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Mutton Cutlets, Reform Club

Trim four or five well-chosen thick cutlets, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, brush them with egg, and dip them into a mixture of pounded or finely-minced ham and bread-crumbs, in equal quantities. Cover them well with these, and fry in hot oil in a saute-pan for eight or ten minutes. Take care not to overdress them, and turn frequently while cooking to keep their gravy from flowing. Serve round mashed potatoes with the thick end of the cutlet downwards, and pour over them reform sauce, made in the following manner. Put together two onions, two sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, two bay-leaves, two ounces of pounded lean ham, half a clove of garlic, half a blade of mace, two spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, one of chilli vinegar, and a pint of brown sauce. Boil up, skim well while simmering for ten minutes, and again boil to reduce to the thickness of cream, when add a table-spoonful of red currant jelly and one of finely-chopped mushrooms; stir until the jelly is quite dissolved and the flavour of mushrooms is acquired, then strain through a fine hair-sieve. This is Soyer's celebrated sauce piquant. When wanted for use make the sauce hot, and add, without boiling any more, the white of hard-boiled eggs cut into strips, four mushrooms without the brown fur and previously blanched, a gherkin or two, a pinch of cayenne, and half an ounce of cooked ham, with salt to taste. Cut all into strips of half an inch, like the eggs.