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Mutton Pudding
782. Season with pepper, salt, and a bit of onion; lay one layer of steaks at the bottom of the dish, and pour a batter of potatoes boiled and pressed through a colander, and mixed with milk and an egg, over them; then put in the rest of the steaks and batter; and bake it. Batter with flour instead of potatoes eats well, but requires more egg, without which it is not so good. 783. Another.-Cut slices off a leg that has been underdone, and put them into a basin lined with a fine suet crust (par. 738); season with pepper, salt, and finely-shred onion or shalot, then cover, and boil.
Two Victorian ways of using up cold or underdone mutton: one baked under a potato batter, one boiled in a suet-lined basin. Both are frugal dishes that reward good seasoning and a firm hand with the fat.
- Cut of meat"Steaks" here means thin cutlets or slices from the leg, loin or chump end, not beef-style steak. Trim the heavy fat back to a thin rim; nineteenth-century mutton carried far more of it than modern lamb, and the batter will turn greasy otherwise.
- Mutton or lambTrue mutton (sheep generally over a year, and often defined as over two) is sold mainly by specialist butchers now. Lamb leg or shoulder works, but it is milder and cooks faster, so check for doneness early.
- The potato batterBoiled potatoes pressed through a colander, loosened with milk and bound with one egg, should pour thickly rather than run. Aim for the consistency of a slack mash: too stiff and it sits in lumps, too thin and it seeps away from the meat.
- Flour batter proportionsFor the flour version, work to a Yorkshire-pudding ratio, roughly equal volumes of flour, milk and beaten egg. The note that it "requires more egg" is the whole point; with too little it sets pasty rather than light.
- OvenThe recipe says only "bake it." A moderate oven, around 350F/180C, suits it; allow roughly an hour to an hour and a quarter for a dish 2 in deep, until the top is set and browned and the meat is tender when pierced. Cover with foil if the surface colours before the middle is done.
- Suet crust for no. 783Par. 738, the cross-referenced suet paste, is not reproduced here; the usual proportion for a suet crust is about 1 part shredded beef suet to 2 parts flour by weight, a pinch of salt, and cold water to a firm dough. Line a greased 1 1/2 pint basin, keeping a piece back for the lid, and seal the edges with water.
- Boiling the basin puddingCover with pleated greaseproof paper and foil or a floured cloth, tie securely, and stand the basin on a trivet in a pan of simmering water reaching halfway up. Two to two and a half hours at a steady simmer; top up with boiling water so it never drops below the halfway mark.
- Onion and shalotShred the onion or shallot very finely. Raw onion in a boiled pudding steams rather than browns, so a coarse dice stays sharp and crunchy against the soft crust.
- YieldEither version, made in a 1 1/2 to 2 pint dish or basin with about 1 1/2 lb of trimmed meat, serves four with a green vegetable.