Modern cookery for private families by Eliza Acton

being omitted or not, according to the taste. Serve good mint sauce, and a fresh salad with this roast. A leg, shoulder, or loin of lamb should be cooked by the same directions as the quarter, a difference only being made in the time allowed for each. Fore quarter of lamb, 1-3/4 to 2 hours. Leg, 1-1/2 hour (less if _very_ small); shoulder, 1 to 1-1/4 hour. _Obs._—The time will vary a little, of course, from the difference in the weather, and in the strength of the fire. Lamb should always be well roasted. SADDLE OF LAMB. This is an exceedingly nice joint for a small party. It should be roasted at a brisk fire, and kept constantly basted with its own dripping: it will require from an hour and three quarters to two hours roasting. Send it to table with mint sauce, brown cucumber sauce, and a salad. 1-3/4 to 2 hours. _Obs._—The following will be found an excellent receipt for mint sauce:—With three heaped tablespoonsful of finely-chopped young mint, mix two of pounded and sifted sugar, and six of the best vinegar: stir it until the sugar is dissolved. ROAST LOIN OF LAMB. Place it at a moderate distance from a clear fire, baste it frequently, froth it when nearly done, and serve it with the same sauces as the preceding joints. A loin of lamb may be boiled and sent to table with white cucumber, mushroom, common white sauce, or parsley and butter. 1 to 1-1/4 hour. STEWED LEG OF LAMB WITH WHITE SAUCE. (ENTRÉE.)[81] Footnote 81: This may be served as a _remove_ in a small unceremonious dinner. Choose a small plump leg of lamb, not much exceeding five pounds in weight; put it into a vessel nearly of its size, with a few trimmings or a bone or two of undressed veal if at hand; cover it with warm water, bring it slowly to a boil, clear off the scum with great care when it is first thrown to the surface, and when it has all been skimmed off, add a faggot of thyme and parsley, and two carrots of moderate size. Let the lamb _simmer_ only, but without ceasing, for an hour and a quarter; serve it covered with _béchamel_, or rich English white sauce, and send a boiled tongue to table with it, and some of the sauce in a tureen. 1-1/4 hour. LOIN OF LAMB STEWED IN BUTTER. (ENTRÉE.) Wash the joint, and wipe it very dry; skewer down the flap, and lay it into a close-shutting and thick stewpan or saucepan, in which three ounces of good butter have been just dissolved, but not allowed to boil; let it simmer slowly over a very gentle fire for two hours and a quarter, and turn it when it is rather more than half done. Lift it out, skim and pour the gravy over it; send asparagus, cucumber, or _soubise_ sauce to table with it; or brown gravy, mint sauce, and a salad. 2-1/4 hours. LAMB OR MUTTON CUTLETS, WITH SOUBISE SAUCE. (ENTRÉE.) The best end of two necks of either will be required for a handsome dish. Cut them thin with one bone to each; trim off the fat and all the skin, scrape the bones very clean that they may look white, and season the cutlets with salt and white pepper; brush them with egg, dip them into very fine bread-crumbs, then into clarified butter, and again into the bread-crumbs, which should be flattened evenly upon them, and broil them over a very clear and brisk fire, or fry them in a little good butter of a fine clear brown; press them in two sheets of white blotting paper to extract the grease, and dish them in a circle, and pour into the centre a _soubise_ sauce, or a _purée_ of cucumbers. Brown cucumber sauce or a rich gravy, may be substituted for either of these in serving a quite simple dinner. Cutlets of the loin may be dressed in the same way after being dipped into crumbs of bread mixed with a full seasoning of minced herbs, and with a small quantity of eschalot when its flavour is liked. The small flat bone at the end of the cutlets should be taken off, to give them a good appearance. LAMB CUTLETS IN THEIR OWN GRAVY. Follow exactly the receipt for mutton cutlets dressed in the same way, but allow for those of lamb fifteen or twenty minutes less of time, and an additional spoonful of liquid. CUTLETS OF COLD LAMB. See the receipt for Cutlets of Cold Mutton, page 243. ------------------------------------------------------------------------