Part 82 (1/2)

713. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of any joint of cold mutton, 2 onions, 1/4 lb. of b.u.t.ter, 1 dessertspoonful of curry powder, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, salt to taste, 1/4 pint of stock or water.

_Mode_.--Slice the onions in thin rings, and put them into a stewpan with the b.u.t.ter, and fry of a light brown; stir in the curry powder, flour, and salt, and mix all well together. Cut the meat into nice thin slices (if there is not sufficient to do this, it may be minced), and add it to the other ingredients; when well browned, add the stock or gravy, and stew gently for about 1/2 hour. Serve in a dish with a border of boiled rice, the same as for other curries.

_Time_.--1/2 hour.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the meat, 6d.

_Seasonable_ in winter.

CUTLETS OF COLD MUTTON (Cold Meat Cookery).

714. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of cold loin or neck of mutton, 1 egg, bread crumbs, brown gravy (No. 436), or tomato sauce (No. 529).

_Mode_.--Cut the remains of cold loin or neck of mutton into cutlets, trim them, and take away a portion of the fat, should there be too much; dip them in beaten egg, and sprinkle with bread crumbs, and fry them a nice brown in hot dripping. Arrange them on a dish, and pour round them either a good gravy or hot tomato sauce.

_Time_.--About 7 minutes.

_Seasonable_.--Tomatoes to be had most reasonably in September and October.

DORMERS.

715. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 lb. of cold mutton, 2 oz. of beef suet, pepper and salt to taste, 3 oz. of boiled rice, 1 egg, bread crumbs, made gravy.

_Mode_.--Chop the meat, suet, and rice finely; mix well together, and add a high seasoning of pepper and salt, and roll into sausages; cover them with egg and bread crumbs, and fry in hot dripping of a nice brown.

Serve in a dish with made gravy poured round them, and a little in a tureen.

_Time_.--1/2 hour to fry the sausages.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the meat, 6d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

THE GOLDEN FLEECE.--The ancient fable of the Golden Fleece may be thus briefly told:--Phryxus, a son of Athamus, king of Thebes, to escape the persecutions of his stepmother Ino, paid a visit to his friend Aeetes, king of Colchis. A ram, whose fleece was of pure gold, carried the youth through the air in a most obliging manner to the court of his friend. When safe At Colchis, Phryxus offered the ram on the altars of Mars, and pocketed the fleece. The king received him with great kindness, and gave him his daughter Chalciope in marriage; but, some time after, he murdered him in order to obtain possession of the precious fleece. The murder of Phryxus was amply revenged by the Greeks. It gave rise to the famous Argonautic expedition, undertaken by Jason and fifty of the most celebrated heroes of Greece. The Argonauts recovered the fleece by the help of the celebrated sorceress Medea, daughter of Aeetes, who fell desperately in love with the gallant but faithless Jason. In the story of the voyage of the Argo, a substratum of truth probably exists, though overlaid by a ma.s.s of fiction. The ram which carried Phryxus to Colchis is by some supposed to have been the name of the s.h.i.+p in which he embarked. The fleece of gold is thought to represent the immense treasures he bore away from Thebes. The alchemists of the fifteenth century were firmly convinced that the Golden Fleece was a treatise on the trans.m.u.tation of metals, written on sheepskin.

HARICOT MUTTON.

I.

716. INGREDIENTS.--4 lbs. of the middle or best end of the neck of mutton, 3 carrots, 3 turnips, 3 onions, popper and salt to taste, 1 tablespoonful of ketchup or Harvey's sauce.

_Mode_.--Trim off some of the fat, cut the mutton into rather thin chops, and put them into a frying-pan with the fat tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs. Fry of a pale brown, but do not cook them enough for eating. Cut the carrots and turnips into dice, and the onions into slices, and slightly fry them in the same fat that the mutton was browned in, but do not allow them to take any colour. Now lay the mutton at the bottom of a stewpan, then the vegetables, and pour over them just sufficient boiling water to cover the whole. Give one boil, skim well, and then set the pan on the side of the fire to simmer gently until the meat is tender. Skim off every particle of fat, add a seasoning of pepper and salt, and a little ketchup, and serve. This dish is very much better if made the day before it is wanted for table, as the fat can be so much more easily removed when the gravy is cold. This should be particularly attended to, as it is apt to be rather rich and greasy if eaten the same day it is made. It should be served in rather a deep dish.

_Time_.--2-1/2 hours to simmer gently.

_Average cost_, for this quant.i.ty, 3s.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.