Cookery

and tie it round tightly, being careful to give it a very even shape ; boil it for two hours in equal parts of water, stock, and white wine ; then brown in a small saucepan two heaped tablespoonfuls of flour, stir in a little stock, some tiny onions, and chopped capers. Add to this as much of the liquor in which the meat has boiled as you will require, stir it all over the lire till it boils, and serve it just as it is with the meat. MUTTON. CHAPTER IX. MUTTON. The best pieces are of course the leg, the loin, the saddle, which generally comprises the loin and the fillet together, and the cutlets, which should be taken from the best end of the neck and the shoulder. The breast and the scrag end of the neck are excellent for many purposes, though they cannot be counted as useful as the other parts. With regard to the leg, the great thing to do is to try and vary the modes of preparing it. Besides being roasted or boiled — and in this state one is apt to get tired of them — there are various other modes which should not be despised, though they may perhaps be a little more trouble. Mutton (Stuffed). — Open the leg’with a sharp knife, and holding the bone in the left hand detach it as neatly as possible from the meat. Chop up some herbs and onions; add to these a handful of breadcrumbs and some rice previously parboiled, season this plentifully, moisten it with the yolk of an egg or a little stock or stock and wine combined, and with it fill the meat in the space left by the removal of the bone ; tie the joint round, rub it over with salt and pepper, and, if desired, with a little garlic, and bake it in the oven in the ordinary way; or stew it also in the oven, in a covered pan with enough lard to keep it from sticking, and a few vegetables; during this process it must only simmer. Whenever meat is cooked in this way, a teacupful of stock or water should be added just as it is put into the oven. This joint, once boned, can of course be stuffed in a variety of ways according to taste with sausage meat, chestnuts, vegetables, etc., and the shoulder can always be served in the same way. Shoulder. — This can either be plain roasted, or braised in the oven in a covered saucepan as above ; or it may be boned, stuffed and rolled, and baked, roasted in front of the fire, or braised. If it is not desirable to stuff it, it can be simply boned and rolled, then braised in a covered pan with the usual accompaniment of onions, celery, etc., and part stock and red wine by way of sauce ; this makes a pleasing change. Cutlets. — There is really no reason why the ordinary chop should not be used as it is abroad for this particular item, which in this country only represents the small chops off the neck and shoulder ; they arc employed indiscriminately by the continental cook, but they are very differently trimmed. After cutting them very neatly, if not small, take hold of the bone, and with a sharp knife turn down all the meat and fat which is attached to the same, so that the bone remains absolutely clean. It should not be longer than a couple of inches at the most ; the chopper will do MUTTON. 81