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Boned Leg of Mutton, Don Quichotte
Entirely bone a leg of tender mutton of five to six pounds; season all around with a tablespoon salt, one teaspoon pepper and a saltspoon grated nutmeg. Finely chop one ounce raw veal and one ounce lean raw pork, place both in a clean mortar, season with half teaspoon salt, a saltspoon cayenne pepper and a saltspoon ground allspice, add one teaspoon chopped parsley, one finely chopped bean garlic and one egg yolk. Pound to a very smooth paste, then spread this force all over the inside of the leg; tie all around with strings. Heat in a large braizing pan two tablespoons lard, place in the leg and brown it to a nice colour all over, then add one finely minced carrot, two sliced onions, one clove garlic, two branches parsley, two cloves, two bay leaves, twelve allspice, one sprig thyme and half a tablespoon whole black peppers. Brown for ten minutes more, moisten with a pint of water, one gill red wine, two gills demi-glace and two gills tomato sauce. Cover the pan, let boil for ten minutes, then set in the oven to braize for one hour. Turn it over and baste frequently meanwhile. Remove, arrange the leg on a hot dish, untie it and keep hot. Skim the fat from the surface of the sauce and let it reduce on an open fire for twenty minutes; strain the sauce through a cloth into another saucepan, add twelve finely chopped candied cherries and half gill port; boil for five minutes more, pour the sauce over the leg and serve very hot.
A braised, stuffed leg of mutton in the grand hotel style: the forcemeat is the point, and the sauce is finished sweet. A few of the quantities and components need translating before you start.
- Gills and cupsA gill is half a cup (4 fl oz). So one gill red wine is 1/2 cup, two gills demi-glace is 1 cup, two gills tomato sauce is 1 cup, and half a gill port is 1/4 cup. A saltspoon is about 1/4 teaspoon.
- Salt the meat lightlySalt -- A tablespoon of salt on a 5-6 lb leg works out to roughly 0.7 per cent by weight, which is not extreme in itself, but the braising liquid reduces twice and the demi-glace is already seasoned. Consider a lighter hand on the meat and correct the sauce at the end.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given. Braise at 325F, covered, and reckon on longer than the stated hour for a boned 5-6 lb leg tied into a roll; a mutton leg wants closer to 2 to 2 1/2 hours before it slices tenderly.
- MuttonMutton means mature sheep, usually reckoned as over a year old (some definitions say two), stronger flavoured and firmer than lamb. It is sold by some halal and specialty butchers; a boned leg of lamb substitutes directly but will cook faster and taste milder.
- Demi-glaceReduced brown veal stock, thickened. Good tubs of concentrate exist; dilute to the volume called for rather than using it neat, or the finished sauce turns salty and sticky.
- The forcemeatTwo ounces of ground meat with an egg yolk makes only a thin smear over a whole boned leg; it reads as a seasoning layer rather than a substantial stuffing. A food processor does in seconds what the mortar does in ten minutes. Since it is raw pork and veal, make sure the roll is cooked through to at least 160F at the centre.
- "One finely chopped bean garlic"Read this as a clove; it looks like a literal rendering of the French gousse (pod/clove). The recipe uses garlic twice: one chopped into the force, one more in the braising pan.
- Whole spices in the sauceTwelve allspice berries, two cloves, and half a tablespoon of peppercorns go in whole and are strained out later. Do not skip the straining through cloth; the sauce is meant to be smooth and glossy.
- Candied cherries and portThe sweet finish is the dish's distinguishing feature. Following the recipe, they go in after the sauce has been reduced and strained, and boil only five minutes. Glace cherries from the baking aisle are the right thing.
- YieldServes six to eight, sliced across the roll, with the sauce spooned over.
Naming a dish after a literary or operatic figure was standard practice in the international hotel kitchens of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Massenet's opera Don Quichotte premiered in 1910, though whether this dish takes its name from the opera, from Cervantes' novel, or simply from a general Spanish association cannot be established from the recipe. The sweet-and-savoury finish of candied cherries and port reads as a nod to Spain by way of a French saucier's imagination rather than to anything actually eaten in La Mancha. The method itself is textbook French braising as codified in professional practice of the era: bone, stuff with a fine forcemeat, tie, brown, moisten with demi-glace and wine, then reduce and strain the cooking liquid into the finished sauce. Mutton was still commonly sold in Europe and America at the time; it fell out of favour in English-speaking markets over the twentieth century as consumers came to prefer the milder, quicker-cooking lamb, which is why a recipe like this now reads as more exotic than it was meant to be.