Delia Smith Mustard-Glazed Lamb Cutlets (and Rack of Lamb)

For a quick supper, Delia Smith’s lamb cutlets are her Mustard-Glazed Lamb Cutlets, for 4 people. You spread 8 cutlets with mustard, press them into demerara sugar and grill them until the crust turns dark and shiny. Once the grill is hot, they cook in about 10 minutes.

If you came here for a Delia rack of lamb, this is the nearest thing in her books. A rack is a row of cutlets still joined together, and she would rather cut it up than roast it whole.

Her Complete Cookery Course puts this recipe in the chapter on barbecues and picnics. She uses the same mustard and sugar glaze again in How to Cook Book Two.

The sugar melts into a sticky, sweet crust, and the mustard keeps it sharp. Two cutlets each make a light main course, so serve them with potatoes or a salad.

FAQs

Does Delia have a rack of lamb recipe?

No, there is no rack of lamb recipe in her books or on her website. A rack is the best end of neck, and her Cookery Course says it can be roasted, but it is very fatty.

Served pink, as a roast rack usually is, the fat has no time to melt. She has often been served it in restaurants with a layer of fat that was not cooked through. So she slices the best end into cutlets and grills them to crisp the fat.

My own tip is to cut a rack between the bones into single cutlets, or ask the butcher to do it. Best end chops also braise well, as in her hotpot.

When should I season the cutlets?

At the table, if you follow her later advice, because her two books disagree. The 1992 recipe seasons the cutlets with salt and pepper before the mustard goes on.

In her 1999 grilling guide, she says you should never season meat before grilling, frying or browning, because salt draws out the juices. She adds that you should still season it before serving. My own choice is to follow the later book.

Which mustard should I use?

English or Dijon, as the 1992 recipe lets you choose. When she gives the same glaze in her later book, she uses English mustard, spread in a thin layer.

She says the mustard and sugar turn into a shiny crust with a barbecue flavour as soon as they meet the heat. English mustard gives a hotter, sharper taste, my own view.

Can I use a griddle pan instead of the grill?

Yes. In the same grilling guide, Delia says a ridged grill pan is a very good way to cook meat. Smear it with a very little oil and heat it for about 10 minutes first.

Then use the same timings as under the grill. My own tip is to watch the sugar closely, because it can catch on the hot ridges.

What is the difference between a cutlet and a chop?

A cutlet is cut from the best end, so it is smaller, with a long thin bone. Delia notes that these are called single loin chops in Scotland, but simply cutlets in the Midlands.

The size changes the time, and for bigger chops she also has an oven-baked lamb chops recipe. Her grilling guide gives cutlets about 5 minutes a side, and lamb chops about 10.

How do I cook them on a barbecue?

Cook them over a medium heat, my own tip, because Delia says the barbecue is the best way of all but gives no timings. The recipe sits in the barbecue chapter of the Cookery Course.

Keep them away from the hottest part of the fire. That way the sugar browns without burning before the lamb is ready.