Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/661

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RECIPES FOR COOKING MUTTON
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and wrap round it a well-greased paper. Put on the lid, which should fit closely, and cook gently from 3 to 3½ hours, adding more stock or water as that in the pan becomes reduced. Half an hour before serving melt the butter in a stewpan, fry the shallots lightly, then add the flour, and cook until it acquires a nut-brown colour. Keep the meat hot, strain the stock, increase the quantity to 1 pint, pour it over the browned flour and butter, and stir until boiling. Season to taste, boil gently for ten minutes, then pour a little over the meat, and serve the remainder in a tureen. Cooked tomatoes, mushrooms, fancifully-cut turnips and carrots, small timbales of spinach or green pea purée, haricots verts and macedoine are all suitable garnishes for this dish.

Time.—About 4 hours. Average Cost, 10d. per lb. Seasonable at any time.

996.—BRAISED MUTTON, PROVENCE STYLE. (Fr.Mouton braisé à la Provençale.)

Ingredients.—A small leg of mutton (or shoulder, loin or neck, if preferred). For the mirepoix, or foundation: 3 ozs. of butter, 2 large onions, 2 carrots, 1 turnip, 2 strips of celery, a bouquet-garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaf), 10 peppercorns, 1 quart of stock. For the farce: 2 ozs. of lean raw ham, 2 ozs. of pork or veal, 2 ozs. of breadcrumbs, 6 button mushrooms, preferably fresh ones, 1 teaspoonful of finely-chopped parsley, ½ a teaspoonful of powdered mixed herbs, ½ a teaspoonful of grated lemon-rind, 1 shallot finely-chopped, 2 yolks and 1 white of eggs, salt and pepper. For the Provençale sauce: 1 pint of brown sauce, 1 tomato, 1 onion, 2 large fresh mushrooms, ½ a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, ½ a teaspoonful of lemon-juice, 1 oz. of butter, glaze.

Method.—Bone the leg as far as the knuckle. Pass the ham and pork or veal 2 or 3 times through a mincing machine, pound it well with the breadcrumbs, herbs, lemon rind, parsley, shallot and eggs, season to taste, and when smooth, rub through a wire sieve. Add to the farce the mushrooms cut into small pieces, press it lightly into the cavity of the leg, and sew up the opening. Slice the vegetables, place them at the bottom of a large stewpan with the butter, bouquet-garni, and peppercorns, and on the top of these lay the meat. Put on the lid, cook gently for ½ an hour, then add as much hot stock as will 3 parts cover the vegetables and the remainder to make good the reduction in the pan. Cover the meat with a buttered paper, put on the lid, cook gently for 2 hours, basting frequently, then transfer from the stewpan to a hot baking-tin, and continue the cooking for ¾ of an hour longer, keeping the meat well basted with hot butter or fat. Strain the liquor, and either boil it down to glaze, or use it to make the brown sauce (see Sauces). Melt 1 oz. of butter in a small stewpan, add the tomato, onion and mushrooms, all of which should be previ-