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Leg of Mutton
(Cosciotto di castrato arrosto) Before cooking see that several days elapse after the animal has been butchered. This, naturally, according to the temperature. Beat it well with a wooden mallet, then skin and remove the middle bone, without spoiling the meat. Then tie it and give it a good fire at the beginning, covering the fire when half cooked. Let it cook in its own juice and in a cup of broth strained to remove the fat; nothing else. Salt when it is almost cooked, but see that it is neither too well done nor rare, just medium. Serve with its juice apart in a sauce, 135
A hearth roast written for a spit and an open fire, with almost no seasoning and no fat — everything depends on the cut, the aging and the internal temperature.
- Skip the home aging"Several days after the animal has been butchered" describes a carcass hanging in a cold cellar, judged by feel and by the weather. Do not attempt it in a modern kitchen or garage: buy a leg that has already been aged under refrigeration by the butcher, and keep it at or below 40F until it goes in the oven.
- CastratoCosciotto di castrato is the leg of a wethered sheep, older and far stronger in flavour than lamb. A 5-6 lb bone-in leg of mutton from a halal or specialist butcher is the closest thing; a leg of hogget or a mature leg of lamb will behave the same way in the oven, with a milder taste.
- Removing the middle boneThis means tunnel-boning: working the central thigh bone (femur) free while leaving the leg whole, so it can be tied back into shape. A butcher will do it for you. Keep the bones for the broth.
- The malletBeating with a wooden mallet loosened the connective tissue of an old animal. With today's meat it is unnecessary and will only bruise the fibres; the aging does the work.
- Fire to oven"A good fire at the beginning, covering the fire when half cooked" is a two-stage roast: fierce heat to colour the outside, then moderated heat to finish. The book gives no temperatures; as a modern equivalent, something like 450F for about 20 minutes and then 325F for the remainder works, but go by the thermometer rather than by any minutes-per-pound figure.
- The one number that matters"Neither too well done nor rare, just medium" means an instant-read thermometer at the thickest point: pull the leg at 130-135F and rest it, loosely tented, 15-20 minutes. Mutton dries out fast past 145F and no amount of pan juice will bring it back.
- A cup of broth, and nothing elseAbout 8 fl oz of well-skimmed stock, added to the pan so the drippings do not scorch. Artusi's insistence on "nothing else" — no wine, no garlic, no rosemary — is deliberate: the point is the meat's own juice.
- Salting lateSalting near the end was thought to keep the juices in. Modern practice is the opposite: salt the boned leg a few hours to a day ahead and refrigerate uncovered, which seasons it through and dries the surface for better browning.
- Yield and the sauceA 5-6 lb leg serves six to eight. "Its juice apart in a sauce" means the pan liquid poured off, the fat spooned away, and the rest served in a warmed sauceboat — not thickened, not reduced to a glaze.
The Italian Cook Book (1919), compiled by Maria Gentile, draws heavily on Pellegrino Artusi's La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene, and this entry keeps Artusi's terse, opinionated voice intact — including the refusal of any flavouring beyond salt and broth. Castrato, castrated male sheep, was long the usual mutton of central Italy and is still eaten around Rome, Umbria and the Marche, where sheep were kept for wool and milk and often slaughtered only when mature; the young milk-fed abbacchio was a spring luxury. The opening instruction about letting days elapse "according to the temperature" assumes meat hung at home or at the butcher's in a cold larder, with readiness judged by the weather and by feel rather than by any clock.