I would like to introduce Lady Angharad, one of Innilgard's very talented cooks. Here is her Haedus in Alio recipe:
Haedus in Alio Recipe
“Take a quarter of kid and dress well for roasting, lard and fill with a generous amount of peeled cloves of garlic, the same way you would as if you wished to baste or lard it. Then take some good verjuice, two egg yolks, two crushed garlic cloves, a little saffron and pepper, and a bit of fatty broth, and mix all these things together and put this mixture in a pot beneath the kid while it is roasting, and baste it every so often with this sauce. When it is done cooking put the kid on a platter, top with the sauce, and a bit of chopped parsley. The kid should be well done and served very hot.”
Libro de arte coquinaria, Maestro Martino da Como
“Grease a kid or a quarter of one with lard and cleaned garlic cloves; put it on a spit and turn it by the fire. Baste it often with sprigs of bay or rosemary and the sauce I shall now describe. Take verjuice and the juice of the meat, the yolks of two eggs well beaten, two cloves of garlic well pounded, a pinch of saffron and a little pepper, and mix this and pour into a dish. With this (as I said) you baste what you are cooking. When it is done put it in a dish and pour some of the sauce over it and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley. Caeculus should not eat this because it dulls the eyesight and arouses dormant passions.”
De Honesta Voluptate, Platina
Platina, who normally shamelessly plagiarises Maestro Martino, makes a useful addition here – the rosemary, and following his tradition I introduce a little more. You will die for this, and people will mob the kitchen demanding more.
You can try this recipe with kid if you can get some, but lamb has a lot more flavour. If you want to ‘lard’ your leg with garlic as Martino suggests, stab small, deep holes all over with a sharp knife and stuff whole or halved cloves of garlic in them. You can do this in addition to or instead of the treatment described below, and it is particularly effective if you have a larger piece of lamb.
1 leg of lamb (up to 2kg)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 egg yolks
½ cup verjuice
olive oil
pinch saffron
salt, pepper
fresh parsley
Put two of the garlic cloves into a mortar along with the leaves from two of the sprigs of rosemary, and some coarse salt. Note that you can remove the leaves from a rosemary branch very quickly by holding it a couple of cm below the tip and pulling your fingers along stem towards the cut end. Grind all these things up as finely as you can, and moisten into a sludge with olive oil.
Take the leg of lamb. If it is very fatty cut off some of the fat, slicing it off right down to the flesh in some places. With a narrow, sharp knife make a hole alongside the bone, passing the whole length of the leg. Stuff the mixture from the mortar in the hole. Take the green and garlicky juices from the mortar adding a little more olive oil if necessary, and smear over the outside of the leg.
Put the leg into a covered roasting dish, preferably one with a nice heavy base. If you don’t have a covered roasting dish, wrap the leg in foil. Put in the oven at 200C (180C fan forced). Roast it for 20 mins for every 0.5kg plus an extra 20 mins (this is for well-done).
Smash up the remaining two cloves of garlic and put them in a small saucepan with the other ingredients except for the parsley and the remaining rosemary. Mix up well. Every half an hour throughout the cooking process take the lamb out the oven. Tip the juices that have come out into the saucepan, and turn the lamb over. Mix the sauce and baste the lamb with it using the remaining rosemary sprig. Return to the oven.
When the lamb is done remove it from the oven and tip any remaining juices into the sauce. Let the lamb rest for a little while, then carve it into small pieces and put it on a platter. Put the saucepan with the sauce on the stove and heat until it is hot but not boiling. If you like you can add some breadcrumbs (or rice flour) to thicken it up a bit. If it seems a bit scanty add some good quality beef stock. Pour over the lamb, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley, and resist the urge to secrete yourself in a cupboard and eat it all.
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