Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Mutton or Lamb Cutlets a la Dubois. — Cut the cutlets from the best end of the neck, trim them, and make threequarters of a pint of broth from the trimmings, with half an ounce of glaze, vegetables, and seasoning. Strain, and let it get cold. Remove all fat, thicken it gradually with a roux of three-quarters of an ounce of butter and the same of flour, adding the peelings and trimmings of a quarter of a pound of mushrooms. Bring to the boil, simmer for fifteen minutes, and then strain the sauce from the mushrooms, passing it through a hair sieve. Put it back in the stewpan over a brisk fire and reduce the sauce by fast boiling and continual stirring till it coats the spoon like butter. Now stir in three tablespoonfuls of chopped mushrooms which have been separately lightly fried in butter, and empty the sauce into a bowl to cool. For the cutlets : Melt an ounce and a half of butter in a stewpan over a good fire, and lay the cutlets in it. Cook them on one side only, then take them out and set them, the cooked side uppermost, on a dish under a weight. When the cutlets are cold coat the cooked sides with the thick sauce, using the palette knife, and making the sauce into a dome shape. Now put the cutlets back in the saute-pan, which should have been left with the butter in it, and put it in the oven. Baste the cutlets with broth and complete the cooking, thus glazing the coating of sauce. It will require from eight to ten minutes. Have ready a hollow croustade of puff pastry, and dish the cutlets round it, the coated sides outwards. Fill the croustade with mushroom puree, or any nice vegetable puree. Or fill it with a vegetable Ragout made like the Gendarme garnish in the following recipe. Noisettes of Mutton a la Gendarme. — Cut the noisettes from the meaty part of a loin of mutton. They should be three-quarters of an inch thick and two and a half inches across. Grill them as fillets of beef are grilled. For the garnish : Trim two dozen pieces each of young potatoes, carrots, and turnips two inches long and as thick as a drawing pencil, pointing the ends of each piece. Blanch them for five minutes in boiling water, then drain them, and put them into a stew-pan with two ounces of butter, putting the carrots in first, then the potatoes, and lastly the turnips. Cook the vegetables over a low fire, seasoning writh salt, pepper, and a dust of sugar. When tender, drain them and serve in the centre of the dish of noisettes , with a tablespoonful of the melted glaze poured over them. Leg of Lamb a la Bercy. — Shorten the shank bone by sawing it off close to the end of the meat. Choose a good sized stewpan, large enough to hold the leg easily. Line it with pieces of fat bacon or pieces of good beef dripping, laying over it three ounces each of onion, carrot, and turnip, an ounce of celery, and a sprig of parsley, all cut small, and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Lay the leg of lamb upon this bed, set the pan upon a moderate fire, and when the fat is melted turn the leg about for a few minutes to “ seize ” the meat and slightly colour it. Now moisten with warm broth just level with the top of the meat, bring to the boil, skimming off the scum, then close the pan, put it into a moderate oven, or over a low fire, to cook as slowly as possible for two hours. By that time the broth will be reduced more than half.