Mont Saint-Michel crowns the largest salt meadow area in France
Serious gourmet cooks consider buying preseasoned meat an unforgivable gaffe, anticipating bland commercial spice mixtures at best. But when the seasoner is Mother Nature herself, who can argue?
Cavils end with a taste of the verdantly saline, lean lamb from France’s coastal provinces of Normandy and, especially, Brittany. There, lamb and sheep graze on the reclaimed salt meadows known as prés-salés, nibbling random herbs and bits of sprightly green seaweed along the way (or, in the hills around Provence, on the wild lavender that lends sweet overtones to the meat). These agneaux (lambs) or moutons (mutton) de pré-salé are treasured marks of quality on menus and in
butcher shops throughout France.
Restraint and balance being two of the hallmarks of the best French
cuisine, chefs and home cooks respect the elegant natural taste of this meat and are careful not to overpower it, hence the following favorite methods for appreciating this lamb and mutton.
Gigot aux flageolets à la Bretonne — Brittany leg of lamb with beans.
A great classic roast that is fast disappearing from French restaurants in the U.S., this leg of lamb is adorned with only pepper and a few slivers of garlic, inserted close to the bone, before it is roasted to roseate perfection at an inner temperature of 145 to 148 degrees Fahrenheit (63 to 65*C).
Once cooked, the roasted meat lends its rich juices to beans, preferably the small, dried ivory or jade flageolets, or, almost as good, the creamy white haricots. After a good soak, the beans are simmered with onion, thyme, bay leaf, and garlic until tender, and then are baked to an inviting mellow brown color along with lamb pan juices and perhaps a touch of tomato.
True gigot, cut from a whole leg of lamb, is hard to find in American restaurants these days. Changing eating habits mean that not enough customers order roasted meat, so a whole leg
would lead to uneconomical leftovers. Thus, what often passes for gigot is really a lamb steak
cut from the leg and grilled or roasted to order—not the same thing by a long shot.
Carré d’agneau persillé — Parsleyed rack of lamb.
A cut that stretches from the loin of the carcass to the first rib, the rack or carré of lamb is really a long row of unseparated lamb chops — plump, tender, and attached to riblike bones that in this dish are typically “frenched”, the meat and fat stripped away from the bare bones to create a refined and useful set of handles. Roasted to a rare state, the rack is removed from the oven, lightly brushed with spicy Dijon mustard, and encrusted with a heady mix of bread crumbs, garlic, and minced parsley. Then it goes back into the oven until the meat is medium rare and the coating crisp, golden, and fragrant. The rack is carved into chop portions and hopefully laid alongside a square of creamy baked pommes Dauphinoise.
Navarin d’agneau printanier — Spring lamb stew.
Even the cherished salt meadow lamb includes some cuts that are better braised than roasted, among them the neck and shoulder meat. With the coming of spring, two-inch cubes of these cuts are gently stewed until almost tender with a little dry white wine, a few tomatoes, thyme, garlic, and a bay leaf. The meat is jeweled with new white potatoes, tiny onions, young carrots and turnips, and freshly shelled new peas, and cooked until tender; it’s served as a gastronomic celebration of the vernal equinox.
Of course, all of these methods are also applied to less exalted lamb, when it is the chef who seasons to taste.
Further information and recipes:
- The Food of France by Waverley Root (1992);
- Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck (1961);
- foodnetwork.com (search rack of lamb persillade).
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