Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Mustard, Mixing of. — It should be made with boiling water, and only ia sufficient quantity to last a day or two at most ; if kept longer, the top of the mustard-pot should be fitted with a glass stopper, but fresh-made mustard is preferable. Put a little salt before mixing, and rub it quite smooth with the back of a spoon. Foreign mustard is to be had of any respectable grocer, but a particular flavour may be given to mustard by moistening with shallot, tarragon, garlic, or any spiced vinegar, instead of water. Mustard Sauce. — Blend together on a plate three ounces of butter with a dessertspoonful of browned flour, half the quantity of the best Durham mustard, and a little salt. Stir these ingredients, when smoothly mixed, into a quarter of a pint of boiling water, and simmer five minutes. Add enough vinegar to flavour, and serve as a sauce for fresh herrings. Mustard, Tartar.— Moisten, with equal quantities of horseradish and chilli vinegar, a quarter of a pound of the best mustard, to which a tea-spoonful of salt has been mixed. Add the liquids gradually, and rub with the back of a spoon until smooth. Less chilli viaegar, and a little tarragon, if approved, will make an excellent mustard ; or more horseradish vinegar may be used, while the other vinegar is diminished in quantity. Sufficient, a quarter of a pint of vinegar. Mutton. — This is the flesh of the sheep. The best mutton, and that from which most nourishment is obtained, is that of sheep of from three to six years old, and which have been fed on dry sweet pastures. The flesh of sheep which have been reared on salt marshes, or on farms near the sea-coast, is also sweet and wholesome; the saline particles abounding in such situations imparts both firmness and a fine flavour. To suit the palate of an epicure, a sheep should never be killed earher than its fifth year, at which age the mutton will be found firm and succulent, dark-coloured, and full of the richest gravy. Mutton of two years old is flabby, pale, and savourless. To ascertain the age of mutton the following directions may be given: — Observe the colours of the breastbone when a sheep is dressed, that is, where the breastbone is separated. In a lamb, or before the sheep is one year old, it will be quite red ; from one to two years old, the upper and lower bones will be changing to white, and a small circle of white will appear round the edge of the other bones, and the middle part of the breastbone will yet continue red ; at three years old, a very small streak of white wiU be seen ia the middle of the four middle bones, and the others will be white ; and at four years old, all the breastbones will be of a white or gristly colour. The live weight with the offal of a large fat wether, and the joints when cut up for market, are about as follows : — St. lbs. Live weight . . . . 13 10 Blood and entraUs Caul and loose fat Head and pluck Pelt Carcass. First fore-quarter Second ,, First hind-quarter Second ,, Joints of one side. Haunch Loin Neck . Shoulder Breast . Loss lbs. oz. 13 0 21 4 8 12 15 12 29 0 28 12 33 8 32 0 23 0 10 4 12 0 10 12 4 8 0 12 Mutton (Invalid Cookery) "When mutton