Part 84 (2/2)
_Seasonable_ at any time.
_Note_.--This joint will be found very nice if rolled and stuffed, as here directed, and plainly roasted. It should be well basted, and served with a good gravy and currant jelly.
BOILED NECK OF MUTTON.
730. INGREDIENTS.--4 lbs. of the middle, or best end of the neck of mutton; a little salt.
_Mode_.--Trim off a portion of the fat, should there be too much, and if it is to look particularly nice, the chine-bone should be sawn down, the ribs stripped halfway down, and the ends of the bones chopped off; this is, however, not necessary. Put the meat into sufficient _boiling_ water to cover it; when it boils, add a little salt and remove all the sc.u.m.
Draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and let the water get so cool that the finger may be borne in it; then simmer very _slowly_ and gently until the meat is done, which will be in about 1-1/2 hour, or rather more, reckoning from the time that it begins to simmer.
Serve with turnips and caper sauce, No. 382, and pour a little of it over the meat. The turnips should be boiled with the mutton; and, when at hand, a few carrots will also be found an improvement. These, however, if very large and thick, must be cut into long thinnish pieces, or they will not be sufficiently done by the time the mutton is ready.
Garnish the dish with carrots and turnips placed alternately round the mutton.
_Time_.--4 lbs. of the neck of mutton, about 1-1/2 hour.
_Average cost_, 8-1/2 d. per lb.
_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
THE POETS ON SHEEP.--The keeping of flocks seems to have been the first employment of mankind; and the most ancient sort of poetry was probably pastoral. The poem known as the Pastoral gives a picture of the life of the simple shepherds of the golden age, who are supposed to have beguiled their time in singing. In all pastorals, repeated allusions are made to the ”fleecy flocks,” the ”milk-white lambs,” and ”the tender ewes;”
indeed, the sheep occupy a position in these poems inferior only to that of the shepherds who tend them. The ”nibbling sheep” has ever been a favourite of the poets, and has supplied them with figures and similes without end. Shakspere frequently compares men to sheep. When Gloster rudely drives the lieutenant from the side of Henry VI., the poor king thus touchingly speaks of his helplessness;--
”So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf: So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece, And next his throat, unto the butcher's knife.”
In the ”Two Gentlemen of Verona,” we meet with the following humorous comparison:--
”_Proteus_. The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd, the shepherd for food follows not the sheep: thou for wages followest thy master, thy master for wages follows not thee; therefore, thou art a sheep.
”_Speed_. Such another proof will make me cry _baa_.”
The descriptive poets give us some charming pictures of sheep.
Every one is familiar with the sheep-shearing scene in Thomson's ”Seasons:”--
”Heavy and dripping, to the breezy brow Slow move the harmless race; where, as they spread Their dwelling treasures to the sunny ray, Inly disturb'd, and wond'ring what this wild Outrageous tumult means, their loud complaints The country fill; and, toss'd from rock to rock, Incessant bleatings run around the hills.”
What an exquisite idea of stillness is conveyed in the oft-quoted line from Gray's ”Elegy:”--
”And drowsy tinklings lull the distant fold.”
From Dyer's quaint poem of ”The Fleece” we could cull a hundred pa.s.sages relating to sheep; but we have already exceeded our s.p.a.ce. We cannot, however, close this brief notice of the allusions that have been made to sheep by our poets, without quoting a couple of verses from Robert Burns's ”Elegy on Poor Mailie,” his only ”pet _yowe_:”--
”Thro' a' the town she troll'd by him; A lang half-mile she could descry him; Wi' kindly bleat, when she did spy him.
<script>