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Boiled Leg of Mutton
Dip a cloth in hot water, tie up the mutton and put in boiling water. Boil slowly for two hours, or longer, if not kept constantly boiling.--Mrs. R.
Four lines of instruction that assume you know the rest. The essentials are the cloth, the initial plunge into water already at a rolling boil, and the drop to a bare simmer immediately after.
- Never let it truly boilBoil slowly -- The hinge of the dish. "Boil slowly" in period usage means a gentle simmer, not a rolling one; the meat goes into fully boiling water to set the surface, after which a bare simmer (water barely shivering, roughly 180-190F on a modern thermometer) suits it better. Note that the recipe itself allows for the pot being kept "constantly boiling," and adds time if it is not. Hard sustained boiling tightens the muscle fibres and tends to give grey, stringy mutton however long you cook it.
- The clothA clean, unbleached cotton or linen cloth, wetted so it clings, wrapped round the joint and tied with kitchen string. It keeps the outer meat from fraying and holds the shape for carving. Cheesecloth in two or three layers works; avoid anything with fabric softener or dye in it.
- Mutton versus lambMutton is sheep over two years old, with darker meat and a stronger flavour. It is sold by some halal butchers and specialist farms but is not a supermarket item. A leg of lamb substitutes directly and will be done sooner, being younger and more tender.
- Weight and timeNo size is given. A leg suited to two hours' simmering is roughly 5-6 lb. Reckon about 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes for lamb; older mutton wants the longer end of the range and forgives overshooting far better.
- When it is doneThe recipe gives no test at all; a skewer sliding in cleanly is the usual period one. A thermometer into the thickest part away from the bone is more reliable: around 160-170F for sliceable boiled lamb, higher for mutton, which is better carried to genuine tenderness than left pink.
- The water is not plainNothing but water is specified here. Period boiled-meat recipes commonly call for salting the water, and many add aromatics such as an onion, a carrot or a few peppercorns, though practice varies. Salt at about a tablespoon per gallon. The resulting broth is worth keeping for soup, though it will be fatty and needs chilling and skimming.
- What goes with itBoiled mutton was traditionally sent to table with caper sauce, or a plain white sauce sharpened with vinegar and capers. Without something acidic the dish reads as flat to modern palates.
- Rest and carveLift out, untie, and let the joint stand ten minutes under foil before carving across the grain. Yield from a 5-6 lb leg is six to eight servings.
Boiling was the standard treatment for a leg of mutton in Anglo-American kitchens well into the nineteenth century, and Virginia cooking inherited the habit directly from English practice, where a joint could go into the pot over the fire and be left largely alone. The cloth dipped in hot water is an older technique still, often associated with the pudding cloth, and served the same purpose: it kept the surface intact in agitated water. Housekeeping in Old Virginia, compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree and first published in 1878, gathered contributions from named Virginia housekeepers, and the terse initialled entries like this one assume a reader who already knows to salt the water, skim the pot and make caper sauce. Mutton itself was ordinary meat then; the decline of wool flocks and a modern preference for young lamb are why the word now sounds antique in American kitchens.