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Oxford John, Mutton
Cut one pound and a half of very thin collops from a well-kept leg of mutton. Free them entirely from skin and sinew, season them with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg, and dip them into a mixture composed of two table-spoonfuls of chopped parsley, a tea-spoonful of powdered thyme, and a tea-spoonful of finely-minced shallots. Fry the seasoned collops in three ounces of butter, and when they are lightly browned on both sides, cover them with good brown gravy, and add a piece of butter, rolled thickly in flour, and a tea-spoonful of strained lemon-juice. Let them remain on the fire a few minutes until the sauce is on the point of boiling, then turn them on a hot dish, and serve with sippets. It the collops are allowed to boil they will prove hard. Time, half an hour. Probable cost, 1s. 8d. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A fast sauté dressed with a herb crust and a butter-thickened gravy. The whole thing hinges on heat control at the end.
- Never let it boilThe recipe closes with the warning for a reason: thin mutton slices tighten and turn leathery the moment the sauce simmers. Bring the liquid only to the point of trembling, then plate immediately.
- CollopsSlices cut across the grain, no thicker than about 1/4 inch, from the boned leg. Ask for leg steaks and flatten them lightly, or slice a boned half-leg yourself; 1 1/2 lb trimmed is roughly eight to twelve pieces.
- "Well-kept" muttonThis means hung meat from a mature sheep, which modern butchers rarely stock. Leg of lamb works and cooks faster; if you can find real mutton, it will taste closer to the intended dish.
- Three ounces of butterSix tablespoons, which is generous but keeps the dry herb coating from scorching. Use a wide pan and cook in batches rather than crowding, or the collops will steam instead of browning.
- Good brown gravyMost likely a made brown gravy from stock rather than pan drippings thinned with water. Enough well-flavoured beef or lamb stock, reduced until it coats a spoon, to cover the collops as the recipe directs.
- Butter rolled thickly in flourThis is beurre manié: knead about 1 tablespoon soft butter with 1 tablespoon flour and stir it into the hot gravy in pieces. It thickens off the boil, which suits a sauce that must not simmer.
- SippetsSmall triangles or fingers of bread, fried in butter or toasted, tucked round the edge of the dish. They soak up the sauce and were a common garnish for dishes served in gravy.
- Timing and yieldThe stated half-hour is generous for the cooking itself; the collops need only a few minutes a side. Serves three or four.
"Oxford John" appears in English cookery books of the nineteenth century as a quick way to turn slices off a leg of mutton into a hot dish with a made sauce in a household where a leg was bought whole and had to last. The origin of the name is not documented; it is generally linked, on no firm evidence, to Oxford college kitchens, in the same loose way as Oxford sausages and Oxford marmalade. What is clear is the technique: mutton was the everyday red meat of Victorian Britain, mature and strongly flavoured, and cooks leaned on parsley, thyme, shallot, nutmeg and lemon juice to lift it.