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To Boil Mutton
392. A leg or shoulder of Mutton may be boiled, but the former is the most frequently dressed in this way. Turnips or greens are the ordinary concomitants, and caper sauce, or nasturtium sauce, without any other gravy than that coming out of the meat when cut. The time taken will be in accordance with the regular rule, or rather more -say, for large legs, half an hour in addition. The liquor makes good stock.
A skeleton entry that assumes you already know the "regular rule" for boiling meat — roughly 20 minutes to the pound plus 20 minutes over, which the author then extends by another half hour for a big leg. The rest is a matter of temperature control and the sauce.
- Never actually boil itThe hinge of the dish: bring the pot to a bare shiver and hold it there, around 180F, with the surface barely trembling. A rolling boil tightens and shreds the muscle fibres and clouds the liquor you are meant to keep as stock.
- Timing in practiceThe book does not state its 'regular rule' here; if it is the common 20 minutes to the pound plus 20 minutes over, a 6 lb leg works out at roughly 2 hours 20 minutes, to which the entry adds a further half hour for a large leg. Judge doneness by tenderness at the thickest point rather than by the clock.
- Mutton versus lambMutton is sheep over about two years old: darker, stronger, and considerably tougher, which is why it takes these long times. It is sold by some halal butchers and specialist farms. A leg of lamb substituted in its place will be done far sooner and is better checked from 20 minutes to the pound with no additions.
- Starting the potCover the joint with cold water, bring it slowly up, and skim the grey scum off before it disperses back into the liquid. Salting the water lightly and adding an onion, a carrot and a bay leaf will improve both meat and the leftover liquor, though the entry mentions none of this.
- Caper sauceA butter-and-flour white sauce let down with a ladle of the cooking liquor, then a good spoonful of capers and a little of their vinegar stirred in off the heat. The vinegar cuts the fat of the mutton, which may be why the entry is content with no gravy beyond what runs from the meat.
- Nasturtium sauceNasturtium seed pods pickled in vinegar were the standard kitchen-garden substitute for imported capers and are used identically here. If you have neither, small pickled green peppercorns or chopped cornichons give the same sharp interruption.
- The turnips and greensCook them separately rather than in the pot — turnips will muddy the stock and greens will turn olive. Boiled turnips crushed with butter and pepper are the traditional partner.
- Yield and the liquorA 6 lb leg serves eight to ten with vegetables. Strain the cooking liquor, chill it, and lift off the solid fat cap before using it as stock; it is strongly flavoured and salty, so treat it as a base to dilute rather than a finished broth.