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Stewed Shoulder of Mutton
Put in a pan a large lump of butter or clarified fat, and place the shoulder in it. Add two big onions sliced, and a very large carrot also sliced, thyme, bay-leaf, two cloves, pepper and salt, and, if you like it, two garlic knobs. Let the shoulder simmer in this by the side of the fire for three hours. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, and then add to it either a glass of good red wine or a little made mustard with a teaspoonful of brown sugar.
A pot roast in all but name: no liquid goes into the pan, so the shoulder braises in its own juices and those of the vegetables. Everything depends on keeping the heat low and the lid tight.
- The hinge: no added liquidNothing wet is called for, so a heavy pot is needed; the recipe does not specify a lid, but without one the pan will scorch dry long before three hours are up. A low oven of around 300F with the lid on is one way to approximate "by the side of the fire" — the book gives no oven setting of its own.
- Size of the shoulderA bone-in lamb or mutton shoulder of roughly 4-5 lb would suit the quantities of onion, carrot and seasoning given, though the recipe specifies neither weight nor servings. A larger joint will need a bigger pot and longer cooking.
- Mutton vs. lambMutton means sheep over about two years old, strongly flavoured and firm; almost all supermarket meat now is lamb, which is milder and cooks faster. If you use lamb, start checking at two hours.
- Brown it firstThe recipe simply says to place the shoulder in the fat and never calls for browning; searing it hard on all sides first is a modern addition, and it will deepen the colour of the sauce.
- Clarified fatClarified butter, beef dripping or lard all work; clarified butter in particular has had the milk solids removed, which is why it will take a browning heat without burning.
- Garlic knobs and cloves"Two garlic knobs" most likely means two cloves rather than two whole heads, though the term is imprecise. The "two cloves" earlier in the list are the spice.
- Made mustardAn old term for prepared mustard from a jar, as opposed to dry mustard powder. A tablespoon of a sharp Dijon with the teaspoon of brown sugar gives the sweet-sour finish the recipe is after.
- Finishing the sauceStrain and skim off the fat, then, if you wish, reduce the strained liquid for a few minutes after adding the wine. With no added liquid the yield will be small — concentrated juices rather than a quantity of gravy.
- DonenessShoulder is collagen-rich and wants to go well past medium: the meat should pull from the bone easily, around 195-205F internally, not the 145F you would want on a chop.
The Belgian Cook Book was compiled during the First World War from recipes gathered from Belgian refugees who had fled to Britain. That origin shows in a dish like this one: a cheap, heavily worked cut, no stock, no wine unless you happen to have it, and a mustard-and-sugar finish offered as the alternative for households that do not. The sweet-sour glaze is often said to be a Flemish habit, seen also in the beer-based carbonnade and in the vinegar-and-sugar seasoning of some Belgian braises. Cooking meat in butter with onion, carrot, thyme and bay in a sealed pot, without added liquid, is the technique the French call /</"