The shoulder,
The saddle, or chine, and
The loin and haunch (a leg and part of the loin).
The leg is best boiled, unless the mutton is young and very tender.
To roast—wash the meat well, and dry with a clean cloth. Let your
fire be clear and strong; put the meat on with a little water in the
dripping-pan. If you think well of the plan (and I do), let there be a
cupful of boiling water dashed over the meat when it is first put down
to roast, and left to trickle into the pan. I have elsewhere explained
the advantages of the method. Allow, in roasting, about twelve minutes
per pound, if the fire is good. Baste often—at first with salt and
water, afterward with the gravy. If it is in danger of browning too
fast, cover with a large sheet of white paper. Roast lamb in the same
manner, but not so long. Skim the gravy well, and thicken very slightly
with browned flour. Serve with currant jelly.
ROAST MUTTON _à la Venison_.
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 off
with a dry cloth, but do not wash it. Roast—basting for the first hour
with butter and water; afterward with the gravy, and keeping the meat
covered with a large tin pan for two hours. 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 send around currant or some other tart jelly with
roast mutton. If properly cooked, a saddle of mutton, prepared in
accordance with these directions, will strongly resemble venison in
taste. An old Virginia gentleman whom I used to know, always hung up
the finest saddle his plantation could furnish _six weeks_ before
Christmas, and had it sponged off with vinegar every other day, until
the morning of the important 25th; and the excellence of his mutton
was the talk of the neighborhood. It can certainly be kept a fortnight
anywhere at that season.