(g) Put upon a silver skewer about 6 in. long with ornamental head, and cook in a dish before the fire with a little bacon. The one imparts flavour to the other; they must be served up together.
(h) Stewed.—Cut them (after carefully skinning them) into halves, or, if large, into quarters, and simmer them gently in rich stock for 2-3 hours at least. The slower they are done the better, as they should be quite tender. Then take as much of the stock as is required for the dish in which they are to be served, thicken it with a little flour, add a little seasoning and a flavouring of mushroom ketchup, a dash of Worcester sauce and a teaspoonful of sugar, and let it just boil up. Then add a large wineglass of claret, and pour over the kidneys. There should be plenty of gravy, but not so much that the kidneys swim in it. If only a small dish is required, a wall of mashed potatoes may be put round the dish, with the kidneys in the middle; otherwise a great many are required to make it look nice. A garnish of fried sippets is an improvement.
(i) Toast.—Chop very fine some kidneys and a little of the surrounding fat; season with salt, pepper, a little cayenne pepper, and grated lemon peel; warm this mixture with a little butter, then place on thin slices of toast, first beating up and adding one egg to the kidneys, place the toast in a dish with a little butter; brown them in an oven, and serve very hot. This is a very appetising little dish.
Kromeskies.—Cut some pieces of fat bacon as thinly as possible, in size 1½ in. by 2 in., lay them flat, place a small piece of mince on each; roll up tightly, taking care that the mince does not escape; put aside in a cold place, dip each in batter, and fry a light brown colour. Serve with fried parsley.
Lamb Pie (Agneau).—Cut your lamb in thin slices, and season it with cloves, mace, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and a little small pepper, and lay it in your coffin (pie crust), and lay on it and between it a few raisins of the sun stoned, and a few currants, and a few skirret roots boiled and blanched, and the marrow of 2 or 3 bones, candied lemon, dates, and dried citron, preserved barberries, and candied lettuce, and sliced lemon, and some butter. Close your pie, and when it is baked let the caudle be white wine verjuice and sugar beaten up with the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs, and set it on the fire, and keep stirring it till it begins to be thick; then put it in the pie, shake it together, scrape on plenty of sugar, and send it up.
Lambs’ Tails.—Trim the tails. Place some slices of bacon in a saucepan, over them a layer of onions and carrots sliced, then the tails; then a clove of garlic, a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, and some parsley tied up in a bundle, salt to taste, a few cloves, and some whole pepper. Place the saucepan over the fire for 10 minutes, then add 1 glass sherry and about 1 pint stock or water, and let the whole simmer gently for 2-3 hours. Take out the tails, strain the liquor; let it reduce almost to a glaze, put back the tails in it to get warm, and serve with a purée of spinach or sorrel.
Leg of Mutton. (a) Boiled.—Cut the leg of mutton cleanly across the meat and bone from the shank down, with as much meat as will suffice for the meal. Rub it and flour it all over, but specially the cut meat surface. Plunge it at once into a saucepan or pot of boiling water to cover it, together with some salt, a few grains of pepper, and a bunch of parsley. Draw away from the fire, and allow the water to cool almost completely; then put once more on the fire, and cook slowly according to weight, till quite done to taste. Serve with parsley, onions, caper, sorrel, or any sauce preferred; garnish with meat or potato rissoles. The flour and the plunging into boiling water will prevent the juice from escaping, and the meat will cut just as finely as from a whole boiled leg of mutton.
(b) Braised.—Take a small leg of mutton, trim it close of all superfluous fat, saw the shank bone short off, make an incision where it joins the other bone, bend it in, and tie up the leg with string. Line the bottom of a braising pan, just large enough to hold all the ingredients, with slices of fat bacon; place the leg on this, add 2 onions stuck with 6 cloves, 3 carrots cut in pieces, a bundle of sweet herbs, whole pepper and salt to taste; pack all these things round the leg, put 2 slices bacon on the top of all, and set the pan with the lid on the fire for about 15 minutes. Be careful it does not catch, then pour in enough common cold stock or water just to cover over the contents, put a piece of buttered paper on the top, then the lid, and, having placed some hot embers on that, set the whole to braise on a gentle fire for about 3½ hours. Strain off a small portion of the liquor, free it from fat, reduce it on the fire not quite to a glaze, place the leg in the dish, pour the reduced liquor over it, and round it a stiff purée of dried haricot beans.
(c) Roast.—For a 7 o’clock dinner, hang your mutton before the fire, but 3 yd. distance from it, by 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Wind up the jack, and let it just be under the influence of the fire, but no nearer, for 1 hour; then edge it a little nearer, until it is time really to begin roasting it, and then pay it constant attention until it goes to table. Dredge it well, so as to froth it, and preserve the juices, and baste it incessantly. Continue to dredge and baste it, until within 10 minutes of serving; then roll a piece of butter the size of a walnut in flour, and make it into a rich paste, and pick little bits off and stick them all over the leg of mutton, and let them melt over it for 10 minutes. Do not touch it with the basting ladle again. Then dish it on a really hot dish, not one that has been so hastily heated that it as quickly cools, but let dish and plates be heated well through. Never pour the gravy over the joint; if you do, you wash off all the brown and frothy appearance and taste that proper care in roasting should and does produce.
Loin. (a) Braised.—Bone and trim off from a loin of mutton all superfluous fat, lard the thin part, and roll it round; lay the joint in a stewpan over some slices of fat bacon, add whole pepper and salt to taste, an onion stuck with cloves, 2 sliced carrots, and a bunch of sweet herbs; moisten with stock, and let it braise gently for an hour or so. When done, strain the gravy, free it from fat, pour it over the joint in the dish, and serve garnished with vegetables plainly boiled.