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Pilau, Arabian
Take three or four pounds of a neck or loin of mutton. Trim off the fat, and stew the meat gently in four pints of nicely-seasoned stock until it is done enough. Take it up, and put it aside, then throw into the boiling stock a pound of Patna rice, and let it simmer gently for half an hour. Stir in four ounces of fresh butter, and simmer again until the rice is tender without being broken. Cut the meat into convenient-sized pieces, fry these lightly in butter, and serve them in the dish with the rice. If liked, the pilau may be garnished with hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters lengthwise, or with forcemeat balls, or rings of onion, fried until very dry. Time to boil the mutton, an hour and a half. Probable cost, 4s. 6d. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A straightforward two-stage pilau: the mutton flavours the stock, the stock cooks the rice. The points below cover the vessel, the rice and the one step most likely to go wrong.
- The liquid-to-rice ratioFour pints of stock to a pound of rice is roughly 4:1 by volume, far more than rice absorbs. Ninety minutes of simmering the mutton will reduce it before the rice goes in; depending on the width of your pan and how tightly it is covered you may need to reduce further, or the result will be soupy rather than a pilau.
- Patna riceA long-grain type associated with Patna in Bihar; in Britain the name was used loosely as a trade term for long-grain Indian rice. Basmati is the closest thing on a modern shelf. Rinse until the water runs clear, and handle the grains gently once the rice is in -- the recipe asks for rice that is tender without being broken.
- Timing the riceHalf an hour is longer than modern long grain needs. Basmati in simmering stock is tender in 12 to 15 minutes; check at 12 and take the pan off the heat while the grains still have a little bite, since the butter stage adds more cooking.
- MuttonGenuine mutton — sheep over a year old — is sold mainly by halal butchers and specialist suppliers. Lamb neck or shoulder substitutes well but cooks faster: check at 60 minutes rather than 90, and expect a milder result.
- Trimming the fatDo this properly, then skim the stock again after the meat comes out. Mutton fat sets hard and its flavour dominates once it is absorbed into the rice.
- The butterFour ounces (about 115 g) stirred into a pound of rice is generous by design; ghee is the usual fat in South Asian pilaus and has a higher smoke point than butter.
- Frying the meatBoiled mutton browns poorly when wet. Pat the pieces dry and use a hot pan so they colour in a couple of minutes rather than stewing again in the butter.
- Yield and costFive or six as written. The \"4s. 6d.\" is a late-Victorian retail price and has no useful modern equivalent.