Sometimes it’s just too much of a deal to scratch around for some kindlin’
Extract from Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management c~1861
"cookery" noun : the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat; "cooking can be a great art"; "people are needed who have experience in cookery"; "he left the preparation of meals to his wife"
Ok, so this is preparing food by the application of … cold?
BAKED MINCED MUTTON
Ingredients: The remains of any joint of cold roast mutton, 1 or 2 onions, 1 bunch of savoury herbs, pepper and salt to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace or nutmeg, 2 tablespoonfuls of gravy, mashed potatoes.
Mode: : Mince an onion rather fine, and fry it a light-brown colour; add the herbs and mutton, both of which should be also finely minced and well mixed; season with pepper and salt, and a little pounded mace or nutmeg, and moisten with the above proportion of gravy. Put a layer of mashed potatoes at the bottom of a dish, then the mutton, and then another layer of potatoes, and bake for about 1/2 hour.
Time: : 1/2 hour. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 4d.
Seasonable at any time
Note: If there should be a large quantity of meat, use 2 onions instead of 1.
CURRIED MUTTON
Ingredients: The remains of any joint of cold mutton, 2 onions, 1/4 lb. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of curry powder, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, salt to taste, 1/4 pint of stock or water.
Mode: Slice the onions in thin rings, and put them into a stewpan with the butter, and fry of a light brown; stir in the curry powder, flour, and salt, and mix all well together. Cut the meat into nice thin slices (if there is not sufficient to do this, it may be minced), and add it to the other Ingredients: ; when well browned, add the stock or gravy, and stew gently for about 1/2 hour. Serve in a dish with a border of boiled rice, the same as for other curries.
Time: 1/2 hour. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 6d.
Seasonable in winter.
CUTLETS OF COLD MUTTON
Ingredients: The remains of cold loin or neck of mutton, 1 egg, bread crumbs, brown gravy (No. 436), or tomato sauce (No. 529).
Mode: Cut the remains of cold loin or neck of mutton into cutlets, trim them, and take away a portion of the fat, should there be too much; dip them in beaten egg, and sprinkle with bread crumbs, and fry them a nice brown in hot dripping. Arrange them on a dish, and pour round them either a good gravy or hot tomato sauce.
Time: About 7 minutes.
Seasonable Tomatoes to be had most reasonably in September and October.
HARICOT MUTTON
Ingredients: The remains of cold neck or loin of mutton, 2 oz. of butter, 3 onions, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, 1/2 pint of good gravy, pepper and salt to taste, 2 tablespoonfuls of port wine, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 1 head of celery.
Mode: Cut the cold mutton into rate-sized chops, and take off the fat; slice the onions, and fry them with the chops, in a little butter, of a nice brown colour; stir in the flour, add the gravy, and let it stew gently nearly an hour. In the meantime boil the vegetables until nearly tender, slice them, and add them to the mutton about 1/4 hour before it is to be served. Season with pepper and salt, add the ketchup and port wine, give one boil, and serve.
Time: 1 hour. Average cost, exclusive of the cold meat, 9d.
Seasonable at any time.
HODGE-PODGE
Ingredients: About 1 lb. of underdone cold mutton, 2 lettuces, 1 pint of green peas, 5 or 6 green onions, 2 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste, 1/2 teacupful of water.
Mode: Mince the mutton, and cut up the lettuces and onions in slices. Put these in a stewpan, with all the Ingredients: except the peas, and let these simmer very gently for 3/4 hour, keeping them well stirred. Boil the peas separately, mix these with the mutton, and serve very hot.
Time: 3/4 hour. Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons.
Seasonable from the end of May to August.
MUTTON COLLOPS
Ingredients: A few slices of a cold leg or loin of mutton, salt and pepper to taste, 1 blade of pounded mace, 1 small bunch of savoury herbs minced very fine, 2 or 3 shalots, 2 or 3 oz. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, 1/2 pint of gravy, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice.
Mode: Cut some very thin slices from a leg or the chump end of a loin of mutton; sprinkle them with pepper, salt, pounded mace, minced savoury herbs, and minced shalot; fry them in butter, stir in a dessertspoonful of flour, add the gravy and lemon-juice, simmer very gently about 5 or 7 minutes, and serve immediately.
Time: 5 to 7 minutes. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 6d.
Seasonable at any time
MUTTON PIE
Ingredients: The remains of a cold leg, loin, or neck of mutton, pepper and salt to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace, 1 dessertspoonful of chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful of minced savoury herbs; when liked, a little minced onion or shalot; 3 or 4 potatoes, 1 teacupful of gravy; crust.
Mode: Cold mutton may be made into very good pies if well seasoned and mixed with a few herbs; if the leg is used, cut it into very thin slices; if the loin or neck, into thin cutlets. Place some at the bottom of the dish; season well with pepper, salt, mace, parsley, and herbs; then put a layer of potatoes sliced, then more mutton, and so on till the dish is full; add the gravy, cover with a crust, and bake for 1 hour.
Time: 1 hour.
Seasonable at any time.
Note: The remains of an underdone leg of mutton may be converted into a very good family pudding, by cutting the meat into slices, and putting them into a basin lined with a suet crust. It should be seasoned well with pepper, salt, and minced shalot, covered with a crust, and boiled for about 3 hours.
RAGOUT OF COLD NECK OF MUTTON
Ingredients: The remains of a cold neck or loin of mutton, 2 oz. of butter, a little flour, 2 onions sliced, 1/4 pint of water, 2 small carrots, 2 turnips, pepper and salt to taste.
Mode: Cut the mutton into small chops, and trim off the greater portion of the fat; put the butter into a stewpan, dredge in a little flour, add the sliced onions, and keep stirring till brown; then put in the meat. When this is quite brown, add the water, and the carrots and turnips, which should be cut into very thin slices; season with pepper and salt, and stew till quite tender, which will be in about 3/4 hour. When in season, green peas may be substituted for the carrots and turnips: they should be piled in the centre of the dish, and the chops laid round.
Time: 3/4 hour. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 4d.
Seasonable , with peas, from June to August.
TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE
Ingredients: 6 oz. of flour, 1 pint of milk, 3 eggs, butter, a few slices of cold mutton, pepper and salt to taste, 2 kidneys.
Mode: Make a smooth batter of flour, milk, and eggs in the above proportion; butter a baking-dish, and pour in the batter. Into this place a few slices of cold mutton, previously well seasoned, and the kidneys, which should be cut into rather small pieces; bake about 1 hour, or rather longer, and send it to table in the dish it was baked in. Oysters or mushrooms may be substituted for the kidneys, and will be found exceedingly good.
Time: Rather more than 1 hour. Average cost, exclusive of the cold meat, 8d.
Seasonable at any time.
