Various Preparations of Mutton.

1344—CASSOULET

(1) Set one quart of haricot beans to cook with two quarts of water, one-third oz. of salt, one carrot, one onion stuck with a clove, one faggot, six garlic cloves, and two-thirds lb. of fresh pork rind, _blanched_ and strung together. Boil; skim; cover, and cook gently for one hour. At the end of this time, add two-thirds lb. of breast of pork, and a sausage with garlic, of the same weight as the pork. Salt the beans very moderately, allowing for the reduction which they have ultimately to undergo.

Complete the cooking of the whole gently.

(2) Fry gently in lard one lb. of shoulder, and the same weight of breast, of mutton; both cut into pieces one and one-half oz. in weight.

This done, drain away half the grease; add two chopped onions and two crushed cloves of garlic, and fry again until the onions have acquired a slight colour. Now pour in one-sixth pint of good tomato purée; moisten the meat, enough to cover, with the cooking-liquor of haricot beans, and cook gently in the oven for one and one-half hours at least.

(3) Garnish the bottom and sides of some _cocottes_ or deep dishes with bacon rind; fill these with alternate layers of the pieces of mutton, the beans, the bacon cut into dice, and the sausage cut into roundels.

Sprinkle the surface with raspings, and set the _gratin_ to form in a moderate oven for one hour; taking care to baste from time to time with some reserved haricot-beans cooking-liquor.

1345—CURRIE A L’INDIENNE

Cut two lbs. of lean mutton into cubes of one and one-third in. side, and fry these in three oz. of lard, with one chopped onion, salt, and a pinch of powdered curry. When the meat is frizzled and the onions begin to colour, sprinkle with one and one-third oz. of flour; cook the latter a while; moisten with one and one-third pints of water or stock; boil, stirring the while, so as to dissolve the roux, and then cook gently in the oven for one and one-half hours. When about to serve, clear of all grease and dish in a timbale.

Send a timbale of rice à l’Indienne separately.

1346—DAUBE A L’AVIGNONNAISE

Bone a medium-sized leg of mutton, and cut the meat into squares, three oz. in weight. Lard each square with a large, seasoned strip of bacon, inserted with the grain of the meat. Put the pieces into a _daubière_ with a sliced half-carrot and onion, three cloves of garlic, a little thyme, bay, and parsley stalks. Moisten with one and one-third pints of good, red wine and four tablespoonfuls of oil, and _marinade_ in the cool for two hours.

Prepare:—(1) Three chopped onions mixed with two crushed garlic cloves; (2) one-half lb. of lean bacon, cut into dice and _blanched_; (3) one-half lb. of fresh, bacon rind, _blanched_ and cut into squares of one in. side; (4) a large bunch of parsley, containing a small piece of dry, orange peel. Garnish the bottom and sides of a _daubière_ with thin slices of bacon; set the pieces of mutton in layers inside, and alternate them with layers of onion, bacon and bacon rind; sprinkle a pinch of powdered thyme and bay on each layer of meat. Put the faggot in the middle.

Moisten with the _marinade_, strained through a sieve, and one-fifth pint of brown stock; cover with slices of bacon; close the _daubière_, and seal down the lid by means of a thread of soft paste, in order that the steam may be concentrated inside.

Boil on the side of the stove; put the _daubière_ in an oven of regular heat (a baker’s oven if possible) that the cooking process may be gentle and steady, and cook for five hours.

When about to serve, uncover the _daubière_; remove the overlying slices of bacon; clear of grease; remove the faggot, and dish the _daubière_ on a napkin.

N.B.—According to the household method, the “Daube” is served in the _daubière_ itself; but, subject to the demands of the service and in order that the preparation may keep its bucolic character, it may be served in small earthenware utensils.

1347—DAUBE FROIDE

Cold Daube constitutes an excellent luncheon dish. All that is needed is to put what is left into a small _daubière_, where, as a result of the binding properties of the pork rinds, it will set in a mass.

When about to serve, turn out on a round dish; surround with very light, chopped jelly; and carve into very thin slices.

1348—ÉMINCÉS ET HACHIS

An unalterable principle governs the preparation of émincés and hashes, which is that the meats constituting these dishes should never boil if it be desired that they be not hard.

They should, therefore, only be heated in their accompanying garnish or sauce, and in the case of émincés, cut as finely as possible.

For the various recipes under this head, see the Chapter on Beef. (Nos. 1175, 1178 and 1179.)

1349—HARICOT DE MOUTON

Heat three oz. of lard in a sautépan. Put therein one-half lb. of lean bacon, cut into dice and _blanched_, and twenty small onions. When the bacon is frizzled and the onions have acquired a good colour, drain both on a dish. In the same fat, fry three lbs. of breast, neck and shoulder of mutton, all three being cut into pieces weighing about three oz. Keep the meat in the fat until each piece of it has acquired a frizzled coat.

Drain away half of the grease; add three crushed cloves of garlic; dust with two tablespoonfuls of flour, and cook the latter, stirring the while.

Moisten with one quart of water; season with one-third oz. of salt and a pinch of pepper; boil and stir; add a faggot, and cook in the oven for thirty minutes.

This done, transfer the pieces to another saucepan; add the bacon and the onions and a quart of half-cooked haricot beans; strain the sauce over the whole, and complete the cooking in the oven for one hour.

Dish in a timbale or in small _cocottes_.

1350—IRISH STEW

Cut two lbs. of boned breast and shoulder of mutton into pieces, as above.

Slice two lbs. of potatoes and chop four medium-sized onions.

Take a saucepan just large enough to hold these ingredients and the moistening; line the bottom of the utensil with a layer of the pieces of meat, and season the latter with salt and pepper. Upon the meat spread a litter of sliced potatoes and chopped onions; repeat the operation, again and again, until all the ingredients are used up, and remember to place a faggot in the middle.

Moisten with one and one-third pint of water, and cook gently in the oven for one and one-half hours. The potatoes in this preparation answer the double purpose of garnish and leason.

Dish in a timbale and serve boiling.

1351—MOUSSAKA

(1) Cut six fine egg-plants into halves, lengthwise; _cisel_ the pulp somewhat deeply with the point of a small knife, and fry them until their pulp may be easily removed. Do this with a spoon, and put the pulp aside with the skins of the egg-plants.

(2) Peel two fair-sized egg-plants; cut them into roundels one-third in. thick; season them, dredge them; fry them in oil, and put them aside.

(3) Chop up the pulp withdrawn from the egg-plants, and put it into a basin with one and one-half lbs. of very lean, cooked mutton, chopped or cut into very small dice; two tablespoonfuls of very finely-chopped onion, fried in butter; a pinch of parsley; a piece of crushed garlic as large as a pea; three oz. of roughly-chopped raw mushrooms, fried in butter; two eggs; two tablespoonfuls of cold Espagnole sauce; one tablespoonful of tomato purée; a pinch of salt, and another of pepper. Mix the whole well.

(4) Butter a low-bordered quart Charlotte mould; line it all over with the egg-plant skins, and lay these black side uppermost. Garnish the bottom of the mould with a layer of mincemeat, one in. thick; on this layer place a few fried roundels of egg-plant, and continue thus with alternate layers of mince and egg-plant. Cover the last layer of mince-meat with the remains of the egg-plant skins, and cook in a _bain-marie_ for one hour.

When taking the mould out of the oven, let it stand for five minutes in order that the ingredients may settle; turn out on a round dish, and besprinkle the surface of the Moussaka with chopped parsley.

1352—MUTTON PUDDING

Follow the directions given under beefsteak pudding (No. 1170) exactly. The preparation is just the same, but for the substitution of mutton for the beef.

1353—NAVARIN PRINTANIER

Heat four oz. of clarified fat in a sautépan, and put into it four lbs. of breast, neck and shoulder of mutton; all three cut into pieces weighing two and one-half oz. Fry over a very brisk fire; season with one-third oz. of salt, a pinch of ground pepper, and another of sugar.

The sugar settles slowly on the bottom of the sautépan, where it turns to caramel; it is then dissolved by the moistening, and thus gives the sauce the required colour.

When the meat is well fried, remove almost all the fat; sprinkle with one and one-half oz. of flour; cook the latter for a few minutes, and moisten with one and one-half quarts of water or stock.

Boil, stirring the while, and add two-thirds lb. of fresh _concassed_ tomatoes or one-fifth pint of tomato purée; one crushed clove of garlic, and a large faggot. Cover and cook in the oven for one hour.

This done, transfer the pieces of mutton, one by one, to another saucepan with twenty small, new onions; twenty pieces of new trimmed carrots; twenty pieces of new turnips, cut to the shape of long olives and tossed with butter in a frying-pan; twenty small, new potatoes, cut into two, and trimmed, or whole; one-sixth pint of fresh peas, and an equal quantity of raw French beans, cut into lozenges. Strain the sauce over the whole; set to boil, and continue cooking slowly in the oven for one hour; taking care from time to time to baste the overlying vegetables with sauce.

Dish in a timbale and serve very hot.

N.B.—When put into the sauce, the vegetables cook much less quickly than in boiling water. In the Navarin, moreover, they are cooked by means of gradual penetration; thus, by slackening the cooking speed of the Navarin, they are cooked to the required extent.

1354—PILAW DE MOUTON A LA TURQUE

Mutton Pilaff is, in fact, nothing but a Navarin in which the tomatoes dominate the other ingredients; it is flavoured with ginger or saffron, according to circumstances, and the usual vegetables are replaced by rice. Prepared in this way, it does not lend itself very well to the exigencies of a restaurant service.

More often, therefore, it is treated like curried mutton; but, instead of serving it with rice à l’Indienne, it is dished in the midst of a pilaff-rice border. Sometimes, too, the rice is served separately, after the manner of a curry dish.