Lamb Trotters in White Sauce
Source: Anonymous, 1921
History
"Manos de carnero en salsa" (lamb trotters in sauce) is a recipe printed in the anonymous Spanish home-cookery book La Mejor Cocinera, Recetas de Cocina, published in Madrid by Editorial Saturnino Calleja. The book is a general household recipe collection that, besides recipes built on the main raw ingredients, also includes a section on table-service etiquette and advice on cleaning household objects. The earliest firmly located edition is around the early 1920s. The recipe itself is a technique-focused preparation of an offal cut. As printed, a dozen lamb trotters are singed, the little tuft of hair in the cleft of the tip is removed, and they are cooked in a white sauce (una salsilla blanca) for four hours; they are then drained on a cloth and boned. Separately, a few spoonfuls of white stock (jugo blanco) are reduced over a good flame together with mushrooms (setas) that have first been passed through lard (manteca); the sauce is bound with three egg yolks, and about twenty grams of fresh lard, a pinch of blanched parsley and lemon juice are added, with the trotters folded into this sauce just before serving. Beyond the book and its printed instructions, the historical record I could open does not document a specific regional origin, a datable point of invention, or any social or class association for this particular dish.
Ingredients
- 12 lamb trotters (manos de carnero)
- white sauce (salsa blanca)
- white stock (jugo blanco)
- mushrooms (setas)
- 20 grams fresh lard (manteca fresca)
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 thumb-pinch blanched parsley (perejil blanqueado)
- lemon juice (zumo de limón)
Instructions
- Singe the lamb trotters to remove surface hair, then trim away the tuft of hair in the cleft at the tip.
- Braise them in white sauce (salsa blanca) over moderate heat for four hours.
- Drain the cooked trotters on a clean cloth and remove the bones carefully.
- In a separate pot, reduce the white stock over good heat.
- Pass the mushrooms through lard (manteca) briefly and add them to the stock.
- Bind the sauce with three egg yolks, whisked in carefully to avoid scrambling.
- Stir in the fresh lard, the blanched parsley, and lemon juice to brighten the flavor.
- Fold the boned lamb trotters into this sauce just before serving.