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Leg of Mutton in Casserole
(Cosciotto di castrato in cazzaruola) Take a shoulder or a leg of mutton and after having boned, it lard it with small pieces of bacon dipped in salt and pepper. Salt moderately the meat then tie it tight and put it on the fire in a pan that contains a piece of butter and one large onion larded with clover. When it begins to brown, take it away from the fire and add a cup of broth, or of water, a little bunch of greens and some tomatoes cut in pieces. Put again on a low fire and let it simmer for three hours, keeping the saucepan closed, but opening from time to time to turn the meat. When it is cooked, throw away the onion, rub the sauce through a sieve, remove its fat and put it with the meat when served. The mutton must not be overdone, for in this case it cannot be sliced. 73
A boned, larded, tied leg braised slowly in a covered pan — a straightforward pot roast once the translator's quirks are decoded.
- "Casserole" means the panCazzaruola is a heavy lidded saucepan or braising pot on the stovetop, not a baked casserole dish. A Dutch oven is the direct equivalent.
- "Larded with clover"A mistranslation: the onion is studded with whole cloves (Italian garofani), not clover. Four or five cloves pushed into a peeled onion is a reasonable amount.
- Larding the meatThreading strips of bacon or salt pork through the lean with a larding needle. Today's lamb is often fatty enough that this can be skipped; if you skip it, keep the pan tightly covered and the heat low.
- "A little bunch of greens"Un mazzetto guarnito — a bouquet garni. Parsley, a bay leaf, celery, a carrot and a sprig of thyme tied with string, removed before sieving.
- Mutton versus lambMutton is sheep over two years old: stronger, leaner, tougher. Butchers rarely stock it. Hogget or a 4–5 lb leg of lamb will substitute, but lamb cooks faster and three hours will destroy it.
- The hinge: do not overcookThe closing line is the whole point. This is not a fall-apart braise — it must stay sliceable. Cook to about 145–150F at the centre for pink, firm slices; mutton may want longer, but check from two hours on rather than trusting the clock.
- Heat and liquid"A cup of broth" is 8 fl oz, barely enough to cover the pan bottom — this is a braise, not a stew. Keep the liquid at a bare shiver, around 190F, either on the lowest burner or in a 300F oven.
- Finishing the sauceSieving the vegetables gives a light purée-thickened gravy. Skim the fat with a spoon after letting the sauce stand a few minutes, or chill briefly and lift the cap.
- YieldA boned leg of 4–5 lb serves six to eight, with the sauce spooned over the sliced meat.
This comes from The Italian Cook Book (1919), Maria Gentile's English compilation, often said to draw on Pellegrino Artusi's La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene — an inference from the close resemblance of the recipes — the book that did more than any other to give a unified Italy a shared domestic cookery. Castrato — literally a castrated ram — was familiar butcher's meat in central and southern Italy, and readers of the period would presumably have recognised that its strong flavour needed the softening of onion, cloves and tomato. The technique itself is French in bones: larding, a clove-studded onion, a bouquet garni and a long covered braise are the vocabulary of nineteenth-century cuisine bourgeoise, absorbed into Italian household cooking and here rendered into slightly wooden English for American readers who, by 1919, were far more likely to buy lamb than mutton.