1791—Selle de Chevreuil et Cuissot

Saddles and legs of roebuck may be prepared after the same recipes, and allow of the same garnishes. The recipes for saddle which I give hereafter may therefore be applied equally well to legs.

Whichever joint be selected, it must first be cleared of all tendons and then larded with larding bacon. The last operation is no more essential than is the marinading which in France has become customary with such pieces. It might even be said with justice that marinading is not only useless, but harmful, more particularly in the case of young animals whose meat has been well hung.

Unlike many other specimens of game, roebuck has to be eaten fresh; it does not suit it to be in the least tainted. I should like to point out here that game shot in ambush is best, owing to the fact that animals killed after a chase decompose very quickly, and thereby lose a large proportion of their flavour.

The saddle of the roebuck generally consists of the whole of the latter’s back, from the withers to the tail, in which case the bones of the ribs are cut very short, that the joint may lie steady at all points.

At the croup-end, cut the joint on either side diagonally, from the point of the haunch to the root of the tail. Sometimes, however, the saddle only consists of the lumbar portion of the back, and, in this case, the ribs are cut up to be cooked as cutlets.