Frenching a Rack of Lamb

If you want to achieve the ultimate dramatic effect, a rack of lamb must be frenched. This simply means that the ribs must be sawed or hacked off with a cleaver about 3 inches [7.5 cm] from the rib eye (the solid round muscle that runs the length of the rack) and that fat and meat covering the last 2 inches [5 cm] of the ribs must then be removed, leaving the clean ribs exposed and only an inch-wide strip of fat and/or meat covering the ribs (1 inch out from the rib eye). Unless you go to a very fancy or cooperative butcher, you may have to do this yourself. There’s nothing terribly tricky about it, but until you get the knack it can be tedious. Turn the rack so that what was the animal’s back is facing up. Make a slit in the fat and meat, 1 inch from the rib-eye muscle, first on the loin side (which looks neater and more compact), where you should cut all the way down to the rib, and then on the shoulder side, where the knife will run into the cartilaginous shoulder blade. Join these two marks by cutting through the fat and meat all the way down to the ribs. As you cut across each rib, push the knife down between the ribs so it comes out on the inside (the concave side) of the rack. When you get to the shoulder blade, cut away the fat that covers it and then slice under the shoulder blade and remove it. (I throw it out since it contributes little to the roasting juices.) Cut down to the ribs, again connecting the two slits at each end with a straight line, and again poking the knife so it sticks out through the ribs on the other side.