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Mutton Chop (Get from your butcher nicely)
Get from your butcher nicely shaped mutton chops, not too long. Put them into a pan with pepper and salt, and barely enough water to cover them. Cover close and simmer till done; drain, wipe dry; pepper, salt and butter them; with a spoon, cover with an egg beaten stiff. Sift over pounded crackers. Put in a pan and set in an oven to brown.--Mrs. S. T.
A two-stage chop: poached gently in its own seasoned liquid, then coated and browned. The method suits mutton, which is tougher and stronger-flavoured than lamb, and it rewards patience at the simmering stage more than at the oven stage.
- The hinge: never let it boil"Barely enough water to cover" and "simmer" mean bare trembling, around 180F, not a rolling boil, which will squeeze the chops tight and grey. Loin or shoulder chops an inch thick want 20-30 minutes at that heat; a thick shoulder chop with connective tissue may want 45 minutes to an hour.
- Mutton versus lambMutton is sheep generally reckoned over a year old (often two or more) and is rarely stocked in supermarkets; halal and Caribbean butchers are the usual source. Lamb chops substitute, but need considerably less time in the pan.
- "Nicely shaped, not too long"Probably a request for the bone trimmed short so the chop sits flat in the pan and later in the oven. Ask for chops frenched, or cut the bone back yourself.
- An egg beaten stiffMost likely the white beaten stiff, spooned on as a thick coating rather than a thin wash. A whole egg beaten frothy also works and browns more deeply; either way the chop must be wiped genuinely dry or the coating slides off.
- Pounded crackersPlain unsalted soda or water crackers crushed fine, the nineteenth-century equivalent of dry breadcrumbs. Roughly 1/2 cup of crumbs covers four chops. Modern saltines work but adjust the salt you add beforehand.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given. Since the meat is already cooked and only wants colour, a hot oven in the region of 425-450F for 8-10 minutes should set and brown the crust without drying the chop; longer at a lower heat only toughens it.
- Don't discard the pan liquidThe simmering water is a light mutton broth. Reduce it hard with a knob of butter for a sauce, or save it for the next day's soup.
- YieldOne or two chops per person depending on cut; the recipe scales by the number of chops that will fit in one layer in the pan.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree, gathers contributions from named and initialled Virginia housekeepers, which is why this one ends with "Mrs. S. T." rather than a fuller attribution. Mutton was ordinary eating in the Virginia of this period in a way it is not now; American sheep were kept largely for wool, and the meat that came to table was often from older animals whose strong flavour and firm texture called for exactly this kind of gentle wet cooking. Pounded crackers appear constantly as a coating and thickener in nineteenth-century American books, since commercially baked crackers kept well in a barrel and could be reduced to crumbs with a rolling pin whenever needed.