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To Stew a Loin of Mutton
404. Remove the bones from a loin of tender mutton; take off the skin, and remove the fat from the inside; brown it with butter in a stewpan or Dutch oven, then add broth to cover it; carrots and turnips cut in shapes , celery, and a very little onion; stew till very tender, and flavour with ketchup, and a glass of port-wine. After placing the meat on the dish, keep it hot, while carefully scumming the fat from the gravy before pouring it over the meat.
A boned loin, browned and braised in broth with root vegetables and finished with port. The whole point of the dish is a clear, well-skimmed gravy, so plan for the fat to be removed properly rather than in haste at the table.
- The meatTrue mutton (sheep over two years) is rare outside specialist butchers; a boned lamb loin of 2-3 lb behaves similarly but cooks faster and tastes milder. Boned lamb shoulder is the closer match for flavour and stands up better to long stewing.
- Bone it and tie itOnce the bones and inner fat are out, the loin will unroll. Roll it and tie at 1-inch intervals before browning, or it will fall apart in the broth and carve badly.
- Dutch ovenIn British books of this period a Dutch oven is usually the tin reflector screen set before an open fire, but browning "with butter" calls for a pan. Use a heavy lidded casserole or braising pot on the hob.
- KetchupThis means mushroom or walnut ketchup, a thin, dark, salty condiment, not the tomato sauce. Mushroom ketchup is still sold; a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce or a dash of soy gives a similar effect.
- A glass of portA wine glass of the period is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz. The recipe adds it at the end, along with the ketchup; if you would rather it did not taste raw, add it earlier and let it cook down.
- Cut in shapesCarrots and turnips "in shapes" means turned or barrel-cut so they hold together through the stewing and look deliberate on the dish. Add them partway through, about 40 minutes before the end, or they collapse.
- Time and heatBarely simmer, covered, for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours for lamb, longer for genuine mutton; in the oven, 300-325F. The liquid should never boil or the meat tightens and the gravy clouds.
- SkimmingLoin is fatty and the gravy will carry a heavy slick. Skimming is far easier if you cook the dish a day ahead, chill it, and lift the set fat off in a sheet before reheating.
- Seasoning and yieldNo salt is specified because the ketchup and the broth were expected to supply it; taste and correct before serving. Serves four to six.
The British Cookery Book was compiled in the late 1850s under the editorship of John Henry Walsh, better known to Victorians as "Stonehenge" for his writing on dogs and field sports, and it gathers receipts from contributors rather than a single kitchen. Mutton was one of the staple roasting and stewing meats of the British middle-class table through the nineteenth century, and a loin was a joint you could carve for company. The port and the ketchup are typical of the period's approach to gravy: a fortified wine for body and sweetness, and a bottled mushroom or walnut essence for the dark savoury depth that a modern cook would reach for stock concentrate to supply. Vegetables "cut in shapes" may reflect the influence of French service in English households, where the appearance of the dish as it came to table was expected to justify the labour behind it.