Leg and Shoulder of Lamb

Gigot et épaule d’agneau (leg and shoulder of lamb) teach one rule before anything meets the heat: the fire must suit the joint. A young shoulder, scored en quadrillage (in a lattice), can be grilled until its fat turns bronze and the meat remains juicy; either shoulder or leg can instead become Gigot à la Boulangère (No. 1307), the baker’s-style roast in which the joint gives its fat and juices to onions and potatoes.

The original entry assumed a tender house-lamb joint, an open fire with a cook tending it, and an earthenware dish large enough for the roast. Unlike many grand formulas, it needs neither a saucier with a stockpot nor a salamander. A small shoulder and a lidded two-zone grill are the honest home equivalents, scaled for four. The brigade-size joint and dedicated fire-tender are scaffolding we can shed; moderate heat and the quadrillage are the grilled dish itself and must stay.

The oven treatment remains a complete, separate preparation, exactly as the canon organized it, so reach for Gigot à la Boulangère (No. 1307) rather than folding a shortened imitation into these instructions. For the grilled shoulder, the step that matters most is controlling the fire: brown patiently, move away from flare-ups, and never let fierce heat burn the fat before the centre is ready.