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Mint Sauce (to Serve with Roast Lamb)
INGREDIENTS for 1 tureen. - 4 dessertspoonfuls of chopped mint, 2 dessert- MOCK TURTLE SOUP. spoonfuls of pounded white sugar, 1/4 pint of vinegar. AVERAGE COST, 2d.
Wash the mint, which should be young and fresh-gathered, free from grit; pick the leaves from the stalks, mince them very fine and put them into a tureen; add the sugar and vinegar and stir till the former is dissolved. This sauce is better by being made 2 or 3 hours before wanted for table, as the vinegar then becomes impregnated with the flavour of the mint. By many persons, the above proportion of sugar would not be considered sufficient; but as tastes vary, we have given the quantity which we have found to suit the general palate.
MINT.
Note.-Where green mint is scarce and not obtainable, mint vinegar may be substituted for it, and will be found very acceptable in early spring.
Mock Turtle Soup. I. INGREDIENTS for sufficient soup for 10 or 12 persons. a calf's head, lb. of butter, lb. of lean ham, 2 tablespoonfuls of minced parsley, a little minced lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, basil, 2 onions, a few chopped mushrooms (when obtainable), 2 shalots, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 1/4 bottle of Madeira or sherry, forcemeat balls, cayenne, salt and mace to taste, the juice of 1 lemon and 1 Seville orange, 1 dessertspoonful of pounded sugar, 3 quarts of good stock. AVERAGE COST, 2s. 6d. per quart.
Scald the head with the skin on, remove the brain, tie the head up in a cloth and let it boil for 1 hour. Then take the meat from the bones, cut it into small square pieces and throw them into cold water.
Now take the meat, put it into a stewpan and cover with stock; let it boil gently for an hour, or rather more if not quite tender and set it on one side. Melt the butter in another stewpan and add the ham, cut small, with the herbs, parsley, onions, shalots, mushrooms and nearly a pint of stock; let these simmer slowly for 2 hours and then dredge in as much flour as will dry up the butter. Fill up with the remainder of the stock, add the wine, let it stew gently for 10 minutes, rub it through a tammy and put it to the calf's head; season with cayenne and, if required, a little salt; add the juice of the orange and lemon and when liked, 1/4 teaspoonful of pounded mace and the sugar. MUFFINS.
Put in the forcemeat balls, simmer 5 minutes and serve very hot.
TIME.--4 hours.
SEASONABLE in winter.
Note. The bones of the head should be well stewed in the liquor it was first boiled in; and will make good white stock, flavoured with vegetables, &c.
Mock Turtle Soup. II. (More Economical.)- INGREDIENTS for soup for 10 or 12 persons. - A knuckle of veal weighing 5 or 6 lbs., 2 cowheels, 2 large onions stuck with cloves, 1 bunch of sweet herbs, 3 blades of mace, salt to taste, 12 peppercorns, 1 glass of sherry, 24 forcemeat balls, a little lemon-juice, 6 quarts of water. AVERAGE CosT, 1s. 6d. per quart.
Put all the ingredients, except the forcemeat balls and lemon-juice, in an earthen jar and stew for 6 hours. Do not open it till cold. When wanted for use, skim off all the fat and strain carefully; place it on the fire, cut up the meat into inch-anda-half squares, put it, with the forcemeat balls and lemon-juice, into the soup and serve. It can be flavoured with a tablespoonful of anchovy, or Harvey's sauce. TIME.-6 hours. serve.
SEASONABLE in winter.
A three-ingredient sauce that depends entirely on the quality of the mint and on being made in advance. The proportions here are a starting point rather than a rule.
- Make it aheadThe recipe recommends mixing it two or three hours before serving, so that (in its own words) the vinegar becomes impregnated with the flavour of the mint. Mixed at the last minute it tastes more of raw vinegar.
- DessertspoonfulsA dessertspoon is between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, roughly 2 teaspoons. So about 8 teaspoons of chopped mint to 4 teaspoons of sugar.
- A quarter pint of vinegarAn imperial quarter pint is 5 fl oz, about 140 ml. Malt vinegar is the traditional choice in Britain; cider or white wine vinegar gives a gentler result, and some cooks dilute with a spoonful or two of hot water to soften the bite.
- Pounded white sugarSimply caster or granulated sugar. Dissolving it in a little hot water before adding the vinegar and mint saves stirring and gives a smoother sauce.
- Sugar to tasteThe recipe's own note that many would want more sugar is worth acting on. Add more gradually and stop when the sauce reads sharp rather than sour.
- Chopping the mintSpearmint is the type meant. Dry the washed leaves before mincing, and chop rather than blitz in a processor, which bruises the leaves to a dark paste.
- A tureenAny small non-reactive bowl or jug will do. Avoid bare aluminium or unlined copper, which react with vinegar.
- YieldMakes roughly 150-170 ml, enough for eight to ten servings alongside a leg of lamb. It keeps a few days refrigerated, though the mint darkens.
Mint with lamb is one of the oldest surviving English pairings, generally traced to the medieval and early modern habit of serving sharp, sweetened sauces with rich roast meats — the same instinct that produced apple sauce with pork and verjuice or sorrel sauces with fish. Mint grew in every cottage garden and needed no cultivation to speak of, and Mrs Beeton prices the sauce at twopence. The seasonal anxiety in the note is real: before year-round imports, fresh mint was scarce until late spring, and bottled mint vinegar — mint steeped in vinegar the previous summer — was one substitute the recipe allows for early-season lamb.