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Minced Mutton or Beef Browned
532. Cut some lean meat from a roast leg of mutton, chop it fine, season it with pepper and salt, chopped parsley, and a little onion; mix altogether with a quarter of a pound of grated bread, moisten with a table-spoonful of vinegar and a cup of good gravy; when put into the dish lay an ounce of butter in small bits on the top, grate bread over it, and add a little more butter; brown before the fire.
A leftovers dish built on cold roast meat and a cup of gravy, finished under direct heat rather than baked through. The whole point is that the meat is already cooked: it only needs heating and a crisp top.
- QuantitiesNo weight of meat is given. A quarter pound of crumbs and a cup of gravy will carry roughly 1 to 1.5 lb of chopped cooked mutton or beef, serving three or four. Judge by feel: the mince should hold together loosely, not be stiff or soupy.
- Grated breadStale or dried bread grated, which gives coarser crumbs than the fine dry crumbs sold in canisters. A quarter pound is roughly 2 cups loosely packed; dried commercial crumbs absorb more liquid, so use fresher crumbs and add gravy to suit.
- Chop, do not grindHand-chopping with a knife gives short, distinct shreds. A food processor turns cooked meat to paste in seconds and the dish loses its texture entirely.
- Good gravyMeat juices or a proper roast gravy, not stock. If you have no gravy, a well-reduced brown stock thickened lightly with a little roux will stand in; thin stock will leave the mince watery.
- The vinegarA tablespoon of vinegar against a pound or so of fatty roast mutton is a seasoning, not a flavour in its own right. Malt or cider vinegar suits the dish; the recipe mixes it in with the gravy, so taste before committing more.
- "Brown before the fire"An open hearth or a Dutch oven set facing the coals. The modern equivalent is a broiler or overhead grill, four to five inches from the element, for five to eight minutes until the crumb crust colours. A 425F oven works but takes longer and dries the mince; if you use it, cover until hot through, then uncover to brown.
- Heating throughThe meat is already cooked, so the aim is simply to get the dish hot to the centre before the top colours. Spread it no more than an inch and a half deep in a shallow gratin dish, or the surface will burn while the middle stays cold.
- Onion"A little onion" raw and chopped will stay sharp and crunchy in the short cooking time. Softening a tablespoon or two in butter first gives a rounder result.