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Mutton, Braised Leg of
INGREDIENTS for dish for 8 persons.-1 small leg of mutton, 4 carrots, 3 onions, 1 faggot of savoury herbs, a bunch of parsley, seasoning to taste, of pepper and salt, a few slices of bacon, a few veal trimmings, 1/2 pint of gravy or water. AVERAGE COST, 5s. 6d.
Line the bottom of a braising-pan with a few slices of bacon, put in the carrots, onions, herbs, parsley and seasoning, and over these place the mutton. Cover the whole with a few more slices of bacon and the veal trimmings, pour in the gravy or water and stew very gently for 4 hours.
Strain the gravy, reduce it to a glaze over a sharp fire, glaze the mutton with it, and send it to table placed on a dish of white haricot beans boiled tender, or garnished with glazed onions.
TIME.-4 hours.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Mutton, Roast Leg of. INGREDIENTS.-Leg of mutton, a little salt.
AVERAGE COST, 10d. per lb.
As mutton when freshly killed is never tender, hang it almost as long as it will keep; flour it and put it in a cool airy place for a few days, if the weather will. permit. Wash off the flour, wipe it very MUTTON, LOIN OF. dry and cut off the shank-bone; put it down to a brisk, clear fire, dredge with flour, and keep continually basting the whole time it is cooking. About 20 minutes before serving, draw it near the fire to get nicely brown; sprinkle over it a LEG OF MUTTON. little salt, dish the meat, pour off the dripping, add some boiling water slightly salted, strain it over the joint, and serve.
TIME. A leg of mutton weighing 10 lbs., about 2 or 24 hours; one of 7 lbs., about 2 hours, or rather less.
SEASONABLE at any time, but not so good in June, July and August.
Two recipes run together here: a braised leg set on a bed of bacon and root vegetables, and a plain roast leg cooked at an open fire. Both assume mutton — a mature sheep — which behaves quite differently from the lamb in most butchers' cases.
- Mutton or lambMutton means a sheep over two years old: darker, denser, strongly flavoured, and needing long moist cooking. Real mutton is available from some butchers and halal suppliers; a leg of hogget or a large leg of lamb will substitute, but lamb will be tender well before the four hours and is better checked from about two and a half.
- A braising-panAny heavy lidded pot the joint fits into snugly — a deep roaster with foil sealed over the top does the job. The point of the tight cover is that half a pint (roughly 10 fl oz, a generous cup) of liquid must steam the meat rather than boil it.
- "Stew very gently"On the stovetop this means the barest tremble, not a simmer. Easier in an oven at 300-325F, where the heat is even and the pot cannot catch. Four hours is realistic for genuine mutton.
- Faggot of savoury herbsA bundle of thyme, parsley stalks and a bay leaf tied with string — a bouquet garni. Tie it so it can be lifted out before the gravy is strained.
- Veal trimmingsBones, skin and scraps from a veal joint, used for the gelatine that makes the reduced gravy set to a glaze. A veal or beef marrow bone, or a splash of good gelatinous stock, does the same work; without something of the kind the glaze will simply be a thin, salty reduction.
- Reducing to a glazeStrain the cooking liquid, skim off the considerable bacon and mutton fat, then boil hard until it coats a spoon and shines. It will reduce to a few tablespoons and will over-salt easily, so season the braise lightly and correct at the end.
- Roasting timesThe original assumes a joint turning before an open fire, which cooks faster and browns harder than an oven. At 325F allow roughly 20 minutes per pound for pink; a thermometer is more reliable — 135-140F at the thickest point, away from bone, then rest 20 minutes.
- Skip the hangingFlouring a leg and leaving it in "a cool airy place for a few days" was ageing in a cool Victorian larder, not a warm modern kitchen. Do not attempt it; buy meat that has already been aged by the butcher.
- Yield and accompanimentThe braise is given for eight. White haricots — cannellini or similar, cooked plain and tender — are the intended bed, and they soak up the glaze better than potatoes do.
Braising a leg rather than roasting it marks this as one of the French-influenced entries Mrs Beeton drew from the professional cookery of her day: the lining of bacon, the veal trimmings for body, and the reduction of the cooking liquor to a glaze are all standard cuisine bourgeoise practice, adapted to an English joint. Mutton was the everyday roasting meat of Victorian Britain in a way it no longer is, and much of the meat reaching the table came from mature animals that needed either long hanging or long slow cooking. The note that mutton is "not so good in June, July and August" is often taken to reflect both the season and the practical difficulty of keeping meat in hot weather before mechanical refrigeration. The dish is given an average cost of 5s. 6d. and is stated to serve eight.