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Mutton, Kabobbed
This favourite Oriental dish can be prepared with our English mutton in a manner far superior to any Kabob at Turkish or Egyptian tables. Take a loin of mutton, joint it well at every bone, cut off all superfluous fat, particularly of the kidney, and remove the skin; prepare a well-proportioned and large seasoning of the following ingredients:--Some bread-crumbs, sweet herbs, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Brush the mutton chops over with yolk of egg, and sprinkle the above mixture thickly over them; then tie the chops together in their original order, run a slender spit through them, and roast before a quick fire, basting them well with butter and the drippings from the meat, and throwing more of the seasoning on them from time to time. Serve with the gravy from the meat, and have ready besides a boat of gravy, to which has been added two table-spoonfuls of ketchup and a thickening of flour; let this gravy boil; then skim and mix it with that in the dish. Remember that all dishes of mutton should be served as hot as possible. Time, a quarter of an hour to a pound. Probable cost, 10 1/2d. per pound. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A spit-roasted loin, jointed between the bones, crumbed and reassembled so it cooks as one piece and carves into seasoned chops. Nothing here is difficult, but two things need translating: the ketchup and the fire.
- Ketchup means mushroom or walnutIn a Victorian English kitchen "ketchup" is a thin, dark, salty mushroom or walnut condiment, closer to Worcestershire sauce than to tomato. Use mushroom ketchup or a good dash of Worcestershire; tomato ketchup will make the gravy sweet and cloudy.
- Mutton and its substituteMutton is sheep over about two years old, stronger in flavour and firmer than lamb. Butchers and halal suppliers still sell it; otherwise use a whole lamb loin of 3-4 lb, which will taste milder and cook faster.
- "Joint it well at every bone"Ask the butcher to cut down between each rib or loin bone without severing the meat entirely, or do it yourself with a heavy knife so the chops stay hinged. Tying them back in order is the hinge of the dish: it keeps the interior moist while the crumbed edges brown.
- A quick fire, without a spitLacking a spit, a hot oven of roughly 425-450F is a reasonable stand-in for a "quick" fire, dropping to about 375F after the crust has set. A rack over a tray catches the drippings for basting.
- TimingA quarter of an hour to the pound is brisk, and before an open fire on a jointed loin would have carried the meat well through. For lamb loin, take it to 130-135F at the centre for pink, 145F for medium, and rest it 10 minutes; the crumb coating will be done well before the meat is.
- Sweet herbsCommonly parsley, thyme and marjoram, sometimes with a little savory or lemon peel. Chop them fine and mix into dry breadcrumbs so the coating grips the egg wash.
- Basting and re-crumbingButter plus drippings, applied often, is what carries the added seasoning onto the joint. Add crumbs in thin layers rather than all at once, or the outer coat sloughs off when carved.
- The gravyBoil the thickened, ketchup-spiked gravy properly to cook out the flour, skim the fat, then combine with the pan juices. Serve everything very hot: mutton fat sets on a warm plate, let alone a cool one.
- YieldFour to five as the original states, at a stated cost of tenpence-halfpenny a pound.
"Kabob" here is the English spelling of Arabic and Persian kabab, grilled or skewered meat, and the recipe reflects a long British habit of taking a dish encountered in Turkey, Egypt or India and rebuilding it around a familiar English joint. The result is barely a kebab at all: instead of small pieces threaded on a skewer and grilled over coals, a whole loin is jointed, crumbed with the standard Victorian sweet-herb-and-nutmeg forcemeat seasoning, tied back together and spit-roasted. The confident claim that English mutton beats "any Kabob at Turkish or Egyptian tables" is very much of its moment. What survives of the original idea is the technique of seasoning every cut surface, so the flavour reaches the interior of the joint rather than sitting on its outside, which is the reason the loin is jointed at every bone in the first place.