Côtelettes d’Agneau de Lait à la Buloz

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small heavy saucepan, about 1 quart / 1 litre
• •12-inch / 30 cm heavy grill pan or skillet
• •12-inch / 30 cm sauté pan
• •Wire rack set over a tray
• •Two shallow coating dishes
• •Flat dinner knife or small metal spatula
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Wide oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Reduce the Béchamel

   Warm the milk with the onion and bay leaf until small bubbles gather at the edge, then cover and infuse for 5 minutes. Melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook the roux gently for 90 seconds without letting it color. Strain in the warm milk a little at a time, whisking each addition smooth before the next. Add the nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and a pinch of white pepper, then simmer gently, stirring constantly, until reduced to ½ cup and thick enough that the spoon leaves a clean track across the pan. Take it off the heat and stir in the 2 tablespoons of Parmesan. Let it cool until lukewarm. If it still runs from the spoon, reduce it again; if it has become a paste, whisk in a teaspoon of milk. Ça se rattrape.

   Measure the finished sauce rather than trusting the clock. The source allows one small tablespoon per cutlet, so ½ cup is the correct home-scale quantity for eight.
2. 2

   Ready the rizotto

   Reach for the finished rizotto linked in the supplied material as Pommes de Terre Parmesane (No. 2238). The Buloz entry itself explicitly orders rizotto with truffles, so use its rice garnish while retaining the supplied title and formula number for the book’s link. Fold in the truffle packing juice, if present, and all but eight of the truffle slices. Cover and keep it barely warm, not bubbling; if it begins to stiffen, take it off the heat rather than stirring it into paste.

3. 3

   Half-grill the cutlets

   Dry the cutlets thoroughly and season both sides with half the remaining salt and pepper. Heat a heavy grill pan or skillet until strongly hot, brush the lamb very lightly with a little of the clarified butter, and grill for 60 to 90 seconds per side. You want light browning and a cooked outer rim, while the centers remain distinctly underdone. Lift the cutlets onto a wire rack, blot away surface fat, and let them stand for 3 minutes. This first cooking must remain incomplete because the clarified-butter browning still lies ahead.

4. 4

   Coat and press

   Whisk the anglaise (egg coating) by beating the eggs with the neutral oil and the remaining salt and pepper. Mix the breadcrumbs with the ⅓ cup of Parmesan in a second shallow dish. Working one cutlet at a time, spread one small tablespoon of reduced Béchamel thinly over both sides, lower it immediately into the anglaise without swishing, and then cover it completely with the Parmesan crumbs. Press the coating firmly with the flat of a knife so it becomes close and even. If the Béchamel slides off before the egg catches it, scrape it back into the saucepan, reduce it for another minute, cool it, and coat again. Don’t bury a loose sauce under more crumbs; the crust will leave the meat with it.

   Use one hand for the anglaise and the other for the crumbs. The coating stays finer, your fingers remain recognizable, and the eighth cutlet looks as neat as the first.
5. 5

   Brown in butter

   Heat the clarified butter in a wide sauté pan until a dropped breadcrumb sizzles immediately and turns gold within several seconds. Brown the cutlets in two uncrowded batches, about 2 minutes on the first side and 1½ to 2 minutes on the second, spooning butter around the bone so the crust colors evenly. Skim loose crumbs from the butter between batches before they scorch. The lamb is ready when the crust is deep butter-gold and the center registers 145°F / 63°C near, but not against, the bone. If the crumb darkens before the meat is ready, move the pan off the heat, lower the flame, and finish with frequent turns. Rest the cutlets on the rack for 3 minutes so the underside stays crisp.

6. 6

   Ring and serve

   Warm a broad oval platter and spread the truffled rizotto over it in a smooth, even layer. Arrange the eight cutlets in a close circle over the rice, with the bones pointing outward, and lay one reserved truffle slice against each cutlet. Paper frills may be fixed to the bones if you want the source’s formal finish, but they are service ornament, not technique. Carry the platter straight to the table while the crust still holds its butter sheen. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask for rib cutlets about ¾ inch / 2 cm thick and as evenly sized as possible. Larger mature-lamb chops have a stronger flavor and need longer cooking; they make a good dish, but not the delicate one milk-fed lamb gives you here.
• •The crumbs must be very fine. Grind thoroughly dried white bread and sift it, or buy fine plain breadcrumbs. Coarse crumbs leave gaps through which the Béchamel escapes, and they brown before the meat finishes.
• •Fresh black truffle is magnificent when the season gives it honestly. A preserved whole black truffle with its juice is the classical pantry answer at other times; truffle-flavored oil supplies perfume but none of the truffle’s earthy depth or texture.
• •The supplied source contains a conflict: the Buloz entry orders rizotto with truffles, while its linked title reads Pommes de Terre Parmesane (No. 2238). The parent entry governs the plate here, so use rice; the supplied title and number remain printed exactly to preserve the machine-readable book link.
• •Pour a red Burgundy with some softness rather than a heavily tannic wine. Its earthiness meets the truffle, while its restraint leaves the young lamb and Parmesan crust room to speak.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the reduced Béchamel up to one day ahead. Press parchment directly against its surface, chill it, then reheat gently and correct the consistency with a teaspoon of milk if it has tightened.
• •Mix the fine breadcrumbs and Parmesan several hours ahead and keep them dry. Clarified butter may also be prepared in advance and kept covered in the cold.
• •Prepare the mise en place for the linked rizotto before beginning the lamb, then finish that component close to serving. Long holding dulls the truffle and turns the rice heavy.
• •Do not half-grill the lamb in advance. Partial cooking belongs in one uninterrupted final sequence, followed immediately by coating, browning, and serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 410g)