CookEat Recipe
Leg of Mutton Lyonnaise
A roast leg of mutton on browned white onions, finished with a rich demi-glace and pan juices.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Preheat a conventional oven to 400°F. Put the ten quarts cold water in a very large stockpot with ample headroom and begin heating. Have a butcher clean and cut the two fresh raw white calf feet into small pieces. Put them in a roasting pan with the half pound raw ham cut into pieces, one pound veal bones, two carrots, two onions and two leeks, all sliced, the three branches parsley root and one celery branch, sliced. Add the ten cloves, four bay leaves, twenty whole allspice berries, two tablespoons whole black peppercorns, one teaspoon thyme and one and a half tablespoons salt. Spread about four tablespoons rendered pork lard over the vegetables and roast until the bones, meat and vegetables are golden, without burning.
Step 2
Transfer the complete roasted mixture to the stockpot and add the one pint canned tomatoes. Bring slowly to a boil and cook for thirty minutes. Cover, lower the heat and keep at a gentle simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. Before proceeding, check that the meat on the feet and the ham have each reached at least 70°C for two minutes, probing away from bone.
Step 3
In a second very large saucepan, heat the three ounces butter, stir in the six tablespoons flour and cook for twenty minutes, stirring regularly, until the roux is thoroughly brown. Carefully pour the hot stock mixture into the roux, mixing well. Keep at a very gentle simmer for twelve hours, stirring regularly and adjusting the heat to prevent catching.
Step 4
Mix in the half pint sherry, then strain through a clean fine conical strainer into clean shallow heat-safe containers, removing all bones and aromatics. Cool rapidly in an ice or cold-water bath and refrigerate at 40°F or colder within two hours. Once chilled, measure one gill of the actual finished demi-glace for the mutton and keep it refrigerated. Use the demi-glace within forty-eight hours or freeze for longer storage.
Step 5
Use a tender seven-pound bone-in leg of mutton that has been professionally aged for at least three days under controlled refrigeration. With the flat, blunt side of a clean cleaver, pound it firmly all around without cutting the flesh or breaking the bone. Rub with the separate one tablespoon salt and one teaspoon white pepper. Keep covered in the refrigerator at 40°F or colder for five or six hours before roasting. Make a two-inch-deep incision beside the shank bone under the meat and insert one peeled garlic clove.
Step 6
Cut the two ounces uncooked, unsmoked, salt-cured fatty larding pork into small pieces. Put it in a roasting pan with one small sliced carrot, one small sliced onion, one sliced celery branch, one fresh sliced leek stalk, two chopped parsley branches, the separate one crushed garlic clove, twenty whole peppercorns, one bay-leaf sprig, the separate two cloves and one saltspoon thyme. Keep this raw mirepoix refrigerated until ready to roast.
Step 7
Preheat a conventional oven to 350°F. Lay the seasoned leg on the mirepoix and spread the separate one tablespoon melted rendered pork lard over the top. Roast, pouring one tablespoon hot water over the leg every ten minutes and turning the meat three or four times. Begin checking at one hour and ten minutes, and continue as needed until the thickest meat has reached 70°C for two minutes, probing away from bone.
Step 8
While the leg is roasting, finely mince the six medium white onions. Season them with the separate half teaspoon salt and brown in a frying pan with the separate half ounce butter for fifteen minutes, tossing briskly. Keep the onions hot for serving.
Step 9
Toward the end of roasting, reheat the reserved one actual gill chilled demi-glace to 165°F. Loosen this measured portion with a little hot ready-to-use unsalted veal broth until somewhat fluid and keep all of it hot for immediate use.
Step 10
Arrange all the hot browned onions on a large hot dish and lay the cooked mutton over them. Skim the fat from the roasting-pan juices, add all the hot loosened demi-glace and boil on the stove for three minutes to reduce, keeping the entire liquid and mirepoix at or above 70°C for at least two minutes. Strain over the leg, removing all pork, herbs, vegetables and any bone fragments, and serve promptly. Rapidly cool any leftover meat in shallow containers and refrigerate at 40°F or colder within two hours.
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