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Mutton, Shoulder of, Stewed
Hang this joint as long as possible in dry cold weather; for stewing three days will be sufficient. Procure one, not too large or too fat, pare off what is unnecessary of the fat, and use it for a common crust; take out the bladebone, and fill the space with a forcemeat as for veal, sew up the opening, slice an onion, a carrot, a turnip, and a stick of celery, put them with the mutton into a stewpan, pour in good stock enough to cover, and add a clove of garlic, a bay-leaf, a blade of mace, two cloves, a dessert-spoonful of salt, half the quantity of white pepper, and a large pinch of cayenne. Let the whole simmer gently, with the lid closed, for four hours, strain, and thicken the gravy with an ounce of butter rolled in flour; put the meat on a hot dish with a little of the gravy, add to the remainder half the juice of a lemon and a glassful of white wine. Serve with French beans boiled in the usual way, drained and warmed up in good gravy, or with spinach round the dish. Probable cost, 9d. to 10d. per pound.
A boned, stuffed shoulder braised whole in stock — straightforward once the Victorian shorthand is unpacked. The main change is that mutton is scarce and the joint no longer needs three days in a cold larder.
- Skip the hangingThe instruction to hang the joint for three days assumes an unheated larder in winter and unaged, freshly killed meat. Butcher's meat today is already hung; keep it loosely covered in the refrigerator and cook it within a couple of days.
- Mutton vs. lambMutton means sheep over about two years old, with darker meat and a stronger flavour; it is sold now mainly by specialist butchers and at halal shops. A 4–5 lb bone-in lamb shoulder is the usual substitute and will cook faster.
- "A common crust"The pared fat was used as suet in a plain savoury pastry for pies and puddings. Nothing in this recipe depends on it -- trim the fat to a thin even layer and discard it or put it to use as you like.
- Forcemeat as for vealThe book expects you to turn to its veal forcemeat, which in books of this period typically means breadcrumbs, chopped suet or butter, lemon zest, parsley, a little grated onion, mace or nutmeg, salt and pepper, bound with egg. Half a pound or so should fill the bladebone cavity. Sew or tie the joint firmly so the stuffing stays put through a long braise.
- Seasoning quantitiesA dessertspoonful is 2 teaspoons, so this is 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 of white pepper for the whole pan of stock — reasonable if your stock is unsalted, heavy-handed if it is not. A blade of mace is one shard of the outer casing of nutmeg; a scant 1/4 teaspoon of ground mace stands in.
- Time and temperatureFour hours of gentle simmering suits old mutton. Lamb shoulder is usually fork-tender in 2 1/2 to 3 hours; keep the liquid at a bare tremble, not a boil, or the meat tightens and shreds. Test with a skewer rather than the clock. The book cooks this on the stovetop; if you would rather use the oven, a low setting around 300F is easier to hold steady, checking that the liquid is not boiling.
- Degrease before thickeningShoulder is a fat joint and the strained stock will carry a great deal of it. Let it settle and skim, or chill briefly, before working in the ounce of butter rolled in flour (beurre manié), whisked in off the boil in small pieces.
- The wine and lemonA Victorian wineglassful is variously reckoned at anything from about 2 fl oz to a quarter pint, so take 2 to 4 fl oz. Both wine and lemon juice go in at the end, so simmer the sauce a few minutes afterwards to take the raw edge off the wine.
- YieldA shoulder of this size, stuffed, serves six to eight. The stated cost of 9d. to 10d. per pound is consistent with British prices in the later nineteenth century.
Cassell's belongs to the era when mutton, not lamb, was the ordinary sheep meat of the British table: sheep were largely kept for wool and slaughtered mature, which gave meat that rewarded long, slow cooking and strong aromatics. The shoulder was a cheaper part of the carcass, awkward to carve because of the bladebone, and the usual remedy was exactly this -- take the bone out, put forcemeat in its place, and stew the whole thing in stock with root vegetables, a treatment much repeated in nineteenth-century English cookery books and close to French braising practice. The three-day hang reflects a kitchen with a cold larder rather than a refrigerator, where a little ageing tenderised the meat. The garnishes are seasonal markers too: French beans warmed in gravy, or a ring of spinach, in a book that assumed its readers cooked to the calendar. By the mid-twentieth century British taste had shifted decisively to young lamb, and dishes like this one largely disappeared with the animal they were designed for.