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THE PRACTICE OF COOKERY
CHAPTER IV - MUTTON


The names of various Pieces are: -

In England.

Hind Quarter: Leg – Loin, best end – Loin, chump end – Neck, best end. Fore Quarter: Neck, scrag end – Shoulder – Breast.

In Scotland.

The Leg – the Loin – the Fore Quarter. The two Loins joined together are called a Chine. A saddle of Mutton is the two Necks joined together.

PREPARATORY REMARKS ON MUTTON.

The finest Mutton is that of the mountain, or black-faced sheep of Scotland, and that of the South Downs and Welsh sheep. Sheep are in perfection from the age of four to five. In May and June, or just before shearing, mutton tastes strongly of the coat, or what is called woolly.

Wedder Mutton, which is the best, may be known by a prominent lump of fat at the edge of the broadest part of the inside of the leg. That meat should be chosen which is fine in the grain, bright in the colour, and the fat firm and white. The flesh of the ewe is of a paler colour; that of the ram is strongly flavoured, is of a deep red colour, and the fat spungy.

For keeping Mutton, the same directions may be observed as for keeping beef.

The Haunch is the prime joint. It should be roasted at a good brisk fire, and basted as beef, the fat being first covered with a piece of white paper. Before serving, half a sheet of foolscap paper, folded and fringed, should be put round the shank bone.

The Haunch, weighing fourteen pounds, will require two hours and a half to roast. Currant jelly sauce should be served with it.

When a Leg of Mutton is to be boiled, it should first be washed clean, then put on, in boiling water, and carefully scummed. If weighing eight or nine pounds, it should be boiled nearly three hours, and then served with caper sauce. A saddle or a chine, that is to say, two necks or two loins, a joint, generally called, indifferently, a saddle of mutton, being broad, requires a strong fire. The skin should be taken off, and skewered on again, or paper may be substituted for it, tied on with a buttered string. It should be well basted, and a quarter of an hour before serving, the skin or paper removed; it is then allowed to brown a little, is sprinkled with salt, basted, and dredged with flour, served with gravy in the dish, and currant jelly sauce.

A shoulder of Mutton should be roasted an hour and a half, and served with onion sauce, in a sauce tureen.

A Loin of Mutton should be carefully jointed, roasted the same length of time as a shoulder, and is carved lengthwise.

The best end of a Neck of Mutton should be jointed, and roasted, the same as the loin; or it may be boiled. If boiled, the skin should be taken off before serving, and caper sauce poured over it.

A Breast of Mutton may be parboiled, grilled, and served with onion and caper sauce.

TO DRESS A SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

Bone a small shoulder of mutton; roll it, and put it into a cloth; put it on in boiling water. Have ready a nice white sauce; stir into it some thick cream, and add some chopped Indian pickle. Make it all hot, but take care not to let it boil, and pour it over the mutton.

FRENCH MUTTON STEAKS.

Cut a neck of mutton into neat steaks; put them into a sauce-pan, with sufficient water to cover them; add a small bunch of sweet herbs, two or three onions, and some pepper. Let them boil two minutes; take them out, and stew the trimmings of the steaks with the herbs till the gravy is sufficiently strong; them strain it, and take off all the fat. Rub the steaks with a well-beaten yolk of an egg, strew over them bread crumbs mixed with finely-chopped sweet herbs, and fry them of a nice brown. Thicken the gravy with a little browned butter and flour, add a table-spoonful of vinegar, and when it is quite hot, pour it into the dish, and lay in the steaks.

MUTTON CUTLETS.

Cut into cutlets a pound and a half of the thick part of a leg of mutton, and beat them; mix with grated bread crumbs, some pepper, salt, and finely-chopped parsley, lemon thyme, and sweet marjoram. Rub the cutlets with melted butter, and cover them thickly with the prepared bread; fry them for ten minutes in butter; then put them into a sauce-pan, with some good gravy thickened with flour and butter, and simmer them for ten or fifteen minutes.

MOCK VENISON.

Hang up a large fat loin of mutton for several days; then bone it, and take off all the kidney fat, and the skin from the upper fat; mix together two ounces of brown sugar, and one ounce of ground black pepper. Rub it well into the mutton; pour over it two or three wine-glasses of port wine; keep it covered with the skin; rub and turn it daily for five days. When it is to be roasted, cover it with the skin, and paper it the same way as venison is done. Serve it with made grave, and the same sauces as for venison.

MAINTENON CHOPS.

Cut a neck of mutton into chops; beat them flat with a rolling-pin. Bruise the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, and mix with it chopped sweet herbs, grated bread, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cover the steaks with it, and put each into a piece of well-butter paper; broil them over a clear fire, turning them often. Serve them in the paper, or with a  browned gravy.

A HARICOT OF MUTTON.

Trim the chops neatly, by shortening the bone. If the whole of the best end of the neck is to be used, put on the trimmings in half a pint of water, and let it simmer for fifteen minutes. Fry some sliced onions in a little butter; take them out; flour the chops, and fry them quickly, of a nice brown colour; put them into a sauce-pan with the onions, and some carrots and turnips cut into dice; strain the gravy into the frying-pan, boil it up, and add to the chops and vegetables, with two or three cloves, a little allspice and pepper. It should simmer for two hours; and just before serving, clear off the scum, and thicken with a little flour rubbed down in cold water, and add a table-spoonful of mushroom catsup.

TO STEW A SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

Bone a shoulder of mutton with a sharp knife, and fill the space with the following stuffing: - Grated bread, minced suet, parsley, pepper, salt, and nutmeg; bind with the yolks of two well-beaten eggs. Sew or fasten it with small skewers; brown it in a frying –pan, with a bit of butter. Bread the bone, put it into a sauce-pan, with some water, an onion, pepper, salt, and a bunch of parsley; let it stew till the strength be extracted; strain, and thicken it with butter rolled in flour; put it, with the mutton, and a glass of port wine, into the sauce-pan; cover it closely, and let it stew gently for two hours. Before serving, add two table-spoonfuls of mushroom catsup. Garnish with pickles.

ANOTHER WAY TO STEW A SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

Bone and flatten a shoulder of mutton; sprinkle over it pepper and salt, roll it up tightly, bind it with tape, and put it into a stew-pan that will just hold it; pour over it a well-seasoned gravy made with the bones, cover the pan closely, and let it stew till tender; before serving, take off the tape, thicken the gravy, and garnish with cut pickles.

TO STEW A FILLET OF MUTTON, OR A BREAST OF BEEF.

Put a fillet of mutton or a piece of beef, weighing about seven pounds, into a stew-pan, with a carrot, a turnip, an onion stuck with two or three cloves, and a pint of water. Put round the edge of the stew-pan, a rim of coarse paste, that the cover may be kept very close, and let it stew gently three hours and a half; take out the meat, skim off the fat, strain and thicken the gravy; have ready some boiled carrots and turnips cut to fancy, add them to the gravy, make all hot, and serve with a garnish of sliced gherkins.

TO STEW A LOIN OF MUTTON.

Bone and skin the loin; stew it in a pint of water, turning it frequently; when the liquor is half wasted, take out the loin and strain it, and when cold take off the fate; make a rich highly-seasoned gravy of the bones; strain and mix it with the liquor the loin was stewed in; add a tea-cupful of port wine, and some small mushrooms; thicken the sauce with butter rolled in flour; put in the mutton, and heat it thoroughly; garnish with pickles.

TO KEBBOB A LOING OF MUTTON.

Bone a good-sized loin of mutton, and take off all the fat; cut or draw off the outside skin, nearly to the bottom. Mix with grated bread, parsley, thyme, and shallot finely minced, and season with pepper, salt, pounded mace, grated lemon-peel and nutmeg; rub the beaten yolk of an egg over the mutton and the skin; put a layer of the stuffing, turn the skin over, and sew it at the sides and top; rub more egg, and strew some of the stuffing over the outside. Baste it while roasting with butter, and dredge it three or four times with the stuffing. Serve it with a rich grave, to which add a glass of port wine and some catsup.

TO CALABINE A LOIN OF MUTTON.

Cut the loin into pieces, weighing about a pound each; rub them over with pepper, salt, and grated lemon-peel; fasten each piece upon the spit or upon a skewer, but not too close; when nearly roasted, strew over them grated bread. Serve with good gravy, and garnish with cut lemons.

KEW MINCE.

Cut a pound of meat from a leg of cold roasted mutton, and mince it very finely, together with six ounces of suet; mix with it three of four eggs, one anchovy chopped, some pepper and salt, and half a pint of port wine; put it into a caul of veal, and bake it in a quick oven; turn it out into a dish, and pour some brown gravy over it; serve with it venison sauce. – When a veal caul is not to be had, the mince may be done in a sauce-pan.

IRISH STEW.

Cut the best end of a neck of mutton into chop; put them into a sauce-pan with four or five pounds of potatoes, six minced onions, some pepper and salt, and a quart of cold water; keep the pan closely covered, and when it boils remove it to the side of the fire, that it may simmer with a gentle heat for two or three hours; before serving, add a table-spoonful or two of catsup.

TO HARICOT A NECK OF MUTTON.

Roast it till nearly done, then cut it into cutlets, and stew in  a well-seasoned gravy, adding, cut like straws an inch long, the red part of two or three carrots and some turnips.

ROLLED MUTTON.

Bone a shoulder of mutton carefully, so as not to injure the skin; cut all the meat from the skin, mince it small, and season it highly with black and Jamaica pepper, nutmeg, and a clove, some parsley, lemon thyme, sweet marjoram chopped, and a pounded onion, all well mixed together with a well-beaten yolk of an egg; roll it up very tightly in the skin, tie it round, and bake it in an oven two or three hours, according to the size of the mutton. Make a gravy of the bones and parings, season with an onion, pepper, and salt, strain and thicken it with flour and butter; add of vinegar, mushroom catsup, soy, and lemon pickle, a table-spoonful each, and a tea-cupful of port wine; garnish with forcemeat balls, made of grated bread and part of the mince.

HAGGIS.

Wash and clean the heart and lights, parboil and mince them very small; add one pound of minced, and two small handfuls of oatmeal; season highly with pepper and salt, and mix all well together; the bag being perfectly clean and sweet, put in the ingredients,  press out the air, sew it up, and boil it for three hours.

TO BROIL A COLD ROASTED SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

A cold shoulder of roast mutton, having only a little meat upon the blade bone, may be scored, sprinkled with pepper and salt, then broiled, and served with caper sauce poured over it, or melted butter, in which should be mixed of mushroom catsup, lemon pickle, and Harvey sauce, a table-spoonful each.

A HAUCH OF MUTTON LIKE VENISON.

Take a fat haunch of large fine mutton, let it hang a week, then pound one ounce of black, and one ounce of Jamaica pepper, and rub them over the mutton; pour a bottle of port wine over it, and let it remain in this five days, basting it frequently every day with the liquor; take it out, and hang it up four or five days more, or as long as the weather favours its keeping; wipe it three or four times a-day with a clean cloth. While it is roasting, baste it with the liquor it was steeped in, adding a little more port wine; a quarter of an hour before taking it from the fire, baste it well with butter, and dredge flour over it to froth it up. Serve it with sauces as for venison.

BAKED MUTTON CHOPS.

Cut a neck of mutton into neat chops; season them with salt and pepper, butter a dish, lay in the chops, and pour over them a batter made of a quart of milk, four eggs beaten up, four table-spoonfuls of flour, and a little salt. An hour will back them.

TO DRESS MUTTON CHOPS.

Pare and trim the chops; dip them into hot melted butter, and cover them with grated bread mixed with chopped parsley, a little sweet marjoram, salt, and pepper; then dip the chops into the yolks of eggs beaten up, and cover them with the crumbs as before; fry them in butter, and serve them with onions browned in butter and seasoned with salt and pepper, or with a thickened brown gravy.

ANOTHER WAY TO DRESS MUTTON CHOPS.

Cut the chops off a loin or the best end of a neck of mutton; pare off the fat, dip them into a beaten egg, and strew over them grated bread, seasoned with pepper, salt, and some finely-minced parsley; fry them in a little butter, and lay them upon  the back of a sieve to drain before the fire. Thicken about half a pint of gravy, add a table-spoonful of catsup, and one of port wine; put the gravy into the dish and lay in the chops; garnish with fried parsley or cut lemon.

HASHED MUTTON.

Cut the meat into small thin bits; pare off the skin and sinews, leaving a little fat; thicken some well-seasoned gravy, add the meat, and let it simmer till it be hot, but do not allow it to boil. A little catsup, port wine, or vinegar, may be put in just before serving. Garnish with sippets of bread or with cut pickles.

HASHED MUTTON LIKE VENISON.

To half a pint of rich gravy, add a large glass of port wine, one table-spoonful of catsup, one tea-spoonful of pounded sugar, a small quantity of minced onion, and ten cloves. Boil about twelve minutes; strain and put in the sliced mutton, and let it simmer for three minutes.

CHINA CHILO.

Skin and chop the meat finely, and also part of the fat of a loin of mutton, and season it with a large spoonful of salt, and a tea-spoonful of ground pepper; add two large onions shred, a half a pint of green peas, one lettuce cut small, four spoonfuls of water, and a quarter of a pound of clarified butter. Let all this stew in a pipkin for three hours, and serve it in the middle of a pound of rice boiled dry.

SHEEP’S LIVER.

Cut it into slices; wash it well, and dry it in a cloth; flour, and season it with pepper and salt, and fry it in butter, with a good deal of minced parsley and an onion; add a sufficient quantity of gravy or hot water to make a sauce, and let it stew a few minutes. It may be fried quite plain, and when cut into slices, should be washed in milk and water.

SHEEP’S MINCE.

Wash the heart and lights very clean; boil them about half an hour; mince them finely; mix a piece of butter with flour, brown it in a stew-pan, and add some of the liquor the heart and lights were boiled in. Put in the mince with some chopped onion; season with salt and pepper, cover it closely, and let it stew half an hour. Before serving, add a table-spoonful of mushroom catsup.

TO COLLAR A BREAST OF MUTTON.

Bone it and take out all the gristles; make a forcemeat with crumbs of bread, chopped parsley, a little lemon thyme, and one anchovy minced; season with salt and white pepper; rub the mutton over with an egg beaten up, cover it with the forcemeat, roll it firmly, tie it with tape, and put it on in a bunch of parsley and lemon thyme, pepper and salt; strain and thicken it with a piece of butter mixed with flour. A little before serving, add a table-spoonful of vinegar and two of mushroom catsup. Garnish with cut lemon or pickles.

THE BREASTS OF MUTTON A LA STE. MENOULT.

Stew them with carrots, onions, and spices in gravy; and when done, drain them and take out the bones, flatten the meat between two dishes, and when cold cut it into the form of cutlets or hearts; brush them with the beaten yolk of an egg, roll them in grated bread, then in clarified butter, and again in the grated bread. Bake them in an oven till of a fine brown colour, and serve them with a sauce Italienne, or any other sauce.

LEG OF MUTTON STUFFED.

Carefully bone and cut off all the fat of a leg of mutton, but keep the skin whole; take out the meat also, and mince it with one third of its quantity of fat bacon, and some parsley; season the whole well, stuff the skin with it, and sew it upon the underside; fasten it in a cloth, and put it into a stew-pan, with some slices of veal, some carrots and onions, and cover the whole with thin slices of fat bacon; let it stew for about four hours, then drain the liquor through a silk sieve, reduce it to a glaze, and glaze the leg of mutton; serve it with haricot beans dressed as follows: - Soak one quart of white haricot beans in water for three hours, and boil them in cold soft water with a little bit of fresh butter. Fry a very large white onion, finely minced, in two ounces of butter; when done, add a table-spoonful of flour, and moisten it with some good gravy, then add a few of the haricot beans, and rub it through a tammy or sieve; season it with pepper and salt. Drain the beans, and add the sauce to them.

TO SALT A LEG OF MUTTON.

Rub it well with common salt; the next day wipe it dry, and put it into beef pickle for six or seven days, when it will be ready for use, and should be plain boiled. Mashed turnips and broccoli, or greens, may be served with it.

LEG OF MUTTON WITH VEGETABLES.

Cut off all the fat and the end of the knuckle of a small tender leg of mutton, and tie it round. Stew it with some weak stock, six onions, three heads of celery, three or four turnips, two or three carrots, and half a cabbage cut small, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Boil all together for a quarter of an hour; take out all the vegetables, and put them into cold water for about twenty minutes; press the water from them, put them into the stew-pan; add pepper and a little salt, and stew them till the mutton is tender. Serve it with the gravy and vegetables poured over and round it.

TO STEW SHEEP’S TONGUES.

Boil three tongues till the skin will come off; split, without separating them; put them into a sauce-pan with some good stock, adding two spoonfuls of cullis, or two spoonfuls of bread chippings boiled in a little stock, and passed through a tammy, a glass of white wine, some parsley, cibol, mushrooms, and a clove of garlic, all finely minced, a little bit of butter, pepper and salt; let it boil for half an hour, that the sauce may neither be too thin nor too thick, and serve it.

SHEEP’S TAILS.

Stew five or six tails for three or four hours in some stock, with roots, sweet herbs, pepper and salt; let them cool; dip them into the beaten yolks of eggs, then into bread crumbs; fry them of a fine colour, and serve them with fried parsley.

Calves’ and lambs tails may be done in the same way.

BOILED NECK OF MUTTON.

Bone the best end of a neck of mutton, boil it for an hour, take off the skin, and serve it with turnips mashed with a little butter and cream.

SHEEP’S KIDNEYS BROILED.

Wash and dry some nice kidneys; cut them in half, and with a small skewer keep them open in imitation of two shells; season them with salt and pepper, and dip them into a little fresh melted butter. Broil first the side that is cut, and be careful not to let the gravy drop in taking them off the gridiron. Serve them in a hot dish, with finely-chopped parsley mixed with melted butter, and juice of a lemon, pepper and salt, putting a little upon each kidney.

This is an excellent breakfast for a sportsman.

SHEEPS’ TROTTERS FRIED.

Clean some sheeps’ trotters nicely; scald and wash them in hot water; stew them in that sauce in which Calf’s Head, plain, is boiled, and bone them. Fry, but not till brown, in a little butter, some carrots, onions, a little parsley-roots, all cut small, thyme, a shallot, a small bay leaf, and a clove. When they begin to colour, moisten them with water and vinegar mixed in equal parts, and let it all stew till the vegetables are quite tender; season with pepper and salt, and strain it through a silk sieve over the sheeps’ trotters, then fry the trotters in this batter; put nearly four table-spoonfuls of flour into an earthen pan, with a little salt, a little olive oil, and as much good beer or water as will moisten the paste; when well mixed, add the beaten white of two eggs; dip the trotters into this, and fry them instantly.

The marinade cuite, or pickles, into which the trotters are laid, and the paste in which they are fried, may be used for beef, and other meats. The same recipe may be followed exactly for calf’s feet.

TO CURE MUTTON HAM. 

Cut a hind quarter of good mutton into the shape of a ham; pound one ounce of saltpetre, with one pound of coarse salt and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar; rub the ham well with this mixture, taking car to stuff the hole of the shank well with salt and sugar, and let it lie a fortnight, rubbing it well with the pickle every two or three days; then take it out, and press it with a weight for one day; smoke it with saw-dust for ten or fifteen days, or hang it to dry in the kitchen. If the ham is to be boiled soon after is has been smoked, soak it one hour; and if it has been smoked any length of time, it will require to be soaked several hours. Put it on in cold water, and boil it gently two hours. It is eaten cold at breakfast, luncheon, or supper. A mutton ham is sometimes cured with the above quantity of salt and sugar with the addition of half an ounce of white pepper, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, and one nutmeg.


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