Cutlets

Côtelettes de mouton et d’agneau (mutton and lamb cutlets) teach the discipline of fierce heat and short cooking. Their fat should bronze, their centre stay rosy, and the meat must leave the fire before patience turns into punishment. Sauté (quick cooking in a little hot fat) is possible, but the source is plain: grilling suits them best; when they are treated à l’anglaise (coated with egg and breadcrumbs), they belong in clarified butter.

The original entry assumed a service grill or salamander already fierce, racks pared by the butcher, and several orders moving at once. No saucier or stockpot belongs here; the cutlet is carried by its own juices. At home, eight rib cutlets feed four, a cast-iron grill pan or close broiler replaces the service grill, and a shallow skillet replaces the broad frying range. Perfectly whitened bones and elaborate platter work are brigade scaffolding and can go; hot dry cooking, a rosy centre, and clarified butter beneath an Anglaise crust are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

The one true thing is heat before contact. Dry the cutlets, bring the grill or butter fully hot, then lay them down and let the first hard sizzle set the surface. If the sound is timid, lift them out and heat the pan properly; ça se rattrape, but a cold start can only soak the crust and grey the meat.