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To Cook a Saddle of Mutton
Meats are all better for being kept a day or two before cooking, particularly mutton. If the mutton be tender, do not boil it, but put it in a pan of water, set it on the stove, and cook slowly, basting constantly with the gravy or water in the pan; with pepper and salt to taste. Just before it is done, put some scraped horseradish over it, and garnish the dish with the same; add a little ground mustard and grated bread or cracker; pour the gravy over it, and grate bread over, and set aside to cool. This is for cold mutton. All meats are better for roasting before a fire than in a stove.--Mrs. P. W.
A saddle is the whole undivided loin, both sides of the back — a large, expensive cut that most butchers will need to order. The method here is really a slow braise-roast in a shallow pan of water, finished with a horseradish and crumb coating and served cold.
- What a saddle is, and what to buyA full saddle of mutton runs roughly 8-12 lb and needs a large roasting pan. Lamb sold today is nearly always under a year old and far milder; mutton (generally reckoned from a year old, and often older) comes from specialty and halal butchers, and is worth seeking out for this dish because the flavour is what the horseradish is answering.
- "Set it on the stove"On an 1870s cast-iron range this could mean either the cooktop or the oven of the range; the recipe does not say, and the pan of water plus constant basting fits either. Whichever you use, keep the heat low to match "cook slowly," and let a thermometer rather than a clock decide.
- Hanging the meat"Kept a day or two before cooking" refers to hanging in a cool larder, which begins the enzymatic tenderising we now call dry-aging. Do this in a refrigerator, uncovered on a rack, not at room temperature.
- DonenessThe original gives no test. Mutton loin is best pulled at 135-140F in the thickest part for pink, or 150F if you want it firmer for slicing cold; it will climb several degrees while resting.
- Basting is the hingeWith only a shallow pan of water under the meat, constant basting is what keeps the surface from drying while the interior comes up slowly. Baste every 15 minutes, and top the pan up with hot water if it threatens to scorch — the pan liquid becomes the gravy.
- The horseradish crustScraped horseradish means fresh root, grated coarse. Jarred horseradish in vinegar is far wetter and sharper; drain it well and use about half as much. The mustard and grated bread go on at the end only, in the last ten minutes, or the crumbs blacken.
- Serving coldThis is deliberately a cold-table dish — the gravy poured over may set to a light jelly as it chills, and the crumb coating firms. Cool it uncovered, then refrigerate, and slice thin across the grain. A saddle of this size will serve roughly 10-12.
- "Roasting before a fire"The closing remark refers to spit-roasting at an open hearth, which browns by radiant heat while fat drips away. A modern equivalent is finishing under a hot broiler for a few minutes, though not after the crumbs go on.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia, compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree and published in 1878 (with later printings), is a collection of contributions from named and initialled Virginia housekeepers — hence the "Mrs. P. W." signature, which was how the book credited its many donors. The saddle was the grandest of the mutton cuts, kept for large tables, and serving it cold with horseradish and a mustard-crumb coating belonged to the tradition of the cold sideboard, where a joint stood ready through a long midday dinner or a supper of callers. The parting complaint that "all meats are better for roasting before a fire than in a stove" is a small piece of period argument: the closed cast-iron cookstove had spread rapidly through American kitchens in the middle decades of the century, and cooks who had learned at an open hearth are often said to have gone on insisting that the new appliance baked meat rather than roasted it. Mutton itself was still ordinary American food at the time; it retreated from the market over the following half-century as sheep raising shifted toward wool and lamb, which is why the cut is now a special order rather than a Sunday joint.