Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (83 page)

Trim off any excess dough and reserve for decorations. Tuck the covering dough against the bottom rectangle of dough and under bottom of meat, sealing edges with your fingers. Paint dough covering with egg glaze; in a moment paint with a second coat.

Decorate blank spaces by cutting into surface of dough with
scissors, a knife, or
the metal end of a pastry tube, making definite edges that stick up
. (Cuts are made after glazing, so that the cut portion of the dough will remain pale, accenting the design when dough is baked.)

Immediately the decorations are complete, set beef in oven. The object here is to make sure the dough remains a crust, a thin and crisp covering; if it rises, it will be thick and bready.

3)
Baking—30 to 40 minutes

Bake in lower-middle level of preheated 425-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until pastry has browned nicely. Lower thermostat to 350 degrees for rest of baking, and cover crust loosely with a sheet of foil or brown paper if it seems to be browning too much. Indications that the meat is done are that you can begin to smell the beef
and the stuffing, and that juices begin to escape into the pan; meat thermometer reading for rare beef is 125 degrees.

4)
Serving and ahead-of-time notes

A hot platter or a board wide enough to hold beef and removed top crust

A flexible-blade spatula

A hot sauce in a warmed bowl

The hot accompanying vegetable

Serving implements: a sharp knife for cutting the crust, and a serving spoon and fork

When beef is done, remove from oven and slide onto platter or board. Beef will stay warm for 20 minutes; if you still cannot serve it, set in a warming oven no hotter than 120 degrees.

To serve, cut all around the crust and half an inch up from its bottom.
Lift the top crust off onto the platter
, and cut into serving portions. Separate the slices of meat with spoon and fork and cut down through the bottom crust so that each slice is served with a portion of stuffing and crust. Spoon a little sauce around the meat, and add a piece of the top crust.

LAMB
Agneau et Mouton

The French take great pride in their lamb and the marvelous quality of their mutton. While we do not easily find the little spring lambs of France in
this country, nor the mutton, we are fortunate to have our own type of lamb, of the very finest quality and flavor, throughout the year. Many Americans are so wedded to beef that they forget about lamb, and this is a pity, because a fine leg of lamb roasted red and juicy is a feast for any meat lover. Although we thought we had covered a great deal in Volume I, with lamb stew, roasts in mustard coatings, garlic sauces, and even a boiled leg of lamb, there is more to tell. We now add full instructions on boning the leg, step-by-step illustrated directions on how to carve the saddle like a major-domo, a recipe for stuffed and braised shoulder, and complete drawings on how to make a
gigot farci en croûte
.

HOW TO BONE A LEG OF LAMB

A fully or partially boned leg of lamb is easy to carve, and you can stuff the cavities where the bones used to be. If only the tail and hip assembly has been removed from the raw meat, that alone is a great help to the carver, and when the main leg bone is also gone, carving is no problem at all. To show that it really is a leg of lamb you are serving, leave the shank bone in unless you want a rolled leg for spit roasting. Although most butchers will cut out the tail and hip for you, they may not want to take the time for a careful boning of the main leg portion. If you enjoy working with your hands, do all the boning yourself and you will learn more about meat and carving, because you will become familiar with the bones, their shapes, and their positions.