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Lamb, Stewed, with Mushrooms
Take the bones from a breast of lamb, season the meat with a little pepper and salt, and fry it in hot fat until it is lightly browned on both sides. Take it up, drain it from the fat, and put it into a stewpan with three or four thin slices of fat bacon, and as much white stock as will barely cover it. Add a pound of button-mushrooms, a dessert-spoonful of finely-minced parsley, five or six chives, a tea-spoonful of salt, and six peppercorns. Let the liquid boil up, then draw the pan to the side of the fire, and stew gently for an hour and a half. Take the lamb up, place it on a hot dish, squeeze the juice of a lemon over it, and strain the sauce to serve with it, first taking out the mushrooms to place round the meat. If preferred, half a dozen black truffles cut into slices may be substituted for the mushrooms. Probable cost, 6d. to 8d. per pound. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A straightforward braise of boned breast of lamb, written for a coal range where a pan could be drawn to the cooler side of the fire. The whole thing works on a modern hob or in a low oven with almost no adaptation.
- The cutBreast of lamb is fatty, cheap and still sold by most butchers, though rarely on supermarket shelves; ask for it boned, or bone it yourself between the rib bones. Trim some of the surface fat before browning, since the bacon adds more and the finished sauce will otherwise need heavy skimming.
- "Draw the pan to the side of the fire"This means a bare simmer, not a boil. On a modern hob use the lowest setting with the lid on, or transfer the covered pan to a 300F oven for the hour and a half.
- White stockAn unroasted veal or chicken stock, pale and lightly seasoned. Any good low-salt chicken stock works; avoid dark brown beef stock, which will overwhelm the mushrooms.
- MeasuresA dessert-spoonful is about two teaspoons. The teaspoonful of salt is on top of the seasoning already rubbed into the meat, and with bacon in the pan as well it is worth holding some back and adjusting at the end.
- The mushroomsA pound of button mushrooms stewed for ninety minutes will collapse and grey. Add them for the last twenty to thirty minutes instead, or brown them separately and warm them through in the strained sauce before arranging them round the meat.
- Fat baconUnsmoked streaky bacon or a piece of pork belly stands in for the old fat bacon; smoked bacon changes the character of the sauce considerably.
- Finishing the sauceStrain, then let it settle a minute and spoon off the fat, which will be substantial from a breast. Reduce briskly if it seems thin. The lemon goes over the meat, not into the sauce, and it matters -- it cuts the richness of the cut.
- The truffle variationHalf a dozen black truffles is not a practical swap now; a few grams of fresh truffle shaved over at the table, or a restrained amount of truffle butter stirred into the finished sauce, gets closer to the intent.
- YieldAs stated, three or four. A boned breast weighs roughly 1 1/2 to 2 lb, which is generous for three once the bones are out.
Cassell's aimed at households of modest means, and breast of lamb is a good example of what that meant in practice: the priced note of "6d. to 8d. per pound" marks this out as one of the cheap cuts. Boning a breast and braising it slowly is the classic treatment for a cut that is too fatty and sinewy to roast well. The recipe also offers an alternative of black truffles for the mushrooms alongside the household version.