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Mutton, Breast of, to Collar
Skin the breast, and free it entirely from bone and gristle. When flat on the board, cover it with beaten egg, and have ready a forcemeat composed of the following ingredients:--A large cupful of bread-crumbs, some chopped parsley, a blade of pounded mace, two cloves, the peel of half a lemon, chopped as small as possible, a couple of anchovies, and the yolks of three or four hard-boiled eggs. Mix and pound in a mortar, adding pepper and salt to taste. Cover the breast with the forcemeat, roll it firmly, tie with tape, and put it into a stewpan with boiling water, and simmer gently until tender, or bake, if preferred. To boil, two hours; to bake, twenty minutes to the pound. Probable cost, 7d. to 8d. per pound. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A boned breast of lamb rolled round a savoury forcemeat, simmered or baked, and — as the word "collar" implies — usually pressed and served cold in slices. The whole thing depends on rolling it tightly enough that the stuffing does not escape.
- The hinge: roll tight, tie tightCollaring means the roll is compressed so it slices cleanly when cold. Roll along the long side with the grain of the ribs, and tie at 1-inch intervals; loose rolls fall apart in the pot and the forcemeat leaches into the water.
- Mutton, and what to buy insteadMutton is older sheep, usually reckoned over two years, strongly flavoured and rarely sold outside halal and specialist butchers. A boned breast of lamb behaves the same way and is the usual substitute; you may need two for a roll of any size. Ask the butcher to bone it and remove the cartilage strip if you would rather not.
- TapeCotton kitchen tape, about half an inch wide, was standard for collared meats and is still the best thing for the job because it does not cut into the surface. Butcher's twine works; wrapping the tied roll in a scalded cloth before simmering keeps the shape better still.
- A blade of maceOne blade is a single piece of the dried aril of nutmeg, roughly ¼ teaspoon once pounded. Ground mace from a jar is a fair swap at the same quantity.
- AnchoviesTwo salted anchovy fillets, rinsed and mashed, or two teaspoons of anchovy paste. They are seasoning rather than flavour in their own right — season the forcemeat only after the anchovies are in, or it will end up too salty.
- The forcemeatThe book says only 'a large cupful of bread-crumbs'; soft fresh crumbs are the likelier reading and give a better texture. The hard-boiled yolks help hold the mixture together; a food processor does the pounding, but stop while there is still some texture.
- Oven and timingsThe book gives no oven heat, only twenty minutes to the pound; a moderate oven, covered, with a little stock in the dish, suits that rate, and at 20 minutes to the pound a 2½ lb roll works out at about 50 minutes to an hour. The two-hour simmer is not excessive for this cut, which is fatty and full of connective tissue and wants long, gentle cooking to become tender.
- ServingIf you mean to serve it cold, press the cooked roll under a weighted board or plate until fully chilled, then remove the tape and slice thinly. Hot, it carves best after 15 minutes' rest. Four to five as the book says, more as part of a cold table.
Collaring is one of the older English preservation-adjacent techniques: a boned cut — brawn, eel, salmon, breast of veal or mutton — rolled up hard, tied, cooked through, then pressed and kept cold, sometimes in vinegar or its own jelly. The name is traditionally explained as coming from the collar of tape or cloth binding the roll, though that is the customary account rather than a settled etymology. Cassell's, a Victorian household compendium arranged alphabetically, treats breast of mutton, among the least fashionable joints, and the 'probable cost, 7d. to 8d. per pound' points to a kitchen keeping accounts. The forcemeat here — crumbs, parsley, mace, cloves, lemon peel, anchovy, hard yolks — is a common English savoury stuffing of the period, and the anchovy reflects the older habit of using salted fish as a background seasoning in meat dishes, an instinct also visible in Worcestershire sauce.