Cookery and housekeeping

The under-side of the leg of mutton is the part where the incision is to be made. Begin at the knuckle end, which is to be kept in or replaced, and go on to the joint, cutting the bone out with as little meat as possible adhering to it. When this is done, cut off from the bones any flesh that may be on them, and use it with the stuffing. The forcemeat or stuffing, which is to fill up the place where the bone was, is to be made of ham or bacon, onion, parsley, mushrooms, and either veal or rabbit, partly chopped, partly pounded ; season with white pepper and salt. Do not put in too much stuffing. Sew up the skin with a needle and coarse linen thread, and give the leg a long straight shape like a bolster. Roast with a cradle spit, or bake ; baste frequently ; send up a sauce, either puree of Portugal onions, or tomatoes. Braised Leg of Mutton. Cut out as much of the large bone as can be done without disturbing the shape of the leg, and remove the knuckle bone. Fill up the space left by the removal of the large bone with a forcemeat well seasoned with onion, and tie firmly together. Line a stewpan with slices of bacon, onions, carrots, celery and fine herbs, put in a fresh pig's foot or calf's foot cut up, place the leg in the stewpan with two tumblers of broth or stock ; when it is near boiling, place hot coals on the hollow cover of the stewpan, and let it cook by slow degrees for six hours ; take out the leg of mutton, keep warm whilst you prepare the sauce by removing the fat and straining through a sieve. This is a delicious dish hot, and is good cold, but it will not bear warming up. Roast Mutton à la Venaison. (American Recipe.) A Christmas saddle of mutton is very fine prepared as follows : Wash it well, inside and out, with vinegar. Do not wipe it, but hang it up to dry in a cool cellar. When the vinegar has dried off, throw a clean cloth over it, to keep out the dust. On the next day but one, take down the meat and sponge it over again with vinegar ; then put it back in its place in the cellar. Repeat this process three times a week for a fortnight, keeping the meat hung in a cold place, and covered, except while you are washing it. When you are ready to cook it, wipe it with a dry cloth, but do not wash it. Roast, basting for the first hour with butter and water and afterwards with the gravy. A large saddle of mutton will require four hours to roast. When it is done, remove to a dish, and cover to keep it hot. Skim the gravy, and add half a teacupful of walnut, mushroom, or tomato catsup, a glass of Madeira wine, and a tablespoonful of browned flour. Boil up once, and send to table in a sauce-boat. Always have red-currant or some other jelly handed with roast mutton. If properly cooked, a saddle of mutton, prepared in accordance with these directions, will strongly resemble venison in taste. Neck of Mutton and Rice. Take off the scrag end and trim the neck very neatly ; remove the greater part of the fat. The scrag and trimmings go to the stock-pot ; the fat to the clarifying pot. Wash \ lb. of rice ; slice up two onions, and cut into squares of an inch each way \ lb. of streaky bacon. Put the mutton and these accessories into a [illustration: COPPER STEWPAN]