Roast Leg of Mutton
8 personsIngredients
Directions
Prepare the leg
Hang the leg of mutton for as long as it will keep.
Flour the leg and put it in a cool airy place for a few days, if weather permits.
Wash off the flour, wipe it very dry, and cut off the shank-bone.
Roast
Put the leg down to a brisk clear fire.
Dredge it with flour.
Keep continually basting the whole time it is cooking.
About 20 minutes before serving, draw it near the fire to get nicely brown.
Sprinkle a little salt over it.
Make the gravy and serve
Dish the meat.
Pour off the dripping.
Add some boiling water slightly salted.
Strain it over the joint.
Serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Mutton leg (in the method)
- Provides the meat that is roasted, with its own fat supplying flavour and juices during cooking.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms a dry coating on the surface that helps the outside brown and crisp during roasting.
The step that matters
Draw the leg near the fire about 20 minutes before serving. Moving the joint closer to the fire late in cooking drives surface browning through the Maillard reaction. Too early or too long dries the outside and can scorch it before the inside is cooked through.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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