Many express a decided aversion to these odd snacks. Doubtless, this dislike has arisen from the fact that they have unfortunately never been properly served with them.
Extract from Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management c~1861
If properly done, however, the meat tender (it ought to be as tender as when first roasted), the gravy abundant and well flavoured, and the sippets nicely toasted, and the whole served neatly; then, hashed mutton is by no means to be despised, and is infinitely more wholesome and appetizing than the cold leg or shoulder, of which fathers and husbands, and their bachelor friends, stand in such natural awe.
ITALIAN MUTTON CUTLETS
Ingredients: About 3 lbs. of the neck of mutton, clarified butter, the yolk of 1 egg, 4 tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs, 1 tablespoonful of minced savoury herbs, 1 tablespoonful of minced parsley, 1 teaspoonful of minced shalot, 1 saltspoonful of finely-chopped lemon-peel; pepper, salt, and pounded mace to taste; flour, 1/2 pint of hot broth or water, 2 teaspoonfuls of Harvey’s sauce, 1 teaspoonful of soy, 2 teaspoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, 1 tablespoonful of port wine. Mode: Cut the mutton into nicely-shaped cutlets, flatten them, and trim off some of the fat, dip them in clarified butter, and then, into the beaten yolk of an egg. Mix well together bread crumbs, herbs, parsley, shalot, lemon-peel, and seasoning in the above proportion, and cover the cutlets with these ingredients. Melt some butter in a frying-pan, lay in the cutlets, and fry them a nice brown; take them, out, and keep them hot before the fire. Dredge some flour into the pan, and if there is not Sufficient butter, add a little more; stir till it looks brown, then pour in the hot broth or water, and the remaining ingredients; give one boil, and pour round the cutlets. If the gravy should not be thick enough, add a little more flour. Mushrooms, when obtainable, are a great improvement to this dish, and when not in season, mushroom-powder may be substituted for them.
Time: 10 minutes;–rather longer, should the cutlets be very thick. Average cost, 2s. 9d.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
KIDNEY OMELET (A favourite French dish)
Ingredients: 6 eggs, 1 saltspoonful of salt, 1/2 saltspoonful of pepper, 2 sheep’s kidneys, or 2 tablespoonfuls of minced veal kidney, 5 oz. of butter. Mode: Skin the kidneys, cut them into small dice, and toss them in a frying-pan, in 1 oz. of butter, over the fire for 2 or 3 minutes. Mix the ingredients for the omelet the same as in recipe No. 1456, and when the eggs are well whisked, stir in the pieces of kidney. Make the butter hot in the frying-pan, and when it bubbles, pour in the omelet, and fry it over a gentle fire from 4 to 6 minutes. When the eggs are set, fold the edges over, so that the omelet assumes an oval form, and be careful that it is not too much done: to brown the top, hold the pan before the fire for a minute or two, or use a salamander until the desired colour is obtained, but never turn an omelet in the pan. Slip it carefully on to a very hot dish, or, what is a much safer method, put a dish on the omelet, and turn the pan quickly over. It should be served the instant it comes from the fire.
Time: 4 to 6 minutes. Average cost, 1s.
Sufficient for 4 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
CHINA CHILO
Ingredients: 1-1/2 lb. of leg, loin, or neck of mutton, 2 onions, 2 lettuces, 1 pint of green peas, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1 teaspoonful of pepper, 1/4 pint of water, 1/4 lb. of clarified butter; when liked, a little cayenne. Mode: Mince the above quantity of undressed leg, loin, or neck of mutton, adding a little of the fat, also minced; put it into a stewpan with the remaining ingredients, previously shredding the lettuce and onion rather fine; closely cover the stewpan, after the ingredients have been well stirred, and simmer gently for rather more than 2 hours. Serve in a dish, with a border of rice round, the same as for curry.
Time: Rather more than 2 hours. Average cost, 1s. 6d.
Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons.
Seasonable from June to August.
DORMERS
Ingredients: 1/2 lb. of cold mutton, 2 oz. of beef suet, pepper and salt to taste, 3 oz. of boiled rice, 1 egg, bread crumbs, made gravy. Mode: Chop the meat, suet, and rice finely; mix well together, and add a high seasoning of pepper and salt, and roll into sausages; cover them with egg and bread crumbs, and fry in hot dripping of a nice brown. Serve in a dish with made gravy poured round them, and a little in a tureen.
Time: 1/2 hour to fry the sausages. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 6d.
Seasonable at any time.
IRISH STEW
Ingredients: 3 lbs. of the loin or neck of mutton, 5 lbs. of potatoes, 5 large onions, pepper and salt to taste, rather more than 1 pint of water. Mode: Trim off some of the fat of the above quantity of loin or neck of mutton, and cut it into chops of a moderate thickness. Pare and halve the potatoes, and cut the onions into thick slices. Put a layer of potatoes at the bottom of a stewpan, then a layer of mutton and onions, and season with pepper and salt; proceed in this manner until the stewpan is full, taking care to have plenty of vegetables at the top. Pour in the water, and let it stew very gently for 2-1/2 hours, keeping the lid of the stewpan closely shut the whole time, and occasionally shaking it to prevent its burning.
Time: 2-1/2 hours. Average cost, for this quantity, 2s. 8d.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
Seasonable: More suitable for a winter dish.
BOILED LEG OF LAMB A LA BECHAMEL
Ingredients: Leg of lamb, Béchamel sauce, No. 367. Mode: Do not choose a very large joint, but one weighing about 5 lbs. Have ready a saucepan of boiling water, into which plunge the lamb, and when it boils up again, draw it to the side of the fire, and let the water cool a little. Then stew very gently for about 1-1/4 hour, reckoning from the time that the water begins to simmer. Make some Béchamel by recipe No. 367, dish the lamb, pour the sauce over it, and garnish with tufts of boiled cauliflower or carrots. When liked, melted butter may be substituted for the Béchamel: this is a more simple method, but not nearly so nice. Send to table with it some of the sauce in a tureen, and boiled cauliflowers or spinach, with whichever vegetable the dish is garnished.
Time: 1-1/4 hour after the water simmers. Average cost, 10d. to 1s. per lb.
Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.
Seasonable from Easter to Michaelmas.
