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The Art of Carving (Persons unaccustomed)

Persons unaccustomed to serving at table will, with the help of these cuts, and the instructions accompanying them, soon be able to carve well: if, at the same time, they will, as occasion offers, take notice how a good carver proceeds when a joint or fowl is before him.

We will begin with those joints, etc., that are simple and easy to be carved, and afterwards proceed to such as are more complicate and difficult. Leg of Mutton. a f e This cut represents a leg or jigot of boiled mutton; it should be served up in the dish as it lies, lying upon its back; but when roasted, the under side, as here represented by the letter d, should lie uppermost in the dish, as in a ham (which see); and in this case, as it will be necessary occasionally to turn it, so as to get readily at the under side, and cut it in the direction of a b, the shank, which is here broken and bent for the convenience of putting it into a less pot or vessel to boil it, is not broken or bent in a roasted joint, of course, should be wound round (after it is taken off the spit) with half a sheet of writing paper, and so sent up to table that a person carrying it may take hold of it without greasing his hands. Accordingly, when he wishes to cut it on the under side, it being too heavy a joint to be easily turned with a fork, the carver is to take hold of the shank with his left hand, and he will thus be able to turn it readily, so as to cut it where he pleases with his right.

A leg of wether mutton, which is by far the best flavored, may be readily known when bought, by the kernel, or little round lump of fat, just above the letters a e.

When a leg of mutton is first cut, the person carving should turn the joint towards him, as it here lies, the shank to the left hand; then holding it steady with his fork, he should cut in deep on the fleshy part, in the hollow of the thigh, quite to the bone, in the direction a b. Thus will he cut right through the kernel of fat, called the pope's eye, which many are fond of. The most juicy parts of the leg are in the thick part of it, from the line a b, upwards towards e, but many prefer the drier part, which is about the shank or knuckles; this part is by far the coarser, but as I said, some prefer it, and call it the venison part, though it is less like venison than any other part of the joint. The fat of this joint lies chiefly on the ridge e e, and is to be cut in the direction e f. In a leg of mutton there is but one bone readily to be got at, and that a small one; this is the cramp-bone, by some called the gentleman's bone, and is to be cut out by taking hold of the shankbone with the left hand, and with a knife cutting down to the thigh-bone at the point d, then passing the knife under the cramp-bone, in the direction dc, it may easily be cut out.