Mutton Stew
Take three pounds of shoulder of mutton; onehalf pound of salt pork; one large onion; one cup of milk; two tablespoons of flour; salt and pepper. The inferior parts of the sheep will do well for this dish, which makes an economical dinner. Trim the mutton of every particle of fat, and cut it into pieces one-half the size of a teacup; nearly cover with hot water, place it on the fire and let it simmer slowly, closely covered, for one-half hour. Then add the pork and onion, season to taste with salt and pepper, and stew slowly until the meat is tender. Lift the meat out with a skimmer, place it on the serving dish, and add the milk to the gravy in the kettle. When the gravy is hot, add the flour stirred to a paste with a little cold milk. When these are well cooked together, taste the gravy, and add more seasoning if necessary; then pour it over the mutton, and serve. If green corn is in season, add the grains from six ears one-half hour before the stew is done.
A plain braise built on cheap cuts, thickened at the last minute with milk and flour. Nothing here is difficult; the points that matter are cut selection, heat control and the order in which the thickening goes in.
- The meatShoulder of mutton means a mature sheep, rarely sold in American or British supermarkets now. Lamb shoulder, boned and cut into large chunks -- the recipe asks for pieces "one-half the size of a teacup," so roughly 2-inch pieces -- works directly; if you can find hogget or mutton from a halal or specialist butcher, expect a noticeably longer cook and a much stronger flavour.
- Trim the fat, but not all of itThe instruction to remove "every particle of fat" sits with the strong, tallowy character of old mutton fat, which sets hard and greasy as the dish cools. With modern lamb, trim the heavy external fat cap and leave the intramuscular fat alone.
- Salt porkHalf a pound of salt pork is a cured, unsmoked fatback or belly. Unsmoked streaky bacon or pancetta is the closest substitute; blanch it for two minutes if it is very salty, and hold back your own salt until the pork has been in the pot for a while.
- "Simmer slowly, closely covered"This is the hinge. A bare tremble, around 180-190F, keeps the collagen dissolving without squeezing the muscle fibres dry. A rolling boil will give you stringy meat in the same amount of time. Total cooking is usually 1½ to 2 hours for lamb shoulder, longer for true mutton.
- Thickening with milkMilk added to a hot, salty, slightly acidic broth can curdle. Add it off the boil, bring the liquid back only to a gentle simmer, and stir the flour-and-cold-milk slurry in gradually. Cook two to three minutes after it thickens to lose the raw flour taste.
- Green corn"Green corn" is fresh sweet corn, cut from the cob. Six ears gives roughly 3 to 4½ cups of kernels. Modern supersweet varieties need far less than half an hour -- keep them for the last 8-10 minutes or they turn starchy and dull.
- YieldThree pounds of shoulder plus the pork feeds four to six with potatoes or bread. The gravy is generous.
Mutton was widely eaten in the nineteenth century, and shoulder was among its cheapest cuts the recipe says as much, recommending "the inferior parts of the sheep" for "an economical dinner." The Butterick Publishing Company, better known for dress patterns and The Delineator, aimed its cook book at exactly the household that needed to stretch three pounds of meat across a family. The optional green corn stirred in at the end dates the dish firmly to an American late summer. Mutton itself largely disappeared from American markets over the twentieth century as lamb, slaughtered younger and milder, took its place which is why a recipe that once described a common household meat now reads as something of a curiosity.