Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Ragout Of Mutton.— Trim the best end of a neck of mutton into cutlets, cutting the bones rather short. Or use a shoulder of mutton, sawing it across through the bone, and cutting the meat into two-inch pieces. With the trimmings or the scrag-end of the neck make a good mutton broth, adding plenty of onion, an ounce of celery, and any other broth vegetables which can be had. Put the mutton into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, a saltspoonful of salt, and half that quantity of pepper. Fry the meat over a moderately fast fire for a quarter of an hour so as to “ seize ” the juices. Do not let the butter burn, and fry the cutlets or pieces of mutton a few at a time, for they must not touch each other in the pan. Dredge an ounce of flour over the meat, and brown for four minutes. Add a quart of the mutton broth, warm all together, stir till it boils, then drain the contents of the stewpan through a sieve into a basin. Rinse the stewpan, put back the meat, take the fat oft' the broth, and pour the broth over the meat, adding five ounces of sliced onion and a bouquet garni. Simmer very gently now for one hour, adding a gill or so of broth to make good the loss by evaporation. Whilst the mutton is simmering cut up a pound of young turnips as you would cut apples for a tart, and fry them in an ounce of butter till lightly browned. Add the turnips to the mutton during the last quarter of an hour’s cooking. When done, arrange the meat on a hot dish, put the pieces of turnip round it, strain and skim the gravy, and pour it over all. A French cook would add a drop of garlic, or would stir the ragout with a knife previously thrust into a clove of garlic. Mutton Pie with Mushrooms.— Choose a fire-proof piedish, rub it with a shallot, butter it, and cover the bottom with slices of raw potato. On this arrange the cutlets from a neck of mutton, cut short and thick, and put a large peeled mushroom between each. Season well with herb pepper and a little salt. Put thin slices of bacon over the mutton, and add a gill of gravy. Cover the whole with a layer of butter the thickness of a shilling, put on the crust, and bake the pie for three hours. When done lift off the crust, skim off any fat with a spoon, pour in another gill of gravy in which a gill of Marsala has been warmed, replace the crust, and serve. Monsieur Buglere’s Haricot. — Choose a neck of mutton, cut it up into cutlets, shorten the bones close to the top of the meat. Trim the cutlets very neatly, and make a good broth •with the bones and trimmings. Mince small four ounces of onion, three of carrot, and three of turnip ; fry this in an ounce and a half of butter over a low fire, adding salt and a dust of sugar. Use a fricandeau-pan or a straight-sided saute-pan. When the minced vegetables are partly fried put in the pieces of mutton and continue the frying until the meat is slightly browned. Then add broth to half the height of the meat, and put in a bouquet garni. Let the broth fall gradually to a glaze, keeping the pan uncovered, and then add broth till it is level with the surface of the meat. Proceed as before to gradually reduce the broth, and then again moisten the meat with broth. When the meat seems half cooked drain off the broth, skim off MONSIEUR DUGLERE’S HARICOT