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Mutton Broth
Lean meat is best for broth; from two to three pounds of the scrag end of the neck is suited to the purpose, and if for a plain broth, not requiring much strength, allow a quart of water to each pound of meat. Put quite cold water on the meat, and set it over a slow fire to heat gradually. Simmer gently, and remove the scum. When no more scum is to be seen, and the meat is sufficiently done to be eaten, it may be removed for the family dinner, and any addition to the broth made. Pearl barley, rice, or oatmeal, with a carrot, a turnip, an onion or leek, may be added, the vegetables being cut neatly. Season to taste. Warm up the meat, and serve in a separate dish, or with the broth. Pearl barley should be boiled separately for a few minutes, and then strained, and boiled with the broth. Time to simmer meat, an hour and a half. Sufficient for two quarts of broth.
A working household broth that doubles as a boiled-meat dinner. The method is sound; only the cuts, quantities and timings need translating.
- Scrag end of neckThe bony top of the lamb or mutton neck, still sold by butchers as scrag or neck of lamb, sometimes cut into neck slices. Ask for it bone-in — the bones do most of the work. Two to three pounds is 900 g to 1.4 kg.
- The water ratioA quart to the pound is roughly 1 litre per 450 g, which is generous. The recipe says as much: this ratio is for "a plain broth, not requiring much strength", i.e. a light broth rather than a stock. Two to three quarts of water finishing as two quarts of broth implies some loss to evaporation and to the meat.
- Cold water, slow heatThis is the hinge. Starting cold and bringing the pot up gradually draws soluble protein out where it can be skimmed as scum; a fast boil emulsifies fat and albumin back into the liquid and turns it cloudy and greasy. Never let it reach a rolling boil at any stage.
- Simmering timeAn hour and a half suits mutton scrag from an older animal. Modern lamb neck is tender at 60 to 75 minutes, though the broth itself gains from another hour once the meat has been lifted out.
- Barley separatelyThe pre-boil and strain removes the loose starch and dust that would cloud the broth. Give pearl barley about 5 minutes at a boil, drain and rinse, then finish it in the broth for 35 to 45 minutes. Rice needs 15 to 20; fine oatmeal, stirred in, thickens in about 20.
- VegetablesAdd them for the last 30 to 40 minutes only. Cut small and even — the original says "neatly" because they are served in the broth, not strained out.
- Fat and seasoningMutton fat sets hard. Chill the broth and lift the cap off, or blot the surface with paper. Salt only after the barley has absorbed its share of liquid, or the finished broth will be over-salted.
- YieldTwo quarts serves four to six as a first course, or four as a main with the meat alongside.
Mutton broth of this kind was the backbone of British household cookery well into the twentieth century. The dual purpose is the point: one pot yields both the broth and the boiled meat for the family dinner, which is why the instructions pause to say the meat may be lifted out and warmed up separately. Scrag end was among the cheapest parts of the sheep, and barley a cheap thickener, so the dish carried a strong association with economy and with the sickroom; mutton broth was a common invalid food in Victorian medical and domestic manuals, generally served thin and unthickened for the convalescent. Mutton -- meat from a mature sheep, generally over a year old -- has largely disappeared from British and American butchers since the mid-twentieth century in favour of lamb, which is why the long simmer specified here now overshoots.