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Boiled Leg of Mutton

A leg of mutton boiled slowly with salt, served with carrots, mashed turnips, and caper sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Boiled Leg of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim the shank-bone and knuckle of the mutton, then wash and wipe it clean.

  2. Plunge the mutton into enough boiling water to cover it.

Simmer

  1. Once it boils, move the saucepan to the side of the fire until the water cools enough to touch.

  2. Return the saucepan near the fire to let the water gently simmer, ensuring it does not boil fast.

  3. Skim the surface, add a little salt, and simmer for about 2.5 hours until the mutton is cooked.

Serve

  1. Serve with boiled carrots and mashed turnips, and provide caper sauce on the side.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Mutton leg
Lean meat that becomes tender and succulent through long, gentle simmering.

The step that matters

Keeping the water at a gentle simmer. If the water boils hard, the outer meat toughens and breaks apart before the centre cooks through. A slow, steady simmer cooks the meat evenly and keeps it tender.

“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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