Julia's Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child

7-pound leg, hip and sirloin removed, weighs about 5 pounds and serves 8 to 10. Timing: about 2 hours in a 325°F oven to internal temperature 140°F for medium rare; to 125° to 130°F for rare; to 120°F for blood rare. Before roasting, you may wish to puncture the meat in a dozen places and push in slivers of garlic, then brush the surface with oil, or paint on a mustard coating . Roast fat side up in a preheated oven as described in the master recipe, rapidly basting every 15 minutes with accumulated fat. After an hour, strew in ½ cup of chopped onions and several large cloves of smashed unpeeled garlic. Make the sauce as described in the master recipe, adding ½ teaspoon of rosemary, and 2 cups of chicken broth. See also the box below for other suggestions.
    A SIMPLE SAUCE FOR LAMB. Have the lamb hip- and tailbones (plus other lamb bones or scraps if available) chopped or sawed into ½-inch pieces, and brown with a little oil in a heavy pan with a chopped carrot, onion, and celery stalk. Sprinkle on a tablespoon of flour and brown, stirring for a minute or two. Add a chopped plum tomato, an imported bay leaf, and a big pinch of rosemary, plus chicken broth and water to cover. Simmer slowly, loosely covered, for 2 hours, adding more liquid as needed. Strain, degrease, and boil down to concentrate flavor. Use this plus ½ cup of dry white wine to make your deglazing sauce.
    Simple Sauce for Meat and Poultry. Follow the same general system as above for other meat and poultry sauces, using beef or poultry bones and scraps, other herbs, and beef rather than chicken broth, as appropriate.
    Port or Madeira Sauce. Use exactly the same system, substituting dry port or Madeira wine for the dry white wine.
    LEG OF LAMB NOTES. Whether you buy the whole leg, the shank end, or the sirloin end, you roast it in the same way. The leg is much easier to carve when the hip- and tailbones have been removed. Don’t buy a whole leg weighing more than 7½ pounds unless you know it has been properly aged—otherwise it can be unpleasantly tough.
    Imported Legs of Lamb (New Zealand, Iceland, etc.)
    These are smaller, younger, and tenderer than most American lamb. Either roast at 325°F as described above, counting on 25 minutes per pound, or, since they are so tender, you may wish to roast them at 400°F, counting on an hour or less.
    Rack of Lamb
    Two racks serve 4 or 5 people, 2 to 3 chops each. If the racks have not been “frenched,” scrape off the fatty meat between the ribs and from the chop bones. Score the fat side of the ribs lightly and paint with mustard coating (see box below). Roast for 10 minutes at 500°F, sprinkle ½ cup fresh bread crumbs over the meat, and drizzle on a little melted butter. Roast 20 minutes more, or to internal temperature 125°F, for red rare, a little longer, to 140°F, for medium rare. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting into 1-rib chops.
    HERBAL GARLIC AND MUSTARD COATING. Whisk together to a mayonnaise-like consistency ⅓ cup Dijon mustard with 3 large cloves of puréed garlic, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, ½ teaspoon ground rosemary, and 3 tablespoons light olive oil. Spread all over your leg of lamb and let marinate ½ hour or cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. If you use this, no basting is necessary and you will have few if any roasting juices; you may wish to make a separate sauce .
    Roast Loin of Pork
    For a 4-pound boneless roast, serving 8 to 10. Roasting time: 2¼ to 2½ hours at 350°F, to internal temperature 160°F. Buy the center cut of the loin, folded in two and tied fat side out to make a roast about 5 inches in circumference. I highly recommend the spice marinade . To use it, untie the roast and rub it all over with the mixture, using ¼ teaspoon per pound. Lightly score the fat side and retie. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or up to 48 hours. Roast, basting occasionally, as for the master recipe, and after 1½ hours strew into the pan ½ cup each of chopped carrots and