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Sheep's Tails, with Puree of Green Peas
Lay the tails in water to disgorge the blood; then blanch them, and braize them in an old braize; otherwise they are to be seasoned with carrots, onions, spices, etc. When done, drain and glaze them. Put the puree of green peas under them; do the same if you use puree of sorrel.
A terse professional note rather than a recipe in the modern sense — it assumes a kitchen with stockpots already running and a cook who knows what a braize is. The essentials are long, slow, wet cooking and a glossy reduction at the end.
- An "old braize"The braize (or braise) was a rich, gelatinous cooking liquor of stock, wine, bacon or veal trimmings and aromatics, kept and reused in a professional kitchen until it was thick with collagen. "Old" means already-used and concentrated, not spoiled. Substitute a well-reduced brown veal or lamb stock; the alternative the recipe offers — carrots, onions and spices — is what to do when no old braize is to hand.
- Sourcing the tailsThese are lambs' or sheep's tails, docked in spring and once a seasonal butcher's item. They are almost entirely skin, fat, bone and gelatin, and now need ordering from a halal butcher or a whole-animal supplier. They yield very little meat for their size, so allow several per person.
- Disgorging and blanchingSoaking in several changes of cold water draws out blood so the finished braise is not muddy or grey — a few hours, or overnight refrigerated. Blanching means covering with cold water, bringing to the boil, then draining and rinsing; it firms the skin and removes scum.
- TimingThe original gives none. Tails need roughly two and a half to three hours at a bare simmer, until the meat gives up the vertebrae under light pressure. Underdone they are rubbery, and there is no rescuing them short of putting them back.
- GlazingDrain the tails, strain and reduce the braising liquor to a syrupy glaze, then brush and roll the tails in it until they shine. This is the step that turns a stewed object into a served dish, and it may be why the puree goes underneath rather than over.
- Puree of green peasIn this period a puree meant peas cooked with a little stock and butter and passed through a fine sieve — often bound with a spoonful of bechamel or a little rice to hold its shape. Frozen peas work well. Sorrel puree, the stated alternative, is sharply acidic and cuts the fat.
- SkimmingTails render a great deal of fat. Chill the strained liquor and lift the cap before reducing, or the glaze will break and slide off.
Cassell's belongs to a tradition in which nothing off a carcass was wasted and the French professional repertoire supplied the technique. Queues de mouton appear in nineteenth-century French kitchen manuals braised, glazed and set on a puree in much this manner — the tails act as a vehicle for gelatin and glaze much as pig's ears or calf's feet do. British lambs' tails were a genuine seasonal commodity, cut off in spring when lambs were docked and sold cheaply by the bundle; tail pie and tail pudding turn up in regional cookery as farmhouse dishes of the docking season.