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Roasted Fillet of Mutton
Cut off the chump end of a loin of mutton, season with salt and pepper, cover with paper, and put it in front of a clear fire to roast, let it remain for two hours, taking care that it does not brown in the slightest, and glaze it, put some well drained boiled string beans, in the gravy, warm them up, turn them out on a dish, place the meat on the top, and serve.
A spit-roast written for a coal range with an open fire front, and the one unusual instruction — no browning at all — is the whole character of the dish. Everything else is straightforward.
- The cutThe chump end is the rear of the loin, next to the leg, sold in the US as sirloin end or simply included in a whole loin. A butcher will cut it for you; a boned-and-tied loin roast of 2½–3 lb is the closest common substitute.
- MuttonMutton means sheep over two years old, with darker meat and a stronger, tallowy flavour. It is sold today mainly by halal butchers and farm suppliers. Lamb will work but is milder and cooks faster.
- "In front of a clear fire"Roasting before the fire on a spit or hook, with a pan beneath, the fire burnt down to steady embers with no flame or smoke. The recipe gives no oven figure; a low oven of roughly 300F is the nearest approximation, though keeping the surface wholly pale is harder in an enclosed oven than before a fire.
- The paperPaper laid over the meat rather than wrapped tight; the recipe does not specify greased paper or how many layers. Its job is to keep the surface pale and prevent a crust forming, and it must be off by the time the meat is glazed.
- Do not let it brownThis is the hinge of the recipe. The two-hour cook at low heat is meant to leave the exterior pale, so that the glaze goes on to a clean surface and reads as gloss rather than roast colour. High heat defeats the whole point.
- GlazingGlaze here is strongly reduced brown stock, sticky when cool, brushed over the hot meat in thin coats and set for a moment near the fire between each. Modern demi-glace reduced further does the same job.
- Two hoursAt the low temperature intended, two hours brings a loin of mutton to well done. If you want it pink, cook to an internal 135–140F and expect considerably less than two hours for lamb; timing this by the clock alone will overshoot.
- The beansBoil the string beans separately until just tender, drain thoroughly, then warm them through in the pan gravy off the heat. Long stewing in the gravy turns them grey and slack.
- YieldA chump end of loin will probably serve about four, or six as part of a longer menu.
Oscar Tschirky ran the dining rooms of the Waldorf, and later the Waldorf-Astoria, from the hotel's opening in 1893; his 1896 cook book records the kitchen's working repertoire, which was French technique applied to the tastes of wealthy New Yorkers. Mutton was central to that repertoire in a way it no longer is anywhere in America — saddles, loins and legs of mutton appear on hotel and club menus throughout the period, prized precisely for the deeper flavour that later drove the meat off the market in favour of young lamb. The instruction to roast before a clear fire, rather than in the oven, is a survival of older English practice: spit-roasting was still held to give a better result than closed-oven baking, and the language persisted in printed recipes well after most professional kitchens had moved to enclosed ranges. The pale, glazed finish belongs to the same French service tradition as glazed ham and glazed sweetbreads, where shine was the mark of a properly finished dish.