beef poured into a gravy bowl
A hot serving platter
¼ cup minced parsley
About 5 to 10 minutes before serving, set the beef shell in the oven to brown the crumb and cheese covering lightly. Reheat the filling to the simmer. Heat the vegetable garniture and the sauce. Then place the browned shell on the platter, heap with meat mixture, and sprinkle parsley over it. Arrange the vegetables about the platter. Pass the sauce separately. Each guest cuts down the crusty, tender shell with a serving spoon to help himself to part of it and its filling.
Of the several types of beef stew in which the meat is browned, then simmered in an aromatic liquid, boeuf bourguignon is the most famous. The daubes, estouffades, and terrines usually require no browning, and are much simpler to do. To be technically correct, any recipe describing meat which is browned before it is simmered should be labeled a fricassee; we shall not always make the distinction here because stew has become current usage.
CUTS FOR STEWING
The better the meat, the better the stew. While cheaper and coarser cuts may be used, the following are most recommended. Count on 1 pound of boneless meat, trimmed of fat, for 2 people; 3 if the rest of the menu is large.
First Choice: Rump Pot Roast—Pointe de Culotte, or Aiguillette de Rumsteck
Other Choices: Chuck Pot Roast—Paleron, or Macreuse à Pot-au-feu
COOKING TIME
Beef stews take 2 to 3 hours of simmering depending on the quality and tenderness of the meat. If it has been marinated before cooking, it may take less time. Stews may be cooked either in the oven or on top of the stove; the oven is preferable because its heat is more uniform.
As is the case with most famous dishes, there are more ways than one to arrive at a good boeuf bourguignon. Carefully done, and perfectly flavored, it is certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man, and can well be the main course for a buffet dinner. Fortunately you can prepare it completely ahead, even a day in advance, and it only gains in flavor when reheated.
VEGETABLE AND WINE SUGGESTIONS
Boiled potatoes are traditionally served with this dish. Buttered noodles or steamed rice may be substituted. If you also wish a green vegetable, buttered peas would be your best choice. Serve with the beef a fairly full-bodied, young red wine, such as Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Bordeaux-St. Émilion, or Burgundy.
For 6 people
A 6-ounce chunk of bacon
Remove rind, and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, ¼ inch thick and 1½ inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1½ quarts of water. Drain and dry.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.
3 lbs. lean stewing beef cut into 2-inch cubes (see preceding list of cuts)
Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 Tb flour
Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.
3 cups of a full-bodied, young red wine such as one of those suggested for serving, or a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tb tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
½ tsp thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
The blanched bacon rind
Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2½ to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
18 to 24 small white onions, brown-braised in stock
1 lb. quartered fresh mushrooms sautéed in butter
While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.
When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.
Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2½ cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.
(*) Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.
Parsley sprigs
FOR IMMEDIATE SERVING: Cover the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.
FOR LATER SERVING: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.
[Beef and Onions Braised in Beer]
Beer is typical for the Belgian braise, and gives a quite different character to beef than the red wine of the bourguignon. A bit of brown sugar masks the beer’s slightly bitter quality, and a little vinegar at the end gives character. Serve this with parsley potatoes or buttered noodles, a green salad, and beer.
For 6 people
A 3-lb. piece of lean beef from the chuck roast or rump
2 to 3 Tb rendered fresh pork fat or good cooking oil
A heavy skillet
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut the beef into slices about 2 by 4 inches across and ½ inch thick. Dry on paper towels. Put a 1/16-inch layer of fat or oil in the skillet and heat until almost smoking. Brown the beef slices quickly, a few at a time, and set them aside.
1½ lbs. or 6 cups of sliced onions
Salt and pepper
4 cloves mashed garlic
Reduce heat to moderate. Stir the onions into the fat in the skillet, adding more fat if necessary, and brown the onions lightly for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and stir in the garlic.
Arrange half the browned beef in the casserole and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread half the onions over the beef. Repeat with the rest of the beef and onions.
1 cup strong beef stock or canned beef bouillon
2 to 3 cups light beer, Pilsner type
2 Tb light brown sugar
1 large herb bouquet: 6 parsley sprigs, 1 bay leaf, and ½ tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth
Heat the stock or bouillon in the browning skillet, scraping up coagulated cooking juices. Pour it over the meat. Add enough beer so the meat is barely covered. Stir in the brown sugar. Bury the herb bouquet among the meat slices. Bring casserole to the simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and place in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid remains at a very slow simmer for 2½ hours at the end of which time the meat should be fork-tender.
1½ Tb arrowroot or cornstarch blended with 2 Tb wine vinegar
Remove herb bouquet. Drain the cooking liquid out of the casserole into a saucepan, and skim off fat. Beat the starch and wine vinegar mixture into the cooking liquid and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully correct seasoning. You should have about 2 cups of sauce. Pour the sauce back over the meat.
(*) May be prepared in advance to this point.
Parsley potatoes or buttered noodles
Parsley sprigs
When ready to serve, cover the casserole and simmer slowly for 4 to 5 minutes until the meat is thoroughly heated through. Either bring the casserole to the table, or arrange the meat on a hot serving platter, spoon the sauce over it, surround with potatoes or noodles, and decorate with parsley.
PAUPIETTES DE BOEUF[Braised Stuffed Beef Rolls]
Paupiettes are thin slices of beef wrapped around a filling, and braised in wine and stock with herbs and aromatic vegetables. Although they follow the same general pattern as other fricassees of beef, their pork and veal stuffing gives them a special character. Paupiettes can be cooked in advance, and any leftovers may be reheated or may be served cold. Accompany hot paupiettes with rice, risotto, or noodles, and a garniture of sautéed mushrooms, braised onions, and carrots, or with buttered green peas or green beans, broiled tomatoes, and French bread. Serve a good simple red wine such as Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Chianti, or a rosé.
For about 18 paupiettes serving 6 people
½ cup finely minced onions
1 Tb butter
A 3-quart mixing bowl
Cook the onions slowly in butter for 7 to 8 minutes until they are tender but not browned. Scrape them into the mixing bowl.
6 ounces lean pork ground with 6 ounces lean veal and 3 ounces fresh pork fat, making about 1½ cups ground meat
A wooden spoon
1 clove mashed garlic
⅛ tsp thyme
Pinch of allspice
Big pinch of pepper
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 egg
Add all ingredients at the left to the mixing bowl and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended.
2½ lbs. lean beef (top round or chuck) cut into 18 cross-grain slices ¼ inch thick and about 3 inches in diameter
Salt and pepper
White string
Flatten each slice of beef to a thickness of ⅛ inch by pounding it between 2 sheets of waxed paper with a wooden mallet or rolling pin. Lay the meat flat on a board and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Divide the stuffing into 18 portions and place one on the lower third of each slice. Roll the meat around the stuffing to form cylinders about 4 inches long and 1½ inches thick. Secure each with 2 ties of string. Dry in paper towels.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2 to 3 Tb rendered pork fat or good cooking oil
A heavy fireproof casserole about 10 inches in diameter and 2½ to 3 inches deep
½ cup sliced carrots
½ cup sliced onions
3 Tb flour
1 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
1½ cups brown stock or canned beef bouillon
Heat the fat or oil in the casserole until almost smoking. Brown the paupiettes lightly, a few at a time, and remove to a side dish. Lower heat to moderate and brown the vegetables slowly for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring. Then add the flour and brown it slowly for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove casserole from heat and immediately beat in the wine, then the stock or bouillon.
A 4-inch square of fresh pork rind, bacon rind or salt-pork rind, simmered 10 minutes in a quart of water, then drained
1 large herb bouquet plus 2 cloves of garlic: 6 parsley sprigs, 1 bay leaf, ½ tsp thyme, and the garlic tied together in cheesecloth
Lay rind in the bottom of the casserole. Place the paupiettes over it, and add more stock or bouillon, or water, if necessary, to the liquid in the casserole so paupiettes are barely covered. Add the herb bouquet.
Bulb baster
Bring to the simmer on top of the stove. Cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so the paupiettes simmer very slowly for 1½ hours. Baste them two or three times with the liquid in the casserole.
Remove the paupiettes to a side dish and cut off trussing strings. Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan and degrease thoroughly. Boil down the sauce if necessary, to concentrate its flavor. You should have 1½ to 2 cups thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. Correct seasoning.
1 Tb prepared mustard of the strong Dijon type blended with ⅓ cup whipping cream
A wire whip
Off heat, beat the mustard and cream into the sauce. Simmer for 1 minute. Rearrange the paupiettes in the casserole or a fireproof serving dish, and pour the sauce over them.
(*) Recipe may be prepared in advance to this point. Film top of sauce with a spoonful of stock or melted butter. When cold, cover and refrigerate.
Parsley sprigs
About 10 minutes before serving, reheat barely to the simmer on top of the stove. Cover and simmer slowly for 5 minutes or so, basting the paupiettes frequently with the sauce. Serve from the casserole, or arrange the paupiettes on a platter, spoon the sauce over them, and surround with rice or noodles. Decorate with parsley.
Prepare, brown, and braise the paupiettes as in the preceding recipe but use the sauce ingredients and techniques outlined either for the boeuf bourguignon or for the carbonnades à la flamande.
[Beef Stew with Rice, Onions, and Tomatoes]
Here is a hearty dish from the Spanish-Mediterranean corner of France. Serve it with a green salad, French bread, and a strong, young red wine.
For 6 people
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
A ¼-lb. chunk of bacon
2 Tb olive oil
A heavy, 10-inch skillet
A slotted spoon
A 3-quart fireproof casserole about 3 inches deep
Remove rind and cut bacon into lardons (1½-inch strips, ⅜ of an inch thick.) Simmer in 1 quart of water for 10 minutes. Drain, dry, and brown lightly in oil in the skillet. Remove with a slotted spoon to the casserole.
3 lbs. lean stewing beef cut into squares 2½ inches across and 1 inch thick (see cuts listed)
Dry the meat on paper towels. Heat fat in skillet until almost smoking then brown the meat a few pieces at a time. Place it when browned in the casserole.
1½ cups sliced onions
Lower heat to moderate, and brown the onions lightly. Remove them with a slotted spoon and add to the casserole.
1 cup clean, unwashed, raw white rice
Still in the same fat, stir the rice over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes until it turns a milky color. Scrape into a bowl and set aside until later.
1 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
Pour any remaining fat out of the skillet, add the wine and stir for a moment over heat to dissolve coagulated cooking juices. Pour into the casserole.
2 to 3 cups beef stock or canned beef bouillon
Salt to taste
¼ tsp pepper
2 cloves mashed garlic
½ tsp thyme
Pinch of saffron
1 crumbled bay leaf
Add stock or bouillon almost to the height of the meat. Salt lightly. Stir in the pepper, garlic, and herbs. Bring to simmer on top of the stove, cover tightly, and set in lower position of preheated oven to simmer slowly for 1 hour.
1 lb. ripe, red tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped (this will make about 1½ cups tomato pulp)
Remove casserole from oven. Stir in the tomatoes, bring to simmer on top of the stove, cover, and return to the oven for an additional hour or so of very slow simmering. When the meat is almost fork-tender, remove casserole from oven. Raise oven heat to 375 degrees.
Sautéed rice from above
Stock or canned bouillon if necessary
Tilt casserole and skim off fat. You should have 2 to 2½ cups of liquid; add more stock or bouillon, or waiter, if necessary. Stir in the rice. Bring to simmer on top of stove, cover, and set again in lower third of oven. Regulate heat to keep liquid at a full simmer for 20 minutes so the rice will cook. Do not stir the rice. At the end of this time it should be tender and have absorbed almost all the liquid. Remove from oven and correct seasoning.
(*) May be prepared in advance to this point. Set aside, cover askew. To reheat, cover casserole and place in a pan of boiling water for about half an hour.
1 cup (4 ounces) grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese
Just before serving, delicately fold the cheese with a fork into the hot beef and rice. Serve from the casserole or on a hot platter.
DAUBE DE BOEUFDaube comes from daubière, a covered casserole. Estouffade is a stifling or smothering, in a covered casserole. Almost every region of France has its own daubes, estouffades, and terrines. Some of them are for a whole piece of braised beef; others are like a boeuf bourguignon. In many the meat is larded, and in most it is marinated in wine with vegetables before the cooking begins. Here is a savory, country-style daube, an informal main dish to serve with boiled potatoes, risotto, or noodles, a green salad, and a simple red wine or a chilled rosé.
Note: We have not directed that the meat be larded, but you may do so if you wish, by inserting two ¼-inch strips of larding pork or blanched bacon through each piece of meat. You may also omit the marination of the meat, and add all the marinade ingredients to the casserole with the beef.
For 6 people
3 lbs. lean stewing beef cut into 2½-inch squares, 1 inch thick (beef cuts are listed)
A large glazed earthenware bowl
1½ cups dry white wine, dry white vermouth, or red wine
Optional: ¼ cup brandy, eau de vie, or gin
2 Tb olive oil
2 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp thyme or sage
1 crumbled bay leaf
2 cloves mashed garlic
2 cups thinly sliced onions
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
Place the beef in the bowl and mix with the wine, optional spirits, olive oil, seasonings, herbs, and vegetables. Cover and marinate at least 3 hours (6 if refrigerated), stirring up frequently.
½ lb. lean bacon cut into 1-inch slices ¼ inch thick and 2 inches long approximately
1½ cups (6 ounces) sliced fresh mushrooms
1½ lbs. ripe, red tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped (this will make about 2¼ cups tomato pulp)
Simmer the bacon for 10 minutes in 2 quarts of water. Drain and dry. Prepare the mushrooms and tomatoes.
Remove the beef from the marinade and drain in a sieve.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
A 5- to 6-quart fireproof casserole 3½ inches deep
1 cup sifted flour on a plate
Line the bottom of the casserole with 3 or 4 strips of bacon. Strew a handful of the marinade vegetables, mushrooms, and tomatoes over them. Piece by piece, roll the beef in the flour and shake off excess. Place closely together in a layer over the vegetables. Cover with a few strips of bacon, and continue with layers of vegetables, beef, and bacon. End with a layer of vegetables and 2 or 3 strips of bacon.
1 to 2 cups beef stock or canned beef bouillon
Pour in the wine from the marinade and enough stock or bouillon almost to cover the contents of the casserole. Bring to simmer on top of the stove, cover closely, and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers slowly for 2½ to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
Tip casserole and skim out fat. Correct seasoning.
(*) May be prepared ahead and reheated, and is good either hot or cold.
This is the same daube given a Provençal flavoring at the end. Any cold leftovers are delicious, served with a green salad and French bread. Follow the master recipe with these additions:
10 flat anchovy filets packed in olive oil
2 Tb capers
A table fork
3 Tb wine vinegar
3 Tb olive oil from the anchovy can and/or plain olive oil
2 cloves mashed garlic
¼ cup minced parsley
Bulb baster
Using a fork, mash the anchovies and capers to a paste in a bowl. Beat in the other ingredients. After the daube has cooked for 2½ hours remove it from the oven and skim off the fat. Pour on the anchovy mixture and baste the beef with the cooking juices in the casserole. Cover and return to oven until the meat is tender.
SAUTÉ DE BOEUF À LA PARISIENNEThis sauté of beef is good to know about if you have to entertain important guests in a hurry. It consists of small pieces of filet sautéed quickly to a nice brown outside and a rosy center, and served in a sauce. The following recipe can easily be prepared in 30 minutes, or in less than half the time if the meat has been sliced and the mushrooms sautéed ahead. In the variations at the end of the recipe, all the sauce ingredients may be prepared in advance. If the whole dish is cooked ahead of time, be very careful indeed in its reheating that the beef does not overcook. The cream and mushroom sauce here is a French version of beef Stroganoff, but less tricky as it uses fresh rather than sour cream, so you will not run into the problem of curdled sauce.
Serve the beef in a casserole, or on a platter surrounded with steamed rice, risotto, or potato balls sautéed in butter. Buttered green peas or beans could accompany it, and a good red Bordeaux wine.
For 6 people
½ lb. sliced fresh mushrooms
A heavy, 9- to 10-inch enameled skillet
2 Tb butter and 1 Tb good cooking oil
3 Tb minced shallots or green onions
¼ tsp salt and a pinch of pepper
Following directions sauté the mushrooms in the skillet in hot butter and oil for 4 to 5 minutes to brown them lightly. Stir in the shallots or onions, and cook for a minute longer. Season the mushrooms, and scrape them into a side dish.
2½ lbs. filet of beef; the tenderloin butt and the tail of the filet are usually used (see illustrations)
Remove all surrounding fat and filament, and cut the filet into 2-ounce pieces, about 2 inches across and ½ inch thick. Dry thoroughly on paper towels.
2 Tb butter and 1 Tb cooking oil, more if needed
Place the butter and oil in the skillet and set over moderately high heat. When the butter foam begins to subside, sauté the beef, a few pieces at a time, for 2 to 3 minutes on each side to brown the exterior but keep the interior rosy red. Set the beef on a side dish, and discard sautéing fat.
¼ cup Madeira (best choice), or dry white vermouth
¾ cup good brown stock or canned beef bouillon
1 cup whipping cream
2 tsp cornstarch blended with 1 tablespoon of the cream
Pour the wine and stock or bouillon into the skillet and boil it down rapidly, scraping up coagulated cooking juices, until liquid is reduced to about ⅓ cup. Beat in the cream, then the cornstarch mixture. Simmer a minute. Add the sautéed mushrooms and simmer a minute more. The sauce should have a slight liaison (be lightly thickened). Taste carefully for seasoning.
Salt and pepper
Season the beef lightly with salt and pepper and return it to the skillet along with any juices which may have escaped. Baste the beef with the sauce and mushrooms; or transfer everything to a serving casserole.
2 Tb softened butter
Parsley sprigs
When you are ready to serve, cover the skillet or casserole and heat to below the simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, being very careful not to overdo it or the pieces of filet will be well done rather than rare. Off heat and just before serving, tilt casserole, add butter to sauce a bit at a time while basting the meat until the butter has absorbed. Decorate with parsley, and serve at once.
[Beef Sauté with Red Wine, Mushrooms, Bacon, and Onions]
For 6 people
2½ lbs. filet of beef prepared and sautéed as in preceding master recipe
A 3-ounce chunk blanched bacon
1½ cups red wine
1½ cups brown stock or canned beef bouillon
1 clove mashed garlic
¼ tsp thyme
Sauté the beef and set it aside. Cut the blanched bacon into 1-inch strips ¼ of an inch thick. Brown lightly in the sauté skillet and pour out fat. Add rest of ingredients at left and slowly boil down by half.
1 Tb flour mashed to a paste with 1 Tb butter—beurre manié
A wire whip
Remove from heat and beat in the flour-butter paste. Simmer for 1 minute, beating with wire whip.
Add onions and mushrooms and simmer 2 minutes. Correct seasoning. Season the sautéed beef, and arrange it and the sauce, bacon, and vegetables in the serving casserole.
(*) Recipe may be prepared ahead to this point. Set casserole aside uncovered.
2 Tb softened butter
Parsley sprigs
When ready to serve, cover and reheat at below simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Off heat, add the butter by bits, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce until the butter has absorbed. Decorate with parsley and serve immediately.
For 6 people
2½ lbs. filet of beef
Cut and sauté the beef as described in the preceding master recipe. Remove to a side dish.
⅓ cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
2 cups fresh tomato purée with garlic and herbs
⅓ cup pitted black olives, preferably the dryish Mediterranean type
2 Tb mixed fresh green herbs, or parsley
Pour the fat out of the sauté skillet and pour in the wine. Boil it down rapidly until reduced to 2 tablespoons, scraping up coagulated sauté juices. Add the tomato purée and simmer a moment. Then add the sauteed beef and reheat without simmering. Decorate with olives and herbs or parsley, and serve immediately.
American scientific methods have achieved the miracle of our growing some of the world’s finest wines, and this same approach has worked tremendous improvements in chicken raising, as well as in the cross-breeding, feeding, and raising of lamb. We can now buy large young lamb, 5 to 7 months old, all through the year. From mid-February through April we get lamb grown in the Imperial Valley of California, from May through July it comes from Nevada and Idaho, mountain lamb from Colorado comes to us in the fall, and winter lamb is raised in Ohio and Iowa. Furthermore, over 90 percent of the lamb we see in our big supermarkets has the purple USDA inspection stamps that guarantee a healthy animal, as well as the official grading stamp CHOICE. A whole leg averages 8 to 9 pounds—2 or more pounds over the old average—and makes wonderful eating.
The old labels of spring lamb, milk-fed lamb, and mutton do not apply at all anymore to commercially raised American lamb, but because this is a book of classic French cooking, it is good to know the traditional terminology, and you may still find that these labels apply among private meat purveyors and individual raisers. (Imported lamb from Australia and New Zealand is raised from a smaller breed of animal, and always comes to us frozen.)
TRADITIONAL TERMS FOR LAMB AND MUTTON
Hothouse Lamb, Milk-fed Lamb—Agneau de Lait, Agneau de Pauillac. Very young lamb raised, like veal, on milk, and considered a prime delicacy. Roast it whole with one of the stuffings or cut it up and brown with a mustard coating, like that on the broiled chicken. You may find this in ethnic Greek or Italian markets around Easter time.
Genuine Spring Lamb, Milk-finished Lamb—Agneau Pascal. Lamb that is 3 to 4 months old with delicate, pale red flesh. You’d have to order this from a private breeder or purveyor. Roast, broil, or grill it, stew it en blanquette like veal, or poach it.
Lamb—Agneau. Young lamb, ideally from 5 to 7 months old, the kind we buy today in our large markets. The best French lamb, by the way, has always been considered to be from those fed on the salty grasses of the northern coastal areas, les près salés.
Mutton—Mouton. No longer lamb, from between 12 months and 2 years old, it is mutton. Full-flavored and in need of proper aging, mutton is roasted like lamb, or the chops are broiled, and the rest makes mutton stew. Unfortunately it is rare to find mutton anywhere today, even in France.
PREPARING A LEG OF LAMB FOR COOKING
Trim off all but a thin layer of fat, and remove any loose fat. Shave off the purple inspection stamps.
Leg of Lamb Bone Structure and Cutting Methods
In the following recipes, a 6-pound leg of lamb means the French leg, without the sirloin, since the whole 9-pound leg is more than the average oven wants; however, the whole leg roasts in almost the same amount of time. Although some meat fanciers object to any tampering at all with a leg of lamb, carving is much easier if some of the bones are removed. The tail and the pelvic bone may be cut out, and the meat sewn or skewered together to cover the rump knucklebone. Or if you wish only the shank to remain after the pelvic bone has been removed, the leg bone may be taken from inside the meat without making an outside incision; the meat is then sewn or skewered at the large end. If the leg is boned entirely, then rolled and tied, it makes a compact roast which may be cooked on a spit. Most butchers will perform any of these operations for you, but they are not too difficult to manage by yourself. The bones and trimmings may be turned into a good sauce for your roast, see sauce ragoût.
FLAVORINGS AND STUFFINGS
For a mild garlic flavor, insert 3 or 4 slivers of garlic in the meat at the shank end. For a more pronounced flavor, make several incisions in the meat and insert more garlic slivers. See also the garlic and herb stuffing and other suggestions for boned lamb, and the herbal-mustard coating.
Shoulder of lamb in America is one half the forequarter of lamb, minus the lower part of the ribs and the shank. It thus forms a square shape, and consists of the upper leg, all or part of the shoulder blade, 3 to 5 shoulder chops, and 2 or 3 vertebrae in the neck. Whole, it weighs 4 to 6 pounds; boned, a third less, or 2½ to 4 pounds. In France the shank is considered to be part of the shoulder, but not the chops. So if you are living there and want to stuff a shoulder of lamb, ask that some of the shoulder chops, côtes découvertes, be included. Otherwise there will be little room for your stuffing. When the shoulder is boned, the fell or top filament, is left intact to form a covering for the roast. After boning, the shoulder may be rolled, tied, and roasted as is. Or it may be stuffed and either rolled and tied into a fat cylindrical shape, or formed into a square cushion roast. Boned shoulder may be substituted for leg of lamb in any of the recipes in this section.
TIMING FOR ROAST LAMB AND MUTTON
Lamb and mutton cooked in the French manner are seared for 15 minutes in a 450-degree oven, then the roasting is continued in a 350-degree oven until the meat is frankly rare, rosy, and juicy. If you prefer lamb well done, do not go over a meat-thermometer reading of 160 degrees or the meat will lose much of its juice and flavor. Medium, from bright to pale pink, would be 140 to 150. A boned leg or shoulder will weigh approximately 30 per cent less than a bone-in piece, but its cooking time per pound usually more than doubles, depending on the thickness of the meat. The estimates in the following list are based on unchilled meat, and the recipes refer to unboned meat unless otherwise specified.
A 6-pound leg or shoulder, bone in
Rare—1 to 1¼ hours (10 to 12 minutes per pound)
Meat Thermometer Reading—125 to 130 degrees
Medium to Well Done—1¼ to 1½ hours (13 to 15 minutes per pound)
Meat Thermometer Reading—145 to 160 degrees
A 4-pound piece of boned and rolled leg or shoulder
Rare—1¾ to 2 hours (25 to 30 minutes per pound)
Meat Thermometer Reading—125 to 130 degrees
Medium to Well Done—2 to 2¼ hours (30 to 35 minutes per pound)
Meat Thermometer Reading—145 to 160 degrees
VEGETABLE SUGGESTIONS FOR ROAST LAMB
Beans
Gigot, haricots—lamb and beans—are a favorite combination. The beans may be plain buttered green beans, or green beans and fresh shell beans (otherwise known as white or cranberry beans), or the dried beans. A mixture of the two is called haricots panachés. Another suggestion is green beans with tomatoes. Additional bean recipes are in the Bean section.
Potatoes
With plain buttered green vegetables you could serve one of the potato casseroles, or the garlic mashed potatoes. Potatoes sautéed in butter, go with either plain or sauced vegetables.
Other vegetables
Rice with mushrooms, could be accompanied by one of the recipes for peas, and baked tomatoes.
Tomatoes stuffed with herbs or mushrooms green beans, and sautéed potatoes are always good with roast lamb.
Eggplant and lamb are an excellent flavor combination. See the eggplant casserole, ratatouille, and the eggplant stuffed with mushrooms on this page.
Brussels sprouts or broccoli, or cauliflower, are other ideas. If the vegetables are served plain, you could accompany them with one of the potato casseroles.
TRADITIONAL GARNITURES
Here are some of the traditional French vegetable combinations for garnishing a roast of lamb.
Bruxelloise, braised endive, Brussels sprouts braised in butter, potatoes sautéed in butter.
Châtelaine, quartered artichoke hearts braised in butter, whole baked tomatoes, braised celery, potatoes sautéed in butter.
Clamart, cooked artichoke hearts, filled with buttered peas, potatoes sautéed in butter
Florian, braised lettuce, brown-braised onions, carrots braised in butter, potatoes sautéed in butter
Judic, tomatoes stuffed with herbs or mushrooms, braised lettuce, potatoes sautéed in butter
Provençale, whole baked tomatoes, baked stuffed mushrooms
Viroflay, spinach braised with stock or cream, quartered artichoke hearts braised in butter, potatoes sautéed in butter
WINE SUGGESTIONS
Red wine goes with lamb and mutton. A light red, such as Bordeaux-Médoc, is best with the delicate flavor of young spring lamb. Serve a stronger red, such as Bordeaux-St. Émilion, with more mature lamb. Mutton, or lamb roasted with a strong, herbal stuffing or mustard coating, calls for a sturdier wine, Côtes du Rhône or Burgundy.
GIGOT DE PRÉ-SALÉ RÔTI[Roast Leg of Lamb]
For 8 to 10 people
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Prepare the lamb for cooking as described in the preceding paragraphs, and wipe it dry with paper towels.
4 Tb rendered fresh pork or beef fat, or a mixture of melted butter and cooking oil
A roasting pan 1½ inches deep and just large enough to hold the meat
A rack to fit the pan
A bulb baster or long-handled spoon
Brush the lamb with melted fat or butter and oil. Place it on the rack in the roasting pan and set in the upper third of the preheated oven. Turn and baste it every 4 to 5 minutes for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it has browned lightly on all sides. This sears the outside of the meat and prevents its juices from bursting out.
A meat thermometer
1 large carrot, roughly sliced
1 large onion, roughly sliced
Optional: 3 to 6 cloves un-peeled garlic, added to pan ½ hour before end of cooking
Reset oven for 350 degrees. Insert a meat thermometer into the fleshiest part of the lamb. Strew the vegetables in the bottom of the pan. Set lamb in middle level of oven and roast until done. Basting is not necessary.
Total Cooking Time
Rare, 1 to 1¼ hours, 125 to 130 degrees. Meat is slightly resistant when pressed, and if the meat is pricked deeply with a fork, the juices run rosy red.
Medium, 1¼ to 1½ hours, 145 to 150 degrees. Meat is firmer when pressed, juices run a pale rose when meat is pricked.
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
A hot platter
Discard any trussing strings or skewers. Season the lamb, and place it on a platter. It should rest at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before being carved, to let its juices retreat back into the tissues.
1 cup stock, brown lamb stock, or canned beef bouillon
A hot sauceboat
Remove the rack, and spoon the cooking fat out of the pan. Pour in the stock or bouillon and boil rapidly, scraping up coagulated roasting juices and mashing the vegetables into the stock. Taste for seasoning. Just before serving, strain into a hot sauceboat, pressing the juices out of the vegetables. Stir in any juices which may have escaped from the roast.
Water cress or parsley
Hot plates
Decorate the roast with water cress or parsley, and be sure to serve the lamb on hot plates as lamb fat congeals when cold.
The preceding directions are for a deglazing sauce which furnishes about a spoonful per serving. If you wish more sauce, prepare in advance 2 to 3 cups of sauce ragoût with the lamb bones and trimmings. Omit the stock in the master recipe and stir the sauce into the degreased roasting juices; simmer a moment, and pour into a sauceboat.
[Garlic Sauce for Roast Lamb]
This very good sauce uses a whole head of garlic which, after two blanch-ings and a long simmering, becomes tamed and develops a delicious flavor.
For 1½ to 2 cups of sauce
1 large head of garlic
A saucepan containing 1 quart of cold water
Separate the garlic cloves. Bring them to the boil in the saucepan and boil 30 seconds. Drain and peel. Set again in cold water, bring to the boil, and drain.
A 1-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan
¾ cup milk, more if needed
⅛ tsp salt
¼ tsp rosemary or thyme
1½ Tb raw white rice
In the saucepan bring the milk, salt, herbs, and rice to the simmer. Add the garlic, and simmer very slowly for 45 minutes, putting in more milk by spoonfuls if the rice is in danger of scorching.
1 cup brown lamb stock, beef stock, or canned beef bouillon
A sieve, a bowl, and a wooden spoon, or an electric blender
Salt and pepper
Pour in the stock or bouillon and simmer 1 minute. Then force through a sieve, or purée in the electric blender. Correct seasoning. Set sauce aside and reheat when needed.
A hot gravy boat
After the lamb has been roasted as described in the master recipe and the roasting pan degreased, deglaze the pan with 2 to 3 tablespoons of stock or water, scraping up coagulated juices. Strain into the hot garlic sauce. Pass the sauce in a hot gravy boat.
[Herbal Mustard Coating for Roast Lamb]
When lamb is brushed with this mixture, garlic slivers and herbal stuffings are not necessary, and the lamb becomes a beautiful brown as it roasts.
For a 6-lb. leg of lamb
½ cup Dijon-type prepared mustard
2 Tb soy sauce
1 clove mashed garlic
1 tsp ground rosemary or thyme
¼ tsp powdered ginger
2 Tb olive oil
Blend the mustard, soy sauce, garlic, herbs, and ginger together in a bowl. Beat in the olive oil by droplets to make a mayonnaise-like cream.
A rubber spatula or brush
Paint the lamb with the mixture and set it on the rack of the roasting pan. The meat will pick up more flavor if it is coated several hours before roasting.
Roast in a 350-degree oven, 1 to 1¼ hours, for medium rare; or 1¼ to 1½ hours for well done. The searing step at the beginning of the master recipe is omitted.
GIGOT OU ÉPAULE DE PRÉ-SALÉ, FARCIBoned leg and shoulder of lamb lend themselves nicely to any of the following stuffings, and cold leftovers are particularly good. Lay the boned meat skin side down on a flat surface. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread the stuffing over the meat and into the pockets left by the bones. Then roll the meat into a cylindrical shape to enclose the stuffing completely. Sew or skewer if necessary, then tie loops of string around its circumference at 1-inch intervals so the meat will hold its shape. Roast either in the oven or on a spit, or braise it as described. The following are for 3 to 4 pounds of boned meat.
[Garlic and Herb Stuffing]
½ cup chopped parsley
½ tsp ground rosemary or thyme
2 Tb minced shallots or green onions
½ to 1 clove mashed garlic
¼ tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Spread the mixture on the lamb. Roll and tie as described in the preceding instructions.
[Pork and Herb Stuffing]
¾ cup finely minced onions
2 Tb butter
A 3-quart mixing bowl
Cook the onions and butter slowly together in a small saucepan until tender but not browned. Scrape into a mixing bowl.
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (French or homemade-type bread)
½ cup lukewarm stock or canned beef bouillon
Soak the bread crumbs in stock or bouillon for 5 minutes. Drain in a sieve and press out as much liquid as you can. Save the liquid for your sauce, and place the bread crumbs in the mixing bowl.
½ lb. (1 cup) lean, fresh pork ground with 4 ounces (½ cup) fresh pork fat
1 clove mashed garlic
¼ tsp ground rosemary, sage, or thyme
¼ cup minced parsley
Pinch of allspice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 egg
A wooden spatula or spoon
Add the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Sauté a teaspoonful until cooked through, and taste for seasoning. Add more seasonings to the stuffing if you feel it necessary.
Spread the stuffing on the lamb. Roll and tie as described at the beginning of this section.
[Rice and Kidney Stuffing]
¼ cup finely minced onions
1 Tb butter
⅓ cup raw white rice
⅔ cup white stock or canned chicken bouillon
In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, cook the onions in butter for 4 to 5 minutes until tender but not browned. Add the rice and stir over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes until it turns a milky color. Pour in the stock or chicken bouillon, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer not too slowly for 15 minutes without stirring, at which point the liquid should be absorbed and the rice almost tender. It will finish cooking in the lamb.
½ tsp ground rosemary, sage, or thyme
Pinch of allspice
¼ tsp pepper
½ clove mashed garlic
Salt to taste
Fluff in the herbs, spice, pepper, and garlic with a fork. Add salt to taste.
4 lamb kidneys, or a mixture of lamb kidneys, heart, and liver making about 1 cup in all
1 Tb butter and 1 Tb oil
Salt and pepper
Dry the meat in paper towels, and leave the pieces whole. Sauté quickly in hot butter and oil to brown very lightly, leaving the interior of the meat rosy. Cut into ⅛-inch slices. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and fold into the rice.
When the stuffing is cool, spread it on the lamb. Roll and tie the meat as described at the beginning of this section.
½ cup minced onions, cooked in butter
¼ lb. minced fresh mushrooms, cooked in butter
¾ cup minced, lean boiled ham
¼ cup finely minced fresh pork fat (or ham fat)
Salt, pepper, herbs
[Olive and Ground Lamb Stuffing]
½ cup ground lean lamb
½ cup minced onions, cooked in butter
1 cup stale white bread crumbs soaked in stock or bouillon and squeezed dry
12 pitted black Greek olives, simmered 10 minutes in 1 quart of water, drained, and chopped
1 egg
Salt, pepper, herbs, allspice, and garlic
An unlikely combination, but a good one
½ cup drained, canned salmon
6 drained, mashed anchovies (packed in olive oil)
½ cup ground lean lamb
¾ cup minced onions, sautéed in butter
Salt, pepper, herbs, garlic
Braising is a succulent way to do almost mature lamb or young mutton, particularly if it has been stuffed with any of the preceding suggestions. Beans may finish their cooking with the lamb, and will absorb a fine flavor from the braising liquid. If you do not wish to include them, serve with the lamb a purée of lentils or chestnuts, mashed potatoes, rice, or risotto. Other vegetables to serve with braised lamb are green beans, peas, Brussels sprouts, baked tomatoes, or a garniture of glazed carrots, turnips, onions, and sautéed mushrooms. A fairly full red wine goes well—Beaujolais, Bordeaux—St. Émilion, Côtes du Rhône, or Burgundy.
A NOTE ON TIMING
Almost mature lamb or young mutton is usually braised 40 to 50 minutes per pound, long enough for the meat, its stuffing, and the braising liquid to exchange flavors. This makes 3½ to 4 hours for a leg, and around 2½ hours for a shoulder. Boned and stuffed lamb will usually take an hour longer. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily. You may, if you wish, cut the time in half, and cook the meat only until the thermometer indicates 150 degrees for medium rare, or 160 to 165 degrees for well done; in this case, there will be little exchange of flavor between the various elements.
Beans. If you are to use dry white beans, their soaking and precooking will take a good two hours. This is done while the lamb is braising.
For 8 to 10 people
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A 6- to 7-lb. leg or 4- to 5-lb. shoulder of lamb, boned, and stuffed, if you wish, with one of the preceding fillings
The lamb bones, sawed or chopped
3 to 4 Tb rendered fresh pork fat or cooking oil
A heavy fireproof casserole or covered roaster just large enough to hold all ingredients
2 large sliced carrots
2 large sliced onions
2 cups of dry white wine, or red wine, or 1½ cups dry white vermouth
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
3 to 4 cups beef stock or canned beef bouillon
4 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 tsp rosemary, thyme, or sage
3 unpeeled cloves garlic
Optional: 3 Tb tomato paste
Aluminum foil
Brown the lamb on all sides, and then the bones in hot fat or oil in the casserole or roaster. This will take 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to a side platter. Then brown the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon to the platter. Pour out the browning fat. Add the wine or vermouth and boil it down rapidly, scraping up coagulated browning juices, until reduced by half. Season the lamb and place it, its fattiest side up, in the casserole or roaster. Surround it with the browned bones and vegetables. Pour in enough stock or bouillon to come two thirds of the way up the meat. Stir in the herbs, garlic, and optional tomato paste. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove. Lay aluminum foil over the top of the casserole, then the casserole cover. Place in lower third of preheated oven and regulate so liquid is maintained at a slow simmer. Turn and baste the meat every half hour.
Remove the lamb from the casserole when it is to within half an hour of being done. (See A Note on Timing, at beginning of recipe.) Strain and degrease the cooking stock, and correct its seasoning. Return meat and stock to the casserole and surround with the beans which have been precooked as follows:
2½ cups dry white Great Northern beans
6½ cups boiling water
A 4-quart kettle
1½ Tb salt
Drop the beans into the boiling water. Bring quickly to the boil again and boil exactly 2 minutes. Set aside for 1 hour. Immediately the soaking time is up, add the salt to the kettle, bring to the simmer, and simmer 1 hour. Set aside. The beans will finish their cooking later with the lamb. After the lamb stock has been degreased as described in the preceding paragraph, drain the beans and add them to the casserole with the lamb.
(*) May be prepared ahead to this point. See note at end of recipe.
Bring the casserole again to the simmer on top of the stove. Cover, and return to the oven until the meat is tender when pierced with a fork, about 30 minutes.
A hot platter
Parsley sprigs
A hot sauceboat
Drain the lamb, remove trussing strings, and place it on a hot platter. Strain the beans and place them around the meat. Decorate with parsley sprigs. De-grease the cooking stock, correct seasoning, and pour it into a hot sauceboat.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES
If you wish to cook the meat in advance, braise it until tender. Then strain and degrease the cooking stock and place meat and stock in the casserole. An hour before serving, reheat on top of the stove, then cover and place in a 350-degree oven. In 20 minutes, add the beans and continue cooking for about 30 minutes more. The meat should reach an internal temperature of about 130 degrees.
Or follow the recipe but carve the meat when it is done. Arrange it in a fireproof serving dish or casserole with the beans, and spoon part of the sauce over it. Cover and reheat slowly for 10 minutes before serving.
[Leg of Lamb or Mutton Marinated in Red Wine]
A large well-aged leg of lamb or a leg of young mutton marinated for several days in wine will taste very much like a marinated leg of venison. It is roasted and served, like venison, with a sauce poivrade or chevreuil. Braised red cabbage with chestnuts, and a purée of celery root and potatoes go well with it, plus a good red Burgundy wine. Any cold sliced leftovers will be delicious.
Since the meat is marinated for a relatively long period of time, it takes on a definitely gamy taste—which is the whole reason for the recipe. The first marinade vegetables are cooked, therefore, so they will not turn sour.
[Cooked Wine Marinade]
1 cup thinly sliced onions
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
⅓ cup thinly sliced celery
2 halved cloves garlic
½ cup olive oil
A 3-quart enameled saucepan with cover
Cook the vegetables slowly in the olive oil in the covered saucepan for 5 minutes without allowing them to brown.
6 cups full-bodied, young red wine: Mâcon, Côtes du Rhône, Beaujolais, Burgundy, Chianti
1½ cups red wine vinegar
1 Tb salt
1 tsp peppercorns
2 cloves
5 parsley sprigs
2 bay leaves
1 Tb rosemary
½ tsp juniper berries, if available, or ¼ cup gin
Add the wine, the vinegar, and all the rest of the ingredients. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Allow the marinade to cool completely before using it.
[Uncooked Wine Marinade with Bay Leaves]
6 cups red wine
1½ cups wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
35 bay leaves
1 Tb salt
½ tsp peppercorns
This alternative marinade needs no cooking, and is just poured over the lamb.
A 7- to 8-pound leg of well aged lamb or young mutton
Prepare the lamb for cooking as described earlier. It may be boned if you wish.
Place it in an enameled, pyrex, porcelain, or stainless steel bowl, roaster, or tub just large enough to hold it. Pour the marinade over it. Turn and baste the lamb 3 or 4 times a day for 4 to 5 days at room temperature, for 6 to 8 days if it is refrigerated.
Drain the lamb for half an hour or more on a rack. Just before roasting, dry it thoroughly with paper towels. Following directions in the master recipe for roast lamb on this page, baste it with fat and sear it for 15 to 20 minutes in a 450-degree oven, then roast it at 350 degrees to a medium rare, 147 to 150 degrees on the meat thermometer.
If you are serving with it a sauce poivrade, or sauce venaison, include ½ cup of the marinade liquid as part of the ingredients.
The English, according to the French, boil everything, thus anything boiled (or poached) and served simply is à l’anglaise in French cuisine. This method is truly a delicious and utterly simple way to cook a leg of lamb; simmer it in salted water until it is done, and it can stay quietly in that hot water for an hour or more before serving. But you do need a young tender “genuine spring leg of lamb” for this because the fat of older lamb penetrates the meat, giving it a strong taste. (See lamb discussion.)
VEGETABLE AND WINE SUGGESTIONS
For a family-style vegetable garnish, carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, and potatoes may be cooked for an hour with the lamb; tie them in cheesecloth bundles for easy removal. For a more formal array, here are some other suggestions to be cooked separately and combined as you wish:
Soubise (rice and onions)
Ratatouille (eggplant casserole)
If you choose onion sauce for the lamb, serve a red Bordeaux from the Médoc district. With caper or tomato sauce, serve a chilled rosé.
For 6 to 8 people
A 4- to 5-lb. whole leg of genuine spring lamb
Prepare the lamb for cooking as described earlier; if a whole leg, remove pelvic bone.
A meat thermometer
A kettle of rapidly boiling water, large enough to hold the lamb completely submerged
1½ tsp salt per quart of water
Insert a meat thermometer into the fleshiest part of the lamb. Plunge the lamb into the boiling, salted water. When the water comes back to the simmer, begin timing 10 to 12 minutes per pound, or about 1 hour (125 to 130 degrees on the thermometer for rare; 140 to 150 for medium). The water must remain at a very slow simmer throughout the cooking.
(*) After the lamb has been removed from the kettle, it should cool at room temperature for about 20 minutes before it is carved. But if it is to be served later than that, pour cold water into the kettle to cool it to just below 120 degrees, so the lamb will not continue to cook. (Add 1½ tsp salt per quart of water poured into the kettle.) The lamb may rest thus for an hour or more, and the kettle may be gently reheated if necessary.
3 cups of one of the following sauces:
Sauce aux Câpres (mock hollandaise with egg yolks, cream, capers, and butter)
Sauce Soubise (béchamel with onion purée)
Coulis de Tomates (fresh tomato sauce with herbs)
While the lamb is simmering, prepare the sauce: 5 minutes or less for caper sauce, about 30 for onion sauce, 1½ hours of simmering for tomato sauce.
3 Tb melted butter
¼ cup minced parsley
A hot platter
A warmed sauceboat
Drain the lamb when you are ready to serve, and place it on a hot platter. Baste it with the melted butter and sprinkle it with parsley. Pass the sauce in a warmed sauceboat.
In France, mutton rather than lamb is preferred for stews because the flesh of the more mature animal has more character. But, except for the tender-fleshed stewing cuts of “genuine spring lamb” which are best in a blanquette, lamb or mutton may be used interchangeably. Ragoût, navarin, and haricot all mean stew. Haricot according to most linguists is a corruption of halicoter, to cut up. It does not therefore mean a lamb stew with beans. Stew meat is very inexpensive; one can only wonder why, but be grateful when a dish like a navarin is so delicious. Other lamb stews may be made like beef stew, and suggestions are listed at the end of the navarin recipe.
CUTS FOR STEWING
All of the lamb for a stew may be from the same cut, but a more interesting texture and sauce will be obtained if you use a mixture from the following suggestions. Chop and leg meat are not recommended as they become dry and stringy. Count on 1 pound of boneless meat for 2 people if your menu is small; for 3, if large.
Shoulder—Épaule and Basses Côtes. Lean and meaty, a bit dry
Breast—Poitrine. Provides fat and texture
Short Ribs—Haut de Côtelettes. Provide fat and texture, and the bones give flavor
Neck—Collet. Has a gelatinous quality which gives body to the sauce.
PREPARATION FOR COOKING
Have excess fat and the fell or covering filament removed, and the meat cut into 2-inch cubes weighing 2 to 2½ ounces. Any bones left in the meat will give added flavor to the sauce. Most of them may be removed before serving.
TIMING
Allow about 2 hours for the cooking. Stews may be simmered on top of the stove but the more uniform and surrounding heat of the oven is preferable.
NAVARIN PRINTANIER[Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables]
Navarin printanier, a most delectable lamb stew with its carrots, onions, turnips, potatoes, peas, and green beans, is presumably done in the spring when all the vegetables are young and tender. But as it can be made any time of the year, it is not a seasonal dish any more thanks to deep freezing. Frozen peas and beans are discussed here. The written recipe is long as each detail is important if the navarin is to taste like a French masterpiece. But none of the steps is difficult and everything except the addition of the green vegetables at the very end may be made ready in the morning. The stew can then be finished in 10 to 15 minutes just before dinner time.
With the stew serve hot French bread, and a red Beaujolais or Bordeaux wine, a chilled rosé, or a fairly full-bodied, dry, chilled white wine such as a Mâcon, Hermitage, or one of the lesser Burgundies.
For 6 people
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3 lbs. lamb stew meat (see list preceding recipe)
2 to 4 Tb rendered fresh pork fat or cooking oil
A 10- to 12-inch skillet
A fireproof covered casse-role large enough to hold the meat, and all the vegetables to come
Cut the lamb into 2-inch cubes and dry with paper towels. The meat will not brown if it is damp. Brown a few pieces at a time in hot fat or oil in the skillet. As they are browned, place them in the casserole.
Sprinkle the lamb in the casserole with sugar and toss over moderately high heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the sugar has caramelized. This will give a fine amber color to the sauce.
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
3 Tb flour
Toss the meat with the salt and pepper, then with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle level of preheated oven for 4 to 5 minutes. Toss the meat and return it to the oven for 4 to 5 minutes more. This browns the flour evenly and coats the lamb with a light crust. Remove casserole and turn oven down to 350 degrees.
2 to 3 cups brown lamb- or beef-stock or canned beef bouillon
¾ lb. ripe, red tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped (1 cup of pulp); or 3 Tb tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
¼ tsp thyme or rosemary
1 bay leaf
Pour out the fat; add 2 cups of stock or bouillon to the sauté skillet. Bring to the boil and scrape up coagulated sauté juices. Then pour the liquid into the casserole. Bring to the simmer for a few seconds shaking and stirring to mix liquid and flour. Add the tomatoes or tomato paste and the other ingredients. Bring to the simmer for 1 minute, then add more stock if necessary; meat should be almost covered by liquid.
Put the lid on the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven; regulate heat so casserole simmers slowly and regularly for 1 hour. Then pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a bowl. Rinse out the casserole. Remove any loose bones and return the lamb to the casserole. Skim the fat off the sauce in the bowl, correct seasoning, and pour sauce back into casserole. Then add the vegetables which have been prepared as follows:
6 to 12 peeled “boiling” potatoes
6 peeled carrots
6 peeled turnips
12 to 18 peeled white onions about 1 inch in diameter
While the lamb is simmering, trim the potatoes into ovals 1½ inches long, and cover with cold water until ready to use. Quarter the carrots and turnips, cut them into 1½ inch lengths, and, if you have the patience, trim the edges to round them slightly. Pierce a cross in the root ends of the onions so they will cook evenly.
Press the vegetables into the casserole around and between the pieces of lamb. Baste with the sauce. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove, cover and return to the oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers slowly and steadily for about an hour longer or until the meat and vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven, tilt casserole, and skim off fat. Taste sauce again, and correct seasoning.
1 cup shelled green peas
¼ lb. or about 1 cup green beans cut into ½-inch pieces
3 quarts boiling water
1½ Tb salt
While the casserole is in the oven, drop the peas and beans into the boiling salted water and boil rapidly, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are almost tender. Immediately drain in a colander. Run cold water over them for 2 to 3 minutes to stop the cooking and to set the color. Put aside until ready to use.
(*) May be prepared ahead to this point. Set casserole aside, cover askew. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove before proceeding with recipe.
Shortly before serving, place the peas and beans in the casserole on top of the other ingredients and baste with the bubbling sauce. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes or until the green vegetables are tender.
Serve the navarin from its casserole or arrange it on a very hot platter.
The preceding navarin is a model for other stews. You may, for instance, omit the green beans, peas, and potatoes, and add navy beans or lentils simmered in salted water until almost tender, or canned kidney beans, then finish them off for half an hour with the lamb. The following are prepared exactly like beef stews.
[Lamb or Mutton Stew with Red Wine, Onions, Mushrooms, and Bacon]
Follow the recipe for boeuf bourguignon, braising the lamb 2 hours rather than the 3½ to 4 hours required for beef.
Follow the recipe for boeuf à la catalane, using boned shoulder or shank. Time the cooking for about 2 hours rather than the 3 or 4 required for beef.
[Casserole of Lamb or Mutton with Wine, Mushrooms, Carrots, Onions, and Herbs]
Follow the recipe for daube de boeuf, using boned shoulder or shank. Cook the lamb for 2 hours rather than the 3 or 4 in the recipe.
[Spring Lamb Stew with Onions and Mushrooms]
This is a delicious stew for “genuine spring lamb,” and is cooked exactly like the blanquette de veau in the Veal section.
Lamb shanks, jarrets de devant, are considered part of the shoulder in France, so no special recipes are given for them. They may be boned or left whole, and you should allow one shank per person. Use any of the preceding lamb stew recipes. (Braised lamb shanks means that the meat is browned, then simmered in a liquid, and is just another name for stew or fricassee.)
Delicious “lamburgers” may be made using freshly ground neck or other lean meat and mixing it with any of the stuffing suggestions for boned lamb–8.
Except for the garlic and herb stuffing, which is a flavoring only, use 1 part of stuffing for 3 to 4 parts of ground lamb. Sauté and sauce them according to directions in the hamburger recipes which begin.
Lamb can hardly be considered a leftover when it receives this elaborate treatment. A mold is lined with the skins of cooked eggplant, and filled with a carefully seasoned mixture of cooked lamb, eggplant, and mushrooms. It presents itself after baking and unmolding as a shiny, dark purple cylinder surrounded with a deep red tomato sauce. It is delicious either hot or cold.
Serve the moussaka with steamed rice or risotto, and buttered green beans or a green salad. A fairly full-bodied, dry, chilled white wine such as a Mâcon or Hermitage goes well with it. Moussaka also makes a handsome cold dish served with tomato salad and French bread.
For 8 people
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, in time to bake the eggplant.
Set tomato sauce to simmer.
5 lbs. of eggplant (five 1-lb. eggplants if possible, each 7 to 8 inches long)
1 Tb salt
2 Tb olive oil
A shallow roasting pan
Remove green caps and slice eggplants in half lengthwise. Cut deep gashes in the flesh of each half, but do not pierce the skin. Sprinkle flesh with salt and let stand for 30 minutes. Wash under cold water, squeeze out juice, and dry on paper towels. Rub with olive oil and set eggplants skin side down in a roasting pan. Pour in ½ inch of water. Bake in upper third of preheated oven for about half an hour, or until just tender.
A 9- to 10-inch skillet
⅔ cup (3 ounces) finely minced onions
1 Tb olive oil A 3-quart mixing bowl
While eggplants are baking, cook the onions slowly in olive oil for 10 to 15 minutes, until tender but not browned. Scrape into mixing bowl.
½ lb. finely minced mushrooms
2 Tb minced shallots or green onions
1½ Tb olive oil
A handful at a time, twist mushrooms into a ball in the corner of a towel to extract their juice. Add the juice to the tomato sauce. Sauté the mushrooms and shallots or onions in olive oil for 5 minutes or so, until pieces separate from each other. Add to mixing bowl.
3 Tb olive oil
When eggplants are tender, carefully scoop out the flesh with a spoon, leaving the skin intact. Chop half the flesh and place in the mixing bowl. Dice or slice the rest and toss it briefly in very hot olive oil to brown lightly. Set aside until later.
½ tsp olive oil
A 2-quart cylindrical mold (preferably a charlotte) 4 inches high and 7 inches in diameter
Oil the mold. Line it with the eggplant skins, their purple sides against the mold; place each lengthwise, a pointed end at the center of the bottom of the mold, the other end falling down outside the mold.
2¼ cups ground cooked lamb
1 tsp salt
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp rosemary
1 medium clove crushed garlic
⅔ cup thick brown sauce (preferably Numbers I or II; but the quick sauce, Number III, can be used)
3 Tb tomato paste
3 eggs Aluminum foil
Reset oven to 375 degrees. Add all ingredients at the left to the mixing bowl containing the onions, mushrooms, and chopped eggplant. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly. Taste carefully for seasoning. Spread an inch of the mixture in the bottom of the mold. Arrange over that a layer of the previously sautéed eggplant. Continue thus, ending with a layer of the lamb mixture. Fold the dangling ends of eggplant skin up over the surface. Cover the mold with foil and a lid or plate.
(*) May be prepared ahead to this point.
A pan of boiling water
A hot serving platter
The tomato sauce
A sauceboat
Set mold in a pan of boiling water. Bake in bottom third of oven for 1½ hours. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes. Reverse on a hot serving platter and surround with ½ cup of the tomato sauce. Pass the rest of the sauce separately.
Veal is an interesting and delicious meat when it is cooked well, and like chicken it lends itself to a variety of flavorings and sauces. The best quality of veal is milk-fed and is between 5 and 12 weeks old. The flesh is firm, smooth, fine-grained, and of a very pale pink color. The fat, which is white and satiny, is concentrated almost entirely inside the carcass around the kidneys. The bones are soft and reddish and can easily be sawed without splintering. After 12 weeks veal becomes calf and is of no further culinary interest until it develops into beef. At whatever age the veal animal leaves its milk diet and starts in on grain or grass, its flesh becomes increasingly rosy until, when it is almost of calf age, it is frankly reddish. A considerable amount of the veal found in American markets is partially grass or grain fed, and its flesh color ranges from dark pink to light red. It can make reasonably good eating, but never has the delicacy, flavor, and tenderness of milk-fed veal. Train yourself when shopping for veal to look carefully at its color. Once you are aware of what good quality should look like, you can avoid the reddish pieces. You will be more likely to find the better qualities of veal in markets catering to a European clientele.
Veau Poêlé
With no natural fat covering and no marblings of fat inside the meat, a roast of veal will always be juicier and have more flavor if it is cooked in a covered casserole with aromatic vegetables. This is a particularly good method for the rather dark pink veal most frequently found in American markets.
CUTS FOR ROASTING
Count on 1 pound of boneless meat for 2 or 3 people.
Round Roast—Cuisseau Raccourci. An American duplication of French cuts of the hind leg of veal is not possible as the two cutting methods are entirely different. Because the French animal is larger and older, between 5 and 12 weeks rather than the usual 3 to 6 of American veal, the French round is separated into lengthwise muscles like beef. These are top round or noix, bottom round or sous noix, and sirloin tip or noix pâtissière; they make compact, boneless, cylindrical roasts which carve into neat slices. Top round and sirloin tip are the choice morsels, and top round is also used for scallops. The American round is formed into roasts, steaks, or scallops by cutting directly across the grain, so one piece contains the top and bottom rounds and the sirloin tip.
Rump—Culotte. This should be boned and rolled.
Sirloin—Quasi. This should be boned and rolled.
Loin or Saddle—Longe, or Selle, or if the kidneys are included, Rognonnade. This is the loin-chop section. When used for roasts, it is usually boned and rolled, and is an expensive cut.
Shoulder—Épaule. This is boned and rolled, and is less expensive than the previously listed roasts. It is not always available as some markets do not buy the forequarters of veal.
PREPARATION FOR COOKING
Select a boneless roast from any of the veal cuts in the list. It should weigh at least 3 pounds. Have it tied to make, if possible, a compact cylindrical shape 4 to 5½ inches in diameter. As it is usually not the custom of American butchers to place thin strips of fresh pork fat along the top, bottom, and sides of a roast, we have suggested strips of blanched bacon in the recipes to follow; the bacon bastes the veal as it cooks.
TIMING AND TEMPERATURES
Veal is always cooked to well done; that is, until its juices run a clear yellow with no trace of rosy color—about 175 degrees on a meat thermometer. If the meat is at room temperature when it goes into the oven, estimate 30 to 40 minutes per pound depending on the thickness of the meat.
VEGETABLE SUGGESTIONS
Starchy vegetables
Risotto, or soubise (rice and onions)
Potatoes scalloped in cream, or sautéed in butter
Buttered noodles
Other vegetables
Braised lettuce, endive, or celery, or baked cucumbers
Spinach braised in cream or in stock
Brussels sprouts with cream, or with cheese sauce
Creamed, stuffed, or sautéed mushrooms
Buttered peas, and tomatoes stuffed with herbs
A garniture of glazed carrots, onions, turnips and sautéed mushrooms
WINE SUGGESTION
A good, red Bordeaux from the Médoc district is usually the best choice.
VEAU POÊLÉ[Casserole-roasted Veal]
This is a very simple and savory recipe for veal. The meat renders a certain amount of juice as it roasts, so no special sauce is necessary if you are content with the French system of a spoonful per serving to moisten the meat. For more sauce, see the suggestion at the end of the recipe.
For 6 people
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
A 3-lb. roast of veal, boned and tied
Dry the veal on paper towels.
A heavy fireproof casserole just large enough to hold the veal easily
2 Tb butter
2 Tb oil
Place the casserole over moderately high heat with the butter and oil. When you see the butter foam begin to subside, brown the veal lightly on all sides; this takes 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the veal.
3 Tb butter, if needed
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced onions
A medium herb bouquet: 4 parsley sprigs, ½ bay leaf, and ¼ tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth
If the browning fat has burned, pour it out and add butter. Stir in the vegetables and herb bouquet, cover, and cook over low heat for 5 minutes without browning.
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
A meat thermometer
2 strips of fat bacon, simmered for 10 minutes in 1 quart of water, rinsed, drained, and dried
Aluminum foil
Bulb baster
Sprinkle salt and pepper over the veal. Return it to the casserole and baste with the butter in the casserole. Insert meat thermometer. Lay the blanched bacon over the meat, then the foil. Cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so meat cooks slowly and steadily for about 1⅔ hours. Baste it 2 or 3 times with the juices in the casserole. The roast is done at a thermometer reading of 175 degrees, or as soon as its juices run clear yellow when the meat is pricked deeply with a fork.
A hot platter
Salt and pepper
A hot gravy boat
Place the veal on a hot platter and discard trussing strings. The veal and vegetables will have produced a cup or more of juice in the casserole. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from them. Set casserole over moderate heat while scraping up any coagulated cooking juices from the bottom and sides with a wooden spoon, and mashing the vegetables into the liquid. Boil down rapidly if necessary; you should have ¾ to 1 cup. Correct seasoning, and strain into a hot gravy boat. Garnish the meat platter with whatever vegetables you have chosen, and serve.
(*) If you are not serving immediately, return the veal and sauce to the casserole, cover partially, and set in turned-off hot oven where it will stay warm for half an hour at least.
[Casserole-roasted Veal with Diced Vegetables]
⅓ cup Madeira
Follow the master recipe for roast veal, but instead of slicing the carrots and onions, cut them into ⅛-inch dice. After browning the veal, remove it and cook the vegetables slowly in butter for 10 minutes. Then add the Madeira and boil it down rapidly until it has almost completely evaporated. Return the meat to the casserole and spread half the vegetables over it, leaving the rest in the bottom of the casserole. Proceed with the recipe.
1 cup good brown stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tb arrowroot or cornstarch blended with 2 Tb Madeira
Optional: 1 diced canned truffle and juice from the can
When the veal is done and has been removed from the casserole, add the stock or bouillon and simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove the herb bouquet and bacon, and degrease the sauce. Pour in the starch mixture and optional truffles and truffle juice. Simmer for 5 minutes. Correct seasoning. Sauce should be lightly thickened.
2 Tb softened butter
A warmed sauceboat
Off heat, and just before serving, add the butter by bits, swirling the sauce in the casserole until each addition has been absorbed. Ladle a spoonful of sauce and vegetables over the meat. Pour the rest into the warmed sauceboat.
This delicious creation is fine for a party as it may be prepared in the morning and reheated in the evening. The veal is cooked and sliced, re-formed with a spreading of onions and mushrooms between each slice, and covered with a light cheese sauce. It is reheated and browned before serving. Braised lettuce or endive go particularly well with this roast, and either a red Bordeaux wine from the Médoc district or a chilled white Burgundy.
For 10 to 12 people
Roasting the veal
A 5-lb. boned and tied roast of veal
Brown the veal, and roast it for about 2½ hours (to 175 degrees on a meat thermometer) in a covered casserole as described in the master recipe, this page. Then allow the meat to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature; it will be carved when the preparations which follow are ready.
A 1-quart saucepan
Strain the roasting juices into the saucepan and skim off fat. Boil juices down rapidly to reduce to 1 cup. They will go into your velouté sauce later.
While the veal is roasting, prepare the onions and mushrooms as follows:
¼ cup raw white rice
2 quarts boiling water
1 Tb salt
Drop the rice into boiling salted water. Boil 5 minutes. Drain.
3 Tb butter
A 6- to 8-cup, heavy, fireproof casserole with cover
1 lb. (3½ cups) sliced yellow onions
½ tsp salt
Melt the butter in the casserole, stir in the onions and salt, and coat well with butter; stir in the rice. (No liquid is added; the onions provide enough for the rice.) Cover and cook over very low heat or in the oven next to the veal for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the rice and onions are very tender but not browned.
Mushroom duxelles
½ lb. finely minced fresh mushrooms (makes 2 cups)
3 Tb minced shallots or green onions
2 Tb butter
1 Tb oil
An 8-inch enameled skillet or heavy-bottomed enameled saucepan
Salt and pepper
A handful at a time, squeeze the mushrooms in the corner of a towel to extract their juice. Then sauté them with the shallots or onions in hot butter and oil for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the pieces begin to separate from each other. Season to taste and set aside.
When the roast is done, prepare the following sauce and the filling:
Thick velouté sauce
6 Tb butter
A 2-quart, heavy-bottomed enameled saucepan
8 Tb flour
A wooden spoon
3 cups boiling liquid: the veal-roasting juices plus milk
A wire whip
Pinch of nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
⅛ tsp pepper
Melt the butter in the saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook slowly together, stirring, until they foam for 2 minutes without coloring. Remove from heat, pour in all the boiling liquid at once and beat vigorously with wire whip. Beat in the seasonings. Bring to the boil, stirring, and boil for 1 minute. Correct seasoning. Sauce will be very thick.
½ cup whipping cream
Pour 1 cup of sauce into the cooked rice and onions. Beat the cream into the rest of the sauce and set it in a pan of simmering water to continue cooking slowly.
Rice, onion, and mushroom filling
The cooked rice and onions
The mushroom duxelles
¼ cup whipping cream, more if needed
Salt and pepper
Purée the rice and onions through a sieve or in an electric blender. Add the purée to the mushrooms, pour in ¼ cup cream, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring. The filling should be thick enough to hold its shape quite solidly in a spoon. Boil down if not thick enough; thin out with spoonfuls of cream if too thick. Correct seasoning.
Final assembly
A lightly buttered, fireproof serving platter 1½ inches deep and about 14 inches long
Salt and pepper
The filling