319. Leg of Mutton à la Bretonne.—Choose one about six pounds weight, peel four cloves of garlic, make an incision with the point of a knife in four different parts around the knuckle, and place the garlic in it, hang it up for a day or two, and then roast it for one hour and a half. At the same time you have procured a quart of small dry French haricots, which after well washing put into a saucepan with half a gallon of water, add about half an ounce of salt, the same of butter, set them on the side of the fire to simmer for about three hours or till tender, when pour the liquor off into a basin, and keep the haricots hot; peel and cut two large onions into thin slices, put some of the fat of the dripping-pan into a frying-pan, put in the onions, and fry a light brown, add them to the haricots with the fat and gravy the mutton has produced in roasting, season with salt and pepper, toss them a little, and serve very hot on a large dish, put the leg on it, with a frill of paper on the knuckle. In case the leg is very fat do not add all of it to the haricots. This if well carved is an excellent dish for eight or nine persons; it is a dish very much esteemed in France, and is considered cheap food from the nourishment afforded by the haricots, which can be purchased at sixpence per quart.
Shoulder and loin may be dressed in the same way.
320. Shoulder of Mutton is best if well hung; the spit should be run in at the flap and brought out at the knuckle; this should not be basted in roasting, but merely rubbed with a little butter; it is served occasionally with sauces, No. 158. This is sometimes boiled with onion sauce; or, as it is called, smothered in onions. It is also good by having the bone extracted, and its place filled with veal stuffing, and then put it on a trivet, in a baking-dish, with sliced potatoes under, and baked more or less in proportion to its size; one of six pounds will take one hour and a half—or as follows:
Put a small shoulder of mutton in a deep sauté-pan or baking-dish, season with a little pepper and salt, cover over with thin slices of fat bacon, then put in ten potatoes peeled and quartered, and the same quantity of apples, with half a pint of water, place in a moderate oven and bake for two hours, dress upon your dish, with the potatoes and apples round, skim all the fat from the gravy, which pour over and serve; it requires a little oil or butter over before baking.
321. Shoulder of Mutton, Provincial Fashion.—Roast a fine shoulder of mutton; whilst roasting mince ten large onions very fine, put them into a stewpan, with two tablespoonfuls of salad-oil, pass them ten minutes over a good fire, keeping it stirred, then add a tablespoonful of flour, stir well in, and a pint of milk, season with a little pepper, salt, and sugar; when the onions are quite tender and the sauce rather thick, stir in the yolks of two eggs and take it off the fire; when the shoulder is done, spread the onions over the top, egg over, cover with bread-crumbs, put in the oven ten minutes, and salamander a light brown color, dress upon your dish, put the gravy from it in your stewpan, with a pat of butter, with which you have mixed a little flour, boil up, add a little scraped garlic, pour round the shoulder, which serve. The shoulder may also be dressed in the housewife’s method, as directed for the leg. A little browning may be added.
322. Loin of Mutton.—Take off the skin, separate the joints with a chopper; if a large size, cut the chine-bone with a saw, so as to allow it to be carved in smaller pieces, run a lark-spit from one extremity to the other, and affix it to a larger spit, and roast it like the haunch. A loin weighing six pounds will take one hour to roast.