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Mutton, Haricot (INGREDIENTS for dish) (II)
INGREDIENTS for dish for 4 or 5 persons. - Breast or scrag of mutton, flour, pepper and salt to taste, 1 large onion, 3 cloves, a bunch of savoury herbs, 1 blade of mace, carrots and turnips, sugar. AVERAGE COST, 7d. per lb. INGREDIENTS for dish for 8 persons.—4 lbs. of the middle or best end of the neck of mutton, 3 carrots, 3 turnips, 3 onions, pepper and salt to taste, 1 tablespoonful of ketchup or Harvey's sauce. AVERAGE COST, 3s.
Cut the mutton into square pieces, and fry them a nice colour; then dredge over MUTTON, HASHED. them a little flour and a seasoning of pepper and salt. Put all into a stewpan and moisten with boiling water, adding the onion, stuck with 3 cloves, the mace and herbs. Simmer gently till the meat is done, skim off all the fat and then add the carrots and turnips, which should be previously cut in dice and fried in a little sugar to colour them. Let the whole simmer again for 10 minutes; take out the onion and bunch of herbs, and serve.
TIME. About 3 hours to simmer.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Mutton, Haricot. (Cold Meat Cookery.)-INGREDIENTS. - The remains of cold neck or loin of mutton, 2 oz. of butter, 3 onions, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, 1/2 pint of good gravy, pepper and salt to taste, 2 tablespoonfuls of port wine, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 1 head of celery. AVERAGE COST, exclusive of the meat, 8d.
Cut the cold mutton into moderate-sized chops and take off the fat; slice the onions and fry them with the chops, in a little butter, of a nice brown colour; stir in the flour, add the gravy, and let it stew gently nearly an hour. In the meantime boil the vegetables until nearly tender, slice thein, and add them to the mutton about 1/4 hour before it is to be served. Season with pepper and salt, add the ketchup and port wine, give one boil, and serve.
TIME.-1 hour.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Two versions of haricot mutton sit here side by side: a long-simmered stew of fresh breast or scrag, and a quicker made-over dish built on yesterday's roast. Both depend on browning the meat and onion properly before any liquid goes in.
- "Haricot" is not beansThe name is usually traced to an old French verb for cutting up (harigoter/haricoter), though the etymology is disputed; either way it describes mutton cut in pieces and stewed with root vegetables. No haricot beans are involved anywhere in either version.
- CutsBreast and scrag (the thin neck end) are fatty, bony, gelatinous cuts that need the full three hours. Lamb breast or neck is the modern equivalent; shoulder chops also work. Skim the fat conscientiously, as the recipe insists, or the sauce will be greasy.
- StewpanA stewpan is simply a wide, heavy pan with a lid. A Dutch oven or braiser is the direct replacement, and either can go into a low oven instead of sitting on the burner if you prefer unattended cooking.
- Frying the vegetables in sugarThis is the step worth keeping. Diced carrot and turnip tossed in a little sugar over moderate heat glaze and caramelise, giving colour and sweetness that plain boiled roots will not. Add them near the end so they keep some bite.
- MeasuresA pint here is the imperial 20 fl oz, so half a pint of gravy is about 1 1/4 US cups. A dessertspoonful of flour is roughly 2 teaspoons; 2 oz butter is 4 tablespoons.
- Gravy, port and ketchup"Good gravy" means well-flavoured brown stock, not thickened pan gravy from a jar. Mushroom ketchup is a thin, dark, salty mushroom extract, still sold in Britain; a teaspoon of soy sauce plus a little Worcestershire is the usual stand-in. Add the port and ketchup at the very end, as directed, and give only one boil so the wine keeps its perfume.
- Cold-meat version timingThe mutton is already cooked, so the hour of stewing is for the sauce and onions, not for tenderising. Longer will only shred the meat. Keep the heat at a bare simmer.
- Mace and clovesOne blade of mace is about a quarter teaspoon ground, though whole blade is better here since it is meant to be a background note. The clove-studded onion is lifted out before serving, along with the herb bunch, so tie the herbs with string.
- YieldThe fresh-meat version is given for four or five. The cold-meat version depends on what your joint left, but half a pint of gravy and 2 carrots suit two to three servings.
Made-over dishes like this one occupy a large part of Mrs Beeton's book, filed under the heading "Cold Meat Cookery": a Victorian household roasted a large joint on Sunday and was expected to bring it back to table in a different shape for several days after, without any suggestion of thrift being a hardship. Haricot mutton was one of the standbys, built on mutton with carrot, turnip and celery. The price notes are a reminder of how the book was used: mutton at sevenpence a pound and a whole dish of trimmings costed at eightpence gave the mistress of the house a figure to check the cook's accounts against. Mutton itself, meat from a sheep over about two years old, has largely vanished from English-speaking butchers' shops in favour of lamb, which is why these long simmering times now look excessive.