A guide to modern cookery

The fillet is one half of the saddle, when the latter is cut into two, lengthwise; that is to say, divided down the middle in suchwise as to bisect the spinal column. These fillets are sometimes boned, rolled over with the kernel of meat in the centre, and strung, in which case the skin should be removed before rolling. Saddle of mutton, before being roasted, should be cleared of all its superfluous underlying fat; and the flanks should be so shortened as to just meet when drawn over the fillets. The overlying skin should be removed, and the saddle should be strung in five or six places to keep it in shape. In the case of a saddle of lamb, the skin need not be completely removed, but slit in various places. As to neck of mutton, this should be shortened as for the cutting of ordinary cutlets; the skin and the bones of the chine should be removed, as also the meat at the end of the rib-bones, down to two-thirds in. from the extremity of each. The cushion is then covered with slices of bacon, tied on with string. When the piece is roasted and dished, a frill should be placed on the end of each bared bone. Neck of mutton ought never to comprise more than nine to ten ribs, counting from the floating ones; it should consist of rather less if anything. Mutton Relevés allow more particularly of vegetable and rice garnishes. Garnishes with sauces do not suit them so well, even when the pieces are braised. As for paste garnishes, such as macaroni, noodles, gniokis; they are seldom used. Garnishes for mutton relevés should therefore be chosen, in preference, from among the following, the details of which I gave under ‘“‘ Filet de Boeuf’’ (Nos. 1044 to 1074) and which I recall hereafter :— Andalouse, Bouquetiére, Chatelaine, Clamart, Dauphine, Dubarry, Duchesse, Japonaise, Jardiniere, Lorette, Macédoine, Montmorency, Moderne, Nivernaise, Orientale, Petit-Duc, Provengale, Renaissance, Richelieu, St. Germain. Apart from these compound garnishes, the following simple garnishes also suit admirably, either alone, or separated by some kind of potato preparation :— Braised Lettuce, stuffed with ordinary forcemeat or rice. Cabbages, moulded to the shape of small balls, braised and stuffed with fine mince-meat or rice. Haricot-beans, Peas and Broad-beans, cohered with butter. Asparagus-heads, white or green, cooked and cohered with butter. Celery, Endives, and Chicory, all braised. Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflowers, Broccoli, etc. Finally, the garnishes and modes of preparation termed: a l’Anglaise, 4 la Boulangére, Braisés, Mariné en Chevreuit, which I give below for the leg and the shoulder, may be applied perfectly well to other large pieces of mutton. r 1303—LARGE COLD JOINTS OF MUTTON Refer to Cold Beef; in all cases keep the dishing simple. The garnishing is optional. 1304—LEG AND SHOULDER OF MUTTON Legs of mutton or lamb ought never to appear on any but an ordinary luncheon menu. Although, strictly speaking, they should always be served after one of the ways described hereafter, all the garnishes given above may be applied to them. Shoulders may be roasted whole; but they may also be boned, seasoned inside, rolled up, and firmly strung. They may be treated like the legs, and the same garnishes are suited to them. 1305—GIGOT BOUILLI A L’ANGLAISE Trim the leg, shorten it in the region of the tibia bone, and plunge it into a stewpan of boiling water, salted in the proportion of one-third oz. of salt per quart of water. For an ordinary leg, add: three medium-sized carrots, two onions, each stuck with a clove, a faggot, and two cloves of garlic. Let the leg cook for a quarter of an hour for each two lbs. of its weight. Dish with vegetables all round, and serve at the same time a butter sauce with capers. N.B.—Leg of mutton a l’anglaise may be accompanied by F F