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Roast Leg of Mutton
1 leg of mutton Flour Salt and pepper Wipe the mutton with a damp cloth, remove the outside skin and excess of fat, sprinkle it with salt, pepper and flour, and place on a rack in a roasting-pan. Allow fifteen or twenty minutes to a pound for roasting. When the meat is done, remove it from the pan. Also remove all except one tablespoon of the fat. In this, brown two tablespoons flour, add one and one-half cups boiling water, and stir constantly until it thickens. Cook two minutes. Season to taste and strain. Serve as gravy.
A bare-bones roast in the style of the 1920s, written for cooks who knew their own ovens. Two things need filling in: a temperature, and a doneness standard that has moved a long way since.
- No oven temperature givenThe book assumes you know. A steady 325F suits a leg this size; if you want a browned exterior, start at 450F for 20 minutes and drop to 325F for the remainder.
- Mutton versus lambMutton is usually defined as sheep over two years old (some usages count anything over a year), stronger in flavour and firmer in texture. Lamb is what most butchers now stock; a 5-7 lb bone-in leg of lamb behaves the same way in the pan but cooks faster, so lean on a thermometer rather than the clock.
- Timing, correctedFifteen to twenty minutes a pound produces meat cooked grey through, which was the period expectation. For lamb, pull the leg at 130-135F at the thickest part away from bone for medium-rare to medium; at 325F that is likely to be closer to twenty minutes a pound, but let the thermometer decide. True mutton benefits from the longer end.
- Rest the meatThe recipe sends you straight to the gravy. Let the leg stand 15-20 minutes under loose foil while you make it; the juices redistribute and carving is far cleaner.
- The gravy proportionsOne tablespoon fat to two tablespoons flour is a lean roux and will taste pasty unless you brown it properly, a full minute or two until it smells nutty. A cup and a half of liquid to two tablespoons flour gives a pourable gravy; stock or the strained pan juices beat plain boiling water.
- Skin and fatRemoving the "outside skin" most likely refers to the papery fell over the fat cap. Trim the fat to about a quarter inch rather than stripping it, or the surface dries out.
- Yield and accompanimentsThe recipe gives no weight; a leg in the 5-7 lb range serves six to eight. Mint sauce or caper sauce was a common partner in books of this era, and either cuts the richness of mutton usefully.