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Roast Saddle of Mutton
The saddle is what the name implies - the back. In large pieces the tail is included.
Wipe meat; remove pink skin, kidneys, and fat. Fold flanks inside and tie in shape. Place on rack; dredge meat and pan with flour, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook in hot oven; allow ten minutes to the pound basting frequently.
Serve with currant jelly sauce.
A saddle is the whole loin section across both sides of the backbone, and the recipe assumes a butcher will hand it over untrimmed. Most of the work here is butchery and heat management rather than cooking technique.
- "Hot oven"In books of this era a hot oven is usually reckoned at roughly 400–450F. For a large saddle you can start high to set the surface, then drop to around 350F so the interior cooks evenly.
- Ten minutes to the poundThat gives distinctly rare meat, and underdone saddle was a common English preference. Judge by a thermometer in the thickest part of the loin rather than by the clock: about 130–135F for medium-rare, 145F if you want it pink but firm.
- The "pink skin"This is the fell, the papery membrane over the fat. It peels off with fingers and a knife tip and should come away before roasting, or it tightens and toughens.
- Mutton versus lambMutton means sheep over roughly two years old, stronger in flavor and less tender. It is sold in some halal and specialty butchers but is uncommon otherwise. A saddle of lamb behaves the same way and cooks faster, so lean on internal temperature.
- Dredging with flourFlouring the meat and the pan was standard practice to build fond and thicken the drippings into gravy. It browns fast at 450F, so baste early and often to keep it from scorching in the pan.
- Folding the flanksThe thin belly flaps are tucked under and tied so they do not dry to leather and so the joint holds a compact shape. Butcher's twine at 1½-inch intervals is enough.
- RestingNo rest is mentioned, but a saddle needs 15–20 minutes loosely tented before carving, or the juices run out onto the board.
- Yield and carvingSaddles vary widely in size; a 5–6 lb one serves six to eight, and a whole mutton saddle can be heavier again. Carve in long strips parallel to the backbone, or in slices across the loin on each side, and serve the tenderloin from underneath.
- Currant jelly sauceThe period version is red currant jelly melted with a little stock, port or the pan juices, seasoned and sometimes sharpened with lemon. It is not a sweet glaze; it should read as tart against the fat.
Saddle of mutton was the grand English roasting joint of the nineteenth century, the cut brought whole to the table at clubs and hotel dining rooms, and it carried into American cookbooks as a set piece for a large company dinner. By 1907, when Lowney's book was assembled around the company's chocolate business but padded out into a full household manual, mutton was already losing ground in the United States to younger lamb and to beef; the terse instructions here suggest a cut readers were expected to recognize rather than be persuaded into. The pairing with currant jelly is older still and generally traced to the long British habit of serving tart fruit preserves with strong-flavored roast meats and game, the same logic that puts rowan or gooseberry alongside venison and mackerel.