After the publication of the Chicken Marengo story, I received many letters requesting more recipes to my great surprise. One of the letters from a California reader says: Napoleonic history and wargaming are, in our household, of primary interest, with gourmet cooking and love of good wines a close second. Well it appears to be the same in our home but, to avoid any contest, I would not try to put one ahead of the other... Let me say that authentic recipes that can be traced back to our period of interest with a story behind them are not easy to find. In the past issue, we had an article on French restaurants in which the gargantuan meal downed at Very by Honore de Balzac was related and also included the recipe for the Duckling with turnips. There are other items that were part of Balzac's repast at Very that deserve our attention beside the Sole a la Normande and the pair of roast partridges which are much too complicated for the average cook. One of them is the 12 lamb cotelets cooked in an unspecified fashion. Well let us take some liberty with that unspecified recipe... 12 lamb chops make a very nice rack of lamb and one of the best and simplest ways I know to cook a rack of lamb is to prepare a rack of lamb a la Provencale (a recipe already in current use during the Napoleonic period). RACK OF LAMB PROVENCALE Typically a rack of lamb consists of 8 ribs and should be enough for 2 people. (However, I know of a closely related glutton who recently, in a restaurant had one all by himself!) Ingredients 1 rack of lamb trimmed, (about 1 1/4 pound) 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, 2 shallots, peeled and minced (about 2 tablespoons), 3 tbs of chopped parsley, 1/8 teaspoon of dried thyme or Herbes de Provence 1 small clove of garlic, minced (1/4 tsp) 1 slice of bread crumbled (1 /2 cup) 2 tbs of butter, melted 1) Sprinkle the rack of lamb with the salt and pepper and place in a skillet on high heat. Brown, meat side down and then holding the rack with tongs, sear it also on the bottom. This important procedure does not cook the rack but simply sears it all around. There is no need for fat in the skillet since there is enough remaining on the rack for it to brown in its own fat. 2) Now comes the important part that makes that recipe outstanding (when done without shortcuts and substitutions). Mixthe 2tbsof shallots, 3 tbs of parsley, 1/2 tsp of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, and 2 tbs of melted butter. 3) Now, place the rack flesh side up and press the breadcrumb mixture lightly over the top. 4) Roast in a preheated oven at 450 degrees F oven for 12 to 15 minutes. If the bread crumbs are not brown enough, place under the broiler for approximately 1 minute to make them a bit darker. Cool about 10 minutes before carving. 5) For a treat (if you don't mind about fat), remove the excess fat and cooking juice from the skillet and add 1/2 cup of demi-glace or veal stock. Melt all the solidified juices and strain in a little sauce pan. 6) Carve and serve on a very hot plate, decorate with watercress. (There is no room here for a mint sauce!) You are in for a treat! Reduced beef broth can be substituted for the demi-glace or veal stock. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 5 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com