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Mutton, Neck of, Boiled
Shorten the ribs and saw off the chinebone of a neck of mutton, or from three to four pounds of the best end; to look well it should not exceed five inches in length. Pare off the fat that is in excess of what may be eaten, and boil slowly in plenty of water slightly salted; skim carefully, and remove the fat from the surface. The meat may be served plain, with caper or parsley sauce, and a garnish of boiled mashed turnips and carrots cut into thin strips, placed alternately round the dish. Four middle-sized turnips and three carrots may be boiled with the mutton. Time, a full quarter of an hour to the pound. Probable cost, 10d. to 1s. per pound. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A plain boiled joint of the sort that anchored midweek dinners in late Victorian houses. Most of what needs translating is butchery language and the fact that "boil" here means a bare simmer.
- Never let it boilDespite the name, mutton kept at a rolling boil turns stringy and squeezes out its juices. Bring the water up, then drop it to the barest tremble, 180-190F, for the whole cooking time.
- What to ask the butcher forThe "best end of neck" is what is now sold as a rack of lamb or mutton. Ask for the chine bone (the spinal section) removed and the rib bones shortened; a French trim, which also scrapes the rib ends clean, gets you close to the tidy five-inch joint.
- Mutton versus lambMutton is sheep over two years old, stronger flavoured and firmer; it is sold by specialist butchers and some halal butchers. Lamb will work but is milder and cooks faster, so start checking earlier.
- The timingA full quarter of an hour to the pound gives 45 minutes to an hour for a 3-4 lb joint, which is about right for a gentle simmer. Test by pushing a skewer into the thickest part near the bone; it should meet no resistance.
- Add the vegetables lateFour turnips and three carrots dropped in at the start will collapse over an hour. Put them in for the last 20-25 minutes, then lift them out to mash the turnips and cut the carrots into strips.
- SkimmingThe grey scum that rises in the first ten minutes is coagulated protein, not dirt, but skimming it keeps the broth clear enough to save as stock. Lift the fat off the surface at the end with a spoon or a sheet of kitchen paper.
- Salting"Slightly salted" means the cooking water, not the meat, and the recipe leaves the seasoning of the dish largely to the sauce. About a teaspoon of salt per two quarts is enough to keep the broth usable afterwards.
- Caper or parsley sauceBoth are usually a white sauce of butter, flour and milk, the caper version sharpened with a spoonful of the caper brine; some period versions are closer to a melted-butter sauce. A number of period recipes slacken the sauce with a ladle of the mutton liquor, which is worth doing.
- Cost and yieldTenpence to a shilling a pound is Victorian pricing and tells you only that this was an economical joint. It serves five or six as the recipe says, with broth left over.
Boiled mutton with caper sauce was one of the fixed points of the nineteenth-century English dinner table. Neck was cheaper than leg or saddle, and the best end, with its neat row of ribs, was the part that could be made to look presentable at table, which is why the book frets about the five-inch length and the alternating ring of turnip and carrot. Capers, pickled flower buds imported from the Mediterranean, had long been the standard English partner to boiled mutton; the sharpness cuts the fat, and the pairing was old enough by this date to pass without comment. Mutton itself all but vanished from British and American butchers over the twentieth century as sheep were bred for quicker slaughter, and the word survives mostly in recipes like this one, where the long slow simmer was designed for meat that needed it.