 CHAPTER XIV. General Observations on the Sheep and Lamb 6.78. Of all the wild or domesticated animals, the sheep is, without exception, the most useful to man as a food, and the most necessary to his health and comfort, for it not only supplies him with the lightest and most nutritious of meats, but in the absence of the cow, its udder yields him milk, cream, and a sound, though inferior, cheese. While from its fat he obtains light, and from its fleece broadcloth, cursimere, blankets, gloves, and hose. Its bones, when burnt, make an animal charcoal, ivory black, to polish his boots, and, when powdered, a manure for the cultivation of his wheat. The skin, either split or whole, is made into a mat for his carriage, a housing for his horse, or a lining for his hat, and many other useful purposes besides being extensively employed in the manufacture of parchment. And finally, when oppressed by care and sorrow, the harmonious strings that carry such soothing contentment to the heart are elicited from the musical strings, prepared almost exclusively from the intestines of the sheep. 679. This valuable animal, of which England is estimated to maintain an average of 32 million, belongs to the class already indicated under the ox, the mammalia, to the order of ruminacea, or cud-shoeing animal, to the tribe of caprede, or horned quadrupeds, and the genus ovus, or the sheep. The sheep may be either with or without horns. When present, however, they have always this peculiarity, that they spring from a triangular base, or spiral in form and lateral at the side of the head, in situation. The fleece of the sheep is of two sorts, either short and harsh, or soft and woolly. The wool always preponderating an exact ratio to the care, attention, and amount of domestication bestowed on the animal. The generic peculiarities of the sheep are the triangular and spiral form of the horns, always larger in the male when present, but absent in the most cultivated species, having sinuses at the base of all the toes of the four feet with two rudimentary hooves on the four legs, two inguinal teats to the udder, with a short tail in the wild breed, but of varying length in the domesticated, have no incisor teeth in the upper jaw, but in their place a hard elastic cushion along the margin of the gum, on which the animal nips and breaks the herbage on which it feeds. In the lower jaw there are eight incisor teeth and six molars on each side of both jaws, making an all-32 teeth. The fleece consists of two coats, one to keep the animal warm, the other to carry off the water without wetting the skin. The first is of wool, the weight and fineness of which depend on the quality of the pasture and the care bestowed on the flock, the other of hair that pierces the wool and overlaps it, and is in excess an exact proportion to the badness of the keep and inattention with which the animal is treated. 680. The great object of the Grazier is to procure an animal that will yield the greatest pecuniary return in the shortest time, or in other words, soonest convert grass and turnips into good mutton and fine fleece. All sheep will not do this alike. Some, like men, are so restless and irritable that no system of feeding, however good, will develop their frames or make them fat. The system adopted by the breeder to obtain a valuable animal for the butcher is to enlarge the capacity and functions of the digestive organs and reduce those of the head and chest, or the mental and respiratory organs. In the first place, the mind should be tranquilized in those spaces that can never produce animal fiber curtailed and greater room afforded, as in the abdomen for those that can. And as nothing militates against the fattening process so much as restlessness, the chief wish of the Grazier is to find a dull, indolent sheep, one who, instead of frisking himself, leaping his wattles, or even condescending to notice the butting gambles of his silly companions, silently fills his punch with pasture, and then, seeking a shady nook, indolently and luxuriously, chows his cud with closed eyes and blissful satisfaction, only rising when his delicious repest is ended. To proceed silently and without emotion, to repeat the pleasing process of laying in more provender and then returning to his dreamy siesta, to renew the delightful task of rumination. Such animals are said to have a lymphatic temperament and are of so kindly a nature that, on good pasture age, they may be said to grow daily. The Lycashire breed is the best example of this lymphatic and contented animal and the active Orkney, who is half goat in his habits, of the restless and unprofitable. The rich pasture of our midland counties would take years in making the wiry Orkney fat and profitable, while one day's fatigue and climbing rocks after a coarse and scanty herbage would probably cause the actual death of the pampered and short-winded Lycaster. 681. The more removed from the nature of the animal is the food on which it lives, the more difficult is the process of assimilation, and the more complex the chain of digestive organs, for it must be evident to all that the same apparatus that converts flesh into flesh is hardly calculated to transmute grass into flesh as the process of digestion in carnivorous animals is extremely simple, and these organs are found to be remarkably short, seldom exceeding the length of the animal's body. While where digestion is more difficult from the unassimilating nature of the element as in the ruminant order, the alimentary canal, as is the case with the sheep, is 27 times the length of the body. The digestive organ in all ruminant animals consists of four stomachs, or rather a capacious pouch divided by doorways and valves into four compartments, called in their order of position the punch, the reticulum, the omisum, and the abomasum. When the sheep nibbles the grass and is ignorantly supposed to be eating, he is in fact only preparing the raw material of his meal in reality only mowing the pasture, which, as he collects, is swallowed instantly passing into the first receptacle the punch, where it is surrounded by a quantity of warm saliva, in which the herbage undergoes a process of maceration or softening. Till the animal, having filled this compartment, the contents pass through a valve into the second, or smaller bag, the reticulum, where having again filled the punch with the reserve, the sheep lies down and commences that singular process of chewing the cud, or, in other words, masticating the food he has collected. By the operation of a certain set of muscles, a small quantity of this softened food from the reticulum, or second bag, is passed into the mouth, which it now becomes the pleasure of the sheep to grind, under his molar teeth, into a soft, smooth pulp, the operation being further assisted by a flow of saliva, answering the double purpose of increasing the flavor of the element, and promoting the solvency of the mass. Having completely comminuted and blended this mouthful, it is swallowed a second time, and instead of returning to the punch, or reticulum, it passes through another valve into a side cavity, the omisum, where, after a maceration and more saliva for some hours, it glides by the same content. This is the process of digesting the oxen into the fourth pouch, the omisum, an apartment in all respects analogous to the ordinary stomach of animals, and where the process of digestion, begun and carried on in the previous three, is here consummated, and the nutrient principle, by means of the bile, is eliminated from the digested element, such as the process of digestion in sheep and oxen. 682. No other animal, even of the same order, possesses in so remarkable a degree the power of converting pasture into flesh as the Leicestershire sheep. The south, down and cheviot, the next two breeds in quality, are in consequence of the greater vivacity of the animal's nature, not equal to it in that respect, though, in both, the brain and chest are kept subservient to the greater capacity of the organs of digestion. Besides the advantage of increased bulk and finer fleeces, the breeders seeks to obtain an augmented deposit of tissue in those parts of the carcass most esteemed as food, or what are called, in the trade, prime joints. And so far has this been effected that the comparative weight of the hindquarters over the fore has become a test of quality in the breed, the butchers in some markets charging two pence a pound more for that portion of the sheep. Indeed, so superior are the hindquarters of the mutton now regarded that very many of the west end butchers never deal in any other part of the sheep. The difference in the quality of the flesh in various breeds is a well-established fact, not alone in flavor but also in tenderness, and that the nature of the pasture on which the sheep is fed influences the flavor of the meat is equally certain, and shown in the estimation in which those flocks are held which have grazed on the timey heath of bamstead in Sussex. It is also a well-established truth that the larger the frame of the animal, the coarser is the meat, and that small bones are both guarantees for the fineness of the breed and the delicacy of the flesh. The sex too has much to do in determining the quality of the meat. In the males, the lean is closer in fiber, deeper in color, harder in texture, less juicy and freer from fat, than in the female, which is consequently tougher and more difficult of digestion. But probably age and the character of the pastridge on which they are reared has more than any other cause and influence on the quality and tenderness of the meat. 684. The numerous varieties of sheep inhabiting the different regions of the earth have been reduced by couvier to three, or at most four, species. The Ovis Amin, or the Argali, the presumed parent stock of all the rest, the Ovis Tregelephus, the bearded sheep of Africa, the Ovis Musman, the Musman of southern Europe, and the Ovis Montana, the Muflan of America. Though it is believed by many naturalists that this last is so nearly identical with the Indian Argali as to be undeserving a separate place. It is still a controversy to which of these three we are indebted for the many breeds of modern domestication. The Argali, however, by general belief, has been considered as the most probable progenitor of the present varieties. 685. The effects produced by change of climate, accident, and other causes must have been great to accomplish so complete a physical alteration as the primitive Argali must have undergone before the Musman or Muflan of Corsica, the immediate progenitor of all our European breeds, assumed his present appearance. The Argali is about a fifth larger in size than the ordinary English sheep, and being a native of a tropical climb, his fleece is of hair instead of wool, and of a warm reddish brown, approaching to yellow. A thick mane of darker hair, about seven inches long, commences from two long tufts at the angle of the jaws, and running under the throat and neck, descends down the chest, dividing at the fore fork into two parts, one running down the front of each leg, as low as the shank. The horns, unlike the character of the order generally, have a quadrangular base, and, sweeping inwards, terminate in a sharp point. The tail, about seven inches long, ends in a tuft of stiff hairs. From this remarkable muffler-looking beard, the French have given the species the name of Muflan Amanshet. From the primitive stock, eleven varieties have been reared in this country of the domesticated sheep, each supposed by their advocates to possess some one or more special qualities. These eleven, embracing the Shetland, or Orkney, the Dunwold, Blackface, or Heathbreed, the Moorland, or Devonshire, the Cheviot, the Horned, of Norfolk, the Rhyland, South Down, the Merino, the Old Lycaster, and Teeswater, or New Lycaster, have, of late years, been epitomized, and, for all useful and practical purposes, reduced to the following four orders. 686. The South Down, the Lycaster, the Blackface, and the Cheviot. Illustration, South Down Ram, Illustration, South Down U. 687. South Downs. It appears, as far as our investigation can trace the fact, that from the very earliest epic of agricultural history in England, the breezy range of light, chalky hills running through the southwest and south of Sussex in Hampshire, and known as the South Downs, has been famous for a superior race of sheep, and we find the Romans, early established mills, and a cloth factory at Winchester, where they may be said to terminate, which rose to such estimation from the fineness of the wool and texture of the cloth that the produce was kept as only worthy to clothe emperors. From this, it may be inferred, that sheep have always been indigenous to this hilly tract, though boasting so remote a reputation, it is comparatively, within late years, that the improvement and present state of perfection of this breed has been affected. The South Down now ranking for symmetry of shape, constitution, and early maturity, with any stock in the kingdom. The South Down has no horns, is covered with a fine wool from two or three inches long, has a small head, and legs in face of a gray color. It is, however, considered deficient in depth and breadth of chest. A marked peculiarity of this breed is that its hindquarters stand higher than the fore, the quarters weighing from fifteen to eighteen pounds. Illustration Leicester Ram Illustration Leicester U 688 The Leicester It is not till the year 1755 that Mr. Robert Bakewell directed his attention to the improvement of his stock of sheep, and, ultimately, affected that change in the character of his flock which has brought the breed to hold so prominent a place. The Leicester is regarded as the largest example of the improved breeds, very productive, and yielding a good fleece. He has a small head, covered with short white hairs, a clean muzzle, an open countenance, full eye, long thin ear, tapering neck, well arched ribs, and straight back. The meat is indifferent, its flavor not being so good as that of the south down, and there is a very large proportion of fat. Average weight of carcass from ninety to one hundred pounds. Illustration Heath Ram Illustration Heath U 689 Black faced, or Heathbread sheep. This is the most hearty of all our native breeds, and originally came from Ettrick Forest. The face and legs are black, or sometimes mottled. The horns spiral, and on the top of the forehead it has a small round tuft of lighter colored wool than on the face. Has the muzzle and lips of the same light hue, and what shepherds call a mealy mouth. The eye is full of vivacity and fire and well open, the body long, round and firm, and the limbs robust. The wool is thin, coarse and light. Weight of the quarter from ten to sixteen pounds. 690 From the earliest traditions, these hills in the north, like the chalk ridges in the south, have possessed a race of large carcassed sheep, producing a valuable fleece. To these physical advantages they added a sound constitution, remarkable vigor, and capability to endure great privation. Both sexes are destitute of horns, face white, legs long and clean, carries the head erect, has the throat and neck well covered, the ears long and open, and the face animated. The cheviot is a small bone sheep, and well covered with wool to the huff. The only defect in this breed is in a want of depth in the chest. Weight of the quarter from twelve to eighteen pounds. Illustration Romney Marsh Ram Illustration Romney Marsh U 691 Through the Romney Marshes, that wide tract of morass and lowland moor, extending from the wheeled, or ancient forest of Kent, into Sussex, has rather been regarded as a general feeding ground for any kind of sheep to be pastured on. It has yet, from the earliest date, been famous for a breed of animals almost peculiar to the locality, and especially for size, length, thickness, and quantity of wool, and what is called thickness of stocking, and on this account for ages held preeminence over every other breed in the kingdom. So satisfied were the Kentish men with the superiority of their sheep, that they long resisted any crossing in the breed. At length, however, this was affected, and from the old Romney, and new Leicester, a stock was produced that proved, in an imminent degree, the advantage of the cross. And though the breed was actually smarter than the original, it was found that the new stock did not consume so much food. The stocking was increased, they were ready for the market a year sooner, that the fat formed more on the exterior of the carcass, which it was of most advantage to the grazier, rather than as formally in the interior where it went to the butcher as awful. And though the wool was shorter and lighter, it was of better color, finer, and possessive superior felting properties. The Romney Marsh breed is a large animal, deep, close, and compact, with white face and legs, and yields a heavy fleece of good staple quality. The general structure is, however, considered defective, the chest being narrow, and the extremities coarse. Nevertheless, its tendency to fatten and its early maturity are universally admitted. The Romney Marsh, therefore, though not ranking as a first class in respect of perfection and symmetry of breed, is a highly useful, profitable, and generally advantageous variety of the English domestic sheep. 693 Different names have been given to sheep by their breeders according to their age and sex. The male is called a ram, or tupp. After weaning, he is said to be a hog, or hoget, or a lamb hog, tupp hog, or tegg. Later, he is a weather, or weather hog. After the first shearing, a shearing, or dinment, and after each succeeding shearing a two, three, or four shear, ram, tupp, or weather, according to circumstances. The female is called a you, or gimmer lamb, til weaned, when she becomes, according to the Shepherd's nomenclature, a gimmer you, hog, or tegg. After shearing a gimmer, or shearing you, or thieve, and in future a two, three, or four shear you, or thieve. 694 The mode of slaughtering sheep is perhaps as humane and expeditious a process as could be adopted to attain the objects sought. The animal being laid on its side in a sort of concave stool, the butcher, while pressing the body with his knee, transfixes the throat near the angle of the jaw, passing his knife between the windpipe and bones of the neck, thus dividing the jugulars, keratids, and large vessels, the death being very rapid from such a hemorrhage. Illustration Side of mutton showing the several joints. 695 Almost every large city has a peculiar manner of cutting up, or as it is called, dressing the carcass. In London this process is very simple, and as our butchers have found that much skewering back, doubling one part over another, or scoring the intercuticle, or fell, tends to spoil the meat and shorten the time it could otherwise keep, they avoid all such treatments entirely. The carcass, when flayed, which operation is performed while yet warm, the sheep, when hung up, and the head removed, presents the profile shown in our cut, the small numerals indicating the parts or joints into which one half of the animal is cut. After separating the hind from the four quarters with eleven ribs to the latter, the quarters are usually subdivided in the manner shown in the sketch, in which the several joints are defined by the intervening lines and figures. Hind quarter, number one, the leg, two, the loin, the two when cut in one piece being called the saddle. Four quarter, number three, the shoulder, four and five, the neck. Number five being called, for distinction, the scrag, which is generally afterwards separated from four, the lower and better joint. Number six, the breast. The haunch of mutton, so often served at public dinners and special entertainments, comprises all the leg and so much of the loin short of the rib or lap, as is indicated on the upper part of the carcass by a dotted line. Six ninety-six. The gentle and timid disposition of the sheep and its defenseless condition must very early have attached it to man for motives less selfish than either its fleece or its flesh, for it has been proved beyond a doubt that obtuse, as we generally regard it, it is susceptible of a high degree of domesticity, obedience and affection. In many parts of Europe, where the flocks are guided by the shepherd's voice alone, it is no unusual thing for a sheep to quit the herd when called by its name and follow the keeper like a dog. In the mountains of Scotland, when a flock is invaded by a savage dog, the rams have been known to form the herd into a circle, and placing themselves on the outside line keep the enemy at bay, or charging on him in a troop have dispatched him with their horns. Six ninety-seven. The value of the sheep seems to have been early understood by Adam in his fallen state. His skin not only affording him protection for his body, but a covering for his tent, and accordingly, we find Abel entrusted with this portion of his father's stock, for the Bible tells us that Abel was a keeper of sheep. What other animals were domesticated at that time we can only conjecture, or at what exact period the flesh of the sheep was first eaten for food by man is equally, if not uncertain, open to controversy. For though some authorities maintain the contrary, it is but natural to suppose that when Abel brought firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof as a sacrifice, the less dainty portions, and not being oblations, were hardly likely to have been flung away as refuse. Indeed, without supposing Adam and his descendants to have eaten animal food, we cannot reconcile the fact of Jubal Kain, Kain's son, and his family living in tents, as they are reported to have done, knowing that both their own garments and the coverings of the tents were made from the hides and skins of the animals they bred. For the number of sheep and oxen slain for oblations only would not have supplied sufficient material for two such necessary purposes. The opposite opinion is that animal food was not eaten till after the flood, when the Lord renewed his covenant with Noah. From scriptural authority we learn many interesting facts as regards the sheep. The first, that mutton fat was considered the most delicious portion of any meat, and the tail and adjacent parts the most exquisite morsel in the whole body. Consequently, such were regarded as especially fit for the offer of sacrifices. From this fact we may reasonably infer that the animals still so often met with in Palestine and Syria, and known as the fat-tailed sheep, was in use in the days of the patriarchs. Though probably not then of the size and weight it now attains to. A supposition that gains greater strength when it is remembered that the ram Abraham found in the bush when he went to offer up Isaac was a horned animal being entangled in the break by his curved horns, so far proving that it belonged to the tribe of the Caprede, the fat-tailed sheep appertaining to the same family. Lambs. 698. Though the lambing season in this country usually commences in March, under the artificial system so much pursued now to please the appetite of luxury, lambs can be procured at all seasons. When, however, the sheep lambs in midwinter or the inclement sea of the weather would endanger the lives of mother and the young, if exposed to its influences it is customary to rear the lambs within doors and under the shelter of stables or barns, where foddered on soft hay and part-fed on cow's milk, the little creatures thrive rapidly to such it is customary to give the name of house-lam to distinguish it from that reared in the open air or grass-fed. The ewe goes five months with her young about 152 days or close on 22 weeks. The weaning season commences on poor lands, about the end of the third month, but on rich pasture not till the close of the fourth, sometimes longer. 699. From the large proportion of moisture or fluids contained in the tissues of all young animals, the flesh of lamb and veal is much more prone, in close damp weather, to become tainted in spoil, then the flesh of the more mature, drier and closer textured beef and mutton. Among Epicurus the most delicious sorts of lamb are those of the south-down breed, known by their black meat, and of these those which have been exclusively suckled on the milk of the parent you are considered the finest. Next to these, in estimation, are those fed on the milk of several dams, and last of all, though the fattest, the grass-fed lamb. This, however, implies an age much greater than either of the others. 7800. Lamb, in the early part of the season, however reared, is in London, and, indeed, generally sold in quarters, divided with eleven ribs to the four-quarter. But, as the season advances, these are subdivided into two, and the hind-quarter, in the same manner. The first, consisting of the shoulder and the neck and breast, the latter of the leg and the loin, as shown in the cut illustrative of mutton. As lamb, from the juicy nature of its flesh, is especially liable to spoil in unfavorable weather, it should be frequently wiped, so as to remove any moisture that may form on it. 701. In the purchasing of lamb, for the table, there are certain signs by which the experienced judgment is able to form an accurate opinion whether the animal has been lately slaughtered, and whether the joints possess that condition of fiber indicative of good and wholesome meat. The first of these doubts may be resolved satisfactorily by the bright and dilated appearance of the eye. The quality of the four-quarter can always be guaranteed by the blue or healthy readiness of the jugular, or vein of the neck. While the rigidity of the knuckle and the firm, compact feel of the kidney will answer in an equally positive manner for the integrity of the hind-quarter. 702. Mode of cutting up a side of lamb in London. 1. One ribs, two breast, three shoulder, four loin, five leg. 1, 2, 3, 4 quarter. The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton. Recipes Chapter 15 Part 1. Baked Minced Mutton, Cold Meat Cookery. 703. Ingredients. The remains of any joint of cold roast mutton, one or two onions, one bunch of savory herbs, pepper and salt to taste, two blades of pounded mace or nutmeg, two tablespoonfuls of gravy, mashed potatoes. 704. Mode. Mince an onion rather fine and fry it a light brown color. Add the herbs and mutton, both of which should be also finely minced and well mixed. Season with pepper and salt and a little pounded mace or nutmeg, and moisten with the above proportion of gravy. 705. Put a layer of mashed potatoes at the bottom of a dish, then the mutton and then another layer of potatoes, and bake for about half an hour. Time, half an hour. Average cost exclusive of the meat, four pence. Seasonable at any time. Note, if there should be a large quantity of meat, use two onions instead of one. Boiled breast of mutton and capersauce. 704. Ingredients. Breast of mutton, breadcrumbs, two tablespoonfuls of minced savory herbs, put a large proportion of parsley, pepper and salt to taste. Mode. Cut off the superfluous fat, bone it, sprinkle over a layer of breadcrumbs, minced herbs and seasoning, roll and bind it up firmly. Boil gently for two hours, remove the tape and serve with capersauce, number 382, a little of which should be poured over the meat. Time, two hours. Average cost six pence per pound. Sufficient for four or six persons. Seasonable all the year. Boiled leg of mutton, 705. Ingredients. Mutton, water, salt. Mode. A leg of mutton for boiling should not hang too long as it will not look a good color when dressed. Cut off the shank bone, trim the knuckle and wash and wipe it very clean. Plunge it into sufficient boiling water to cover it. Let it boil up, then draw the saucepan to the side of the fire where it should remain till the finger can be born in the water. Then place it sufficiently near the fire that the water may gently simmer and be very careful that it does not boil fast or the meat will be hard. Skim well, add a little salt and in about two and a quarter hours after the water begins to simmer, a moderate sized leg of mutton will be done. Serve with carrots and mashed turnips which may be boiled with the meat and send capersauce, number 382, to table with it in a terrine. Time. A moderate sized leg of mutton of nine pounds, two and a quarter hours after the water boils, one of twelve pounds, three hours. Average cost, eight and a half pence per pound. Sufficient. A moderate sized leg of mutton for six or eight persons. Seasonable nearly all the year but not so good in June, July and August. Note. When meat is liked very thoroughly cooked, allow more time than stated above. The liquor this joint was boiled in should be converted into soup. The Good Shepherd. The sheep's complete dependence upon the shepherd for protection from its numerous enemies is frequently referred to in the Bible. Thus the psalmist likens himself to a lost sheep and prays the Almighty to seek his servant. And our Saviour, when dispatching his twelve chosen disciples to preach the gospel amongst their unbelieving brethren, compares them to lambs going amongst wolves. The Shepherd of the East, by kind treatment, calls forth from his sheep unmistakable signs of affection. The sheep obey his voice and recognize the names by which he calls them, and they follow him in and out of the fold. The beautiful figure of the Good Shepherd, which so often occurs in the New Testament, expresses the tenderness of the Saviour for mankind. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. John chapter 10 verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep, and am known by mine. John chapter 10 verse 14. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. John chapter 10 verse 16. Boned leg of mutton stuffed. 706. Ingredients. A small leg of mutton weighing six or seven pounds. Force meat. Number 417. Two shallots finely minced. Mode. Make a force meat by recipe number 417, to which add two finely minced shallots. Bone the leg of mutton without spoiling the skin, and cut off a great deal of the fat. Fill the hole up once the bone was taken with the force meat, and sew it up underneath, to prevent its falling out. Bind and tie it up compactly, and roast it before a nice clear fire for about two and a half hours, or rather longer. Remove the tape, and send it to table with a good gravy. It may be glazed or not as preferred. Time two and a half hours or rather longer. Average cost four shelling eight pence. Sufficient for six or seven persons, seasonable at any time. Braised filet of mutton with French beans 707. Ingredients. The chump end of a loin of mutton, buttered paper, French beans, a little glaze, one pint of gravy. Mode. Roll up the mutton in a piece of buttered paper, roast it for two hours, and do not allow it to acquire the least color. Have ready some French beans boiled and drained on a sieve. Remove the paper from the mutton, glaze it. Just heat up the beans in the gravy, and lay them on the dish with the meat over them. The remainder of the gravy may be strained, and sent to table in a terrine. Time two hours. Average cost eight and a half pence per pound. Sufficient for four or five persons, seasonable at any time. Various qualities of mutton. Mutton is undoubtedly the meat most generally used in families, and both by connoisseurs and medical men, it stands first in favor, whether it's favor, digestible qualifications, or general wholesomeness be considered. Of all mutton, that furnished by South Downsheep is the most highly esteemed, it is also the dearest on account of its scarcity and the great demand of it. Therefore, if the housekeeper is told by the butcher that he has not any in his shop, it should not occasion disappointment to the purchaser. The London and other markets are chiefly supplied with sheep called half-breeds, which are a cross between the Down and Lincoln or Leicester. These half-breeds make a greater weight of mutton than the true South Downs, and, for this very desirable qualification, they are preferred by the great sheepmasters. The legs of this mutton range from seven to eleven pounds in weight, the shoulders, necks, or loins about six to nine pounds, and if care is taken not to purchase it, the shoulders, necks, or loins about eight to nine pounds, and if cure is not taken to purchase it too fat, it will be found the most satisfactory and economical mutton that can be bought. Braised leg of mutton, 708, ingredients. One small leg of mutton, four carrots, three onions, one faggot of savory herbs, a bunch of parsley, seasoning to taste of pepper and salt, a few slices of bacon, a few veal trimmings, half a pint of gravy or water. Mode. Line the bottom of a braising pan with a few slices of bacon. Put in the carrots, onions, herbs, parsley, and seasoning, and over these place the mutton. Cover the hole with a few more slices of bacon and the veal trimmings, pour in the gravy or water, and stew very gently for four hours. Strain the gravy, reduce it to a glaze over a sharp fire, glaze the mutton with it, and send it to table, placed on a dish of white haricot beans, boiled tender, or garnished with glazed onions. Time, four hours. Average cost, five shillings. Sufficient for six or seven persons, seasonable at any time. The Order of the Golden Fleece This Order of Nighthood was founded by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1429, on the day of his marriage with the Princess Isabella of Portugal. The number of the members was originally fixed at 31, including the sovereign, as the head and chief of the institution. In 1516, Pope Leo X consented to increase the number to 52, including the head. In 1700, the German Emperor Charles VI and King Philip of Spain both laid claim to the Order. The former, however, on leaving Spain, which he could not maintain by force of arms, took with him to Vienna the Archives of the Order, the inauguration of which he solemnized there in 1713 with great magnificence. But Philip V of Spain declared himself Grand Master, and formally protested at the Congress of Cumbri, against the pretensions of the Emperor. The dispute, though subsequently settled by the intercession of France, England and Holland, was frequently renewed until the Order was tacitly introduced into both countries, and it now passes by the respective names of the Spanish or Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece, according to the country where it is issued. An Excellent Way to Cook a Breast of Mutton 709. Ingredients Breast of mutton 2 onions Salt and pepper to taste Flour A bunch of savory herbs Green peas Mode Cut the mutton into pieces about 2 inches square and let it be tolerably lean. Put it into a stew pan with a little fat or butter and fry it of a nice brown. Then dredge in a little flour, slice the onions and put it with the herbs in the stew pan. Pour in sufficient water just to cover the meat, and simmer the whole gently until the mutton is tender. Take out the meat, strain, and skim off all the fat from the gravy, and put both the meat and gravy back into the stew pan. Add about a quart of young green peas and let them boil gently until done. Two or three slices of bacon added and stewed with the mutton give additional flavor, and to ensure the peas being a beautiful green color, they may be boiled in water separately and added to the stew at the moment of serving. Time Two and a half hours Average cost Six pence per pound Sufficient for four or five persons, seasonable from June to August. Names of animals Saxon and of their flesh Norman The names of all of our animals are of Saxon origin, but it is curious to observe that Norman names have been given to the different sorts of flesh which these animals yield. How beautifully this illustrates the relative position of Saxon and Norman after the conquest. The Saxon hind had the charge of tending and feeding the domestic animals, but only that they might appear on the table of his Norman lord. Thus ox, steer, cow, or Saxon, but beef, is Norman. Calf is Saxon, but veal, Norman. Sheep is Saxon, but mutton, Norman. So it is severally, with deer and venison, swine and pork, fowl and pellet. Bacon, the only flesh which perhaps ever came within his reach, is the single exception. Broiled mutton and tomato sauce Cold meat cookery Seven ten, ingredients A few slices of cold mutton, tomato sauce number five twenty nine. Mode Cut some nice slices from a cold leg or shoulder of mutton. Season them with pepper and salt and broil over a clear fire. Make some tomato sauce by recipe number five twenty nine, pour it over the mutton and serve. This makes an excellent dish and must be served very hot. Time, about five minutes to broil the mutton. Seasonable in September and October, when tomatoes are plentiful and seasonable. Shepherds and their flocks The shepherd's crook is older than either the husband men's plough or the warrior's sword. We are told that Abel was a keeper of sheep. Many passages in Holy Writ enable us to appreciate the pastoral riches of the first eastern nations and we can form an idea of the number of their flocks when we read that Jacob gave the children of Hamor a hundred sheep for the price of a field and that the king of Israel received a hundred thousand every year from the king of Moab, his tributary and a like number of rams covered with their fleece. The tendency which most sheep have to ramble renders it necessary for them to be attended by a shepherd. To keep a flock within bounds is no easy task, but the watchful shepherd manages to accomplish it without harassing the sheep. In the Highlands of Scotland where the herbage is scanty, the sheep farm requires to be very large and to be watched over by many shepherds. The farms of some of the great Scottish landowners are of enormous extent. How many sheep have you on your estate? asked Prince Esther Hasey of the Duke of Argyle. I have not the most remote idea, replied the Duke, but I know the shepherd's number several thousands. Broiled mutton chops, seven eleven. Ingredients Loin of mutton, pepper and salt, a small piece of butter. Mode Cut the chops from a well-hung tender loin of mutton. Remove a portion of the fat and trim them into a nice shape. Slightly beat and level them. Place the gridiron over a bright clear fire. Rub the bars with a little fat and lay on the chops. Whilst boiling, frequently turn them and in about eight minutes they will be done. Season with pepper and salt, dish them on a very hot dish, rub a small piece of butter on each chop and serve very hot and expeditiously. Time, about eight minutes. Average cost, ten pence per pound. Sufficient. Allow one chop to each person. Seasonable at any time. China chilo, seven twelve. Ingredients One and a half pounds of leg, loin or neck of mutton. Two onions, two lettuces, one pint of green peas, one teaspoon full of salt, one teaspoon full of pepper, one quarter pint of water, one quarter pound of clarified butter, when liked, a little cayenne. Mode Mince the above quantity of undressed leg, loin or neck of mutton, adding a little of the fat, also minced. Put it into a stew pan with the remaining ingredients, previously shredding the lettuce and onion rather fine. Closely cover the stew pan after the ingredients have been well stirred and simmer gently for rather more than two hours. Serve in a dish with a border of rice round, the same as for curry. Time, rather more than two hours. Average cost, one shilling six pence. Sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable from June to August. Curried mutton, cold meat cookery. Seven thirteen, ingredients. The remains of any joint of cold mutton. Two onions, one quarter pound of butter. One teaspoon full of curry powder. One dessert spoonful of flour. Salt to taste. One quarter pint of stock or water. Mode Slice the onions in thin rings and put them into a stew pan with the butter. 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 half an hour. Serve in a dish with a border of boiled rice, the same as for other curries. Time, one half hour. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, six pence. Seasonable in winter. Cutlets of cold mutton, cold meat cookery. Seven fourteen, ingredients. The remains of cold loin or neck of mutton. One egg, breadcrumbs, brown gravy, number 436. Or tomato sauce, number 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 breadcrumbs. And fry them a nice brown in hot dripping. Arrange them on a dish and pour around them either a good gravy or hot tomato sauce. Time, about seven minutes. Seasonable, tomatoes to be had the most reasonably in September and October. Dormers, seven fifteen, ingredients. Half a pound of cold mutton, two ounces of beef suet, pepper and salt to taste. Three ounces of boiled rice, one egg, breadcrumbs, made gravy. Mode Chop the meat, suet and rice finely. Mix well together and add a high seasoning of pepper and salt. Roll into sausages. Cover them with egg and breadcrumbs and fry in hot dripping of a nice brown. Serve in a dish with made gravy poured around them and a little in a terrine. Time, half an hour to fry the sausages. Average cost exclusive of the meat, six pence. Seasonable at any time. The golden fleece The ancient fable of the golden fleece may be thus briefly told. Frixus, a son of Athimus, king of Thebes, to escape the persecutions of his stepmother, Eno, paid a visit to his friends Aetes, 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, Frixus offered the ram on the altars of Mars and pocketed the fleece. The king received him with great kindness and gave him his daughter, Calciope, in marriage. But sometime after he murdered him in order to obtain possession of the precious fleece. The murder of Frixus 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 Aetes, 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 mass of fiction. The ram which carried Frixus to Colchis is by some supposed to have been the name of the ship 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 transmutation of metals, written on sheepskin. Paracot mutton, one. Seven sixteen. Ingredients. Four pounds of the middle or best end of the neck of mutton, three carrots, three turnips, three onions, pepper and salt to taste, one 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 trimmings. 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 color. Now lay the mutton at the bottom of a stew pan, 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. Two and a half hours to simmer gently. Average cost for this quantity, three shillings. Sufficient for six or seven persons, seasonable at any time. Two. 717. Ingredients. Breast or scragg of mutton, flour, pepper and salt to taste, one large onion, three cloves, a bunch of savory herbs, one blade of mace, carrots and turnips, sugar. Mode. Cut the mutton into square pieces and fry them a nice color, then dredge over them a little flour and a seasoning of pepper and salt. Put all into a stew pan, and moisten with boiling water, adding the onion stuck with three cloves, the mace and herbs. Simmer gently till the meat is nearly done. Skim off all the fat, and then add the carrots and turnips, which should previously be cut in dice and fried in a little sugar to color them. Let the whole simmer again for ten minutes, take out the onion and bunch of herbs and serve. Time, about three hours to simmer. Average cost, six pence per pound. Seasonable at any time. Haricot mutton, cold meat cookery. 718. Ingredients. The remains of cold neck or loin of mutton, two ounces of butter, three onions, one dessert spoonful of flour, half a pint of good gravy. Pepper and salt to taste, two tablespoonfuls of port wine, one tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, two carrots, two turnips, one head of celery. Mode. Cut the cold mutton into moderate sized chops and take off the fat. Slice the onions and fry them with the chops in a little butter of a nice brown color. Stir in the flour, add the gravy, and let it stew gently nearly an hour. In the meantime, boil the vegetables until nearly tender. Slice them and add them to the mutton about a quarter of an hour before it is to be served. Season with pepper and salt, add the ketchup and port wine, give one boil, and serve. Time, one hour. Average cost, exclusive of the cold meat, nine pence. Seasonable at any time. Hasht mutton, 719. Ingredients. The remains of cold roast shoulder or leg of mutton, six whole peppers, six whole allspice, a faggot of savory herbs, half a head of celery, one onion, two ounces of butter, flour. Mode. Cut the meat in nice even slices from the bones, trimming off all superfluous fat and gristle. Chop the bones and fragments of the joint, put them into a stew pan with the pepper, spice, herbs, and celery. Cover with water and simmer for one hour. Slice and fry the onion of a nice pale brown color. Dredge in a little flour to make it thick and add this to the bones, etc. Stew for one quarter hour, strain the gravy and let it cool. Then skim off every particle of fat and put it with the meat into a stew pan. Flavor with ketchup, Harvey's sauce, tomato sauce, or any flavoring that may be preferred. And let the meat gradually warm through, but not boil or it will harden. To hash meat properly, it should be laid in cold gravy and only left on the fire just long enough to warm through. Time, one and a half hours to simmer the gravy. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, four pence, seasonable at any time. Hashed mutton. Many persons express a decided aversion to hashed mutton, and doubtless this dislike has arisen from the fact that they have unfortunately never been properly served with this dish. If properly done, however, the meat tender, it ought to be as tender as when first roasted. The gravy abundant and well flavored, and the sippots nicely toasted, and the whole served neatly. Then hashed mutton is by no means to be despised, and is definitely more wholesome and appetizing than the cold leg or shoulder of which fathers and husbands and their bachelor friends stand in such natural awe. Hodgepodge, cold meat cookery, 720, ingredients. About one pound of underdone cold mutton, two lettuces, one pint of green peas, five or six green onions, two ounces of butter, pepper and salt to taste, half a teacup full of water. Mode, mince the mutton and cut up the lettuces and onions and slices. Put these in a stew pan with all the ingredients except the peas, and let these simmer very gently for three quarters of an hour, keeping them well stirred. Boil the peas separately, mix these with the mutton, and serve very hot. Time three quarters of an hour, sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable from the end of May to August. Irish stew, one, 721, ingredients. Three pounds of the loin or neck of mutton, five pounds of potatoes, five large onions, pepper and salt to taste, rather more than one pint of water. Mode, trim off some of the fat of the above quantity of loin or neck of mutton, and cut it into chops of a moderate thickness. Pair and halve the potatoes, and cut the onions into thick slices. Put a layer of potatoes at the bottom of a stew pan, then a layer of mutton and onions, and season with pepper and salt. Proceed in this manner until the stew pan is full, taking care to have plenty of vegetables at the top. Pour in the water, and let it stew very gently for two and a half hours, keeping the lid of the stew pan closely shut the whole time, and occasionally shaking it to prevent its burning. Time two and a half hours, average cost for this quantity, two shillings eight pence, sufficient for five or six persons, seasonable more suitable for a winter dish. Two, 722 ingredients, two or three pounds of the breast of mutton, one and a half pint of water, salt and pepper to taste, four pounds of potatoes, four large onions. Mode, put the mutton into a stew pan with the water and a little salt, and let it stew gently for an hour. Cut the meat into small pieces, skim the fat from the gravy, and pair and slice the potatoes and onions. Put all the ingredients into the stew pan in layers, first a layer of vegetables then one of meat, and sprinkle seasoning of pepper and salt between each layer. Cover closely, and let the whole stew very gently for one hour or rather more, shaking it frequently to prevent its burning. Time, rather more than two hours, average cost, one shillings six pence, sufficient for five or six persons, seasonable, suitable for a winter dish. Note, Irish stew may be prepared in the same manner as above, but baked in a jar instead of boiled. About two hours or rather more in a moderate oven will be sufficient time to bake it. End of section 33, recording by Kalinda in Raymond, New Hampshire on November 20th, 2007. Section 34 of the Book of Household Management. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jennifer Stearns. The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton. Section 34. Recipes. Chapter 15, Part 2. Italian Mutton Cutlets. 723. Ingredients. About three pounds of the neck of mutton, clarified butter, the yolk of one egg, four tablespoons full of breadcrumbs, one tablespoon full of minced savory herbs, one tablespoon full of minced parsley, one teaspoon full of minced shallot, one salt spoonful of finely chopped lemon peel, pepper, salt, and pounded maize to taste. Flour, half pint of hot broth or water, two teaspoons full of harvy sauce, one teaspoon full of soy, two teaspoons full of tarragon vinegar, one tablespoon full of port wine. Mode. Cut the mutton into nicely shaped cutlets, flatten them and trim off some of the fat. Dip them in clarified butter and then into the beaten yolk of an egg. Mix well together breadcrumbs, herbs, parsley, shallot, lemon peel, and seasoning in the above proportion. And cover the cutlets with these ingredients. Melt some butter in a frying pan, lay in the cutlets, and fry them a nice brown. Take them out and keep them hot before the fire. Tread some flour into the pan and if there is not sufficient butter, add a little more. Stir till it looks brown then pour in the hot broth or water and the remaining ingredients. Give one boil and pour around the cutlets. If the gravy should not be thick enough, add a little more flour. Mushrooms, when obtainable, are a great improvement to this dish and when not in season, mushroom powder may be substituted for them. Time. Ten minutes. Rather longer should the cutlets be very thick. Average cost. Two shillings. Nine pence. Seasonable. At any time. The Downs. The well-known substance chalk, which the chemist regards as a nearly pure carbonate of lime and the microscopist as an navigation of inconceivably minute shells and corals, forms a subsoil of the hilly districts of the southeast of England. The chalk hills, known as the South Downs, start from the bold promontory of beachy head. They come from the country of Sussex from east to west and pass through Hampshire into Surrey. The North Downs extend from Godelming by Godstone into Kent and terminate in the line of cliffs which stretches from Dover to Ramsgate. The Downs are clothed with short verdant turf, but the layer of soil which rests upon the chalk is too thin to support trees and shrubs. The hills have rounded summits, and their smooth, undulated outlines are unbroken, saved by the sepulchral monuments of the early inhabitants of the country. The cooms and furrows, which ramify and extend into deep valleys, appear like dried-up channels of streams and movulets. From time immemorial immense flocks of sheep have been reared on these Downs. The herbage of these hills is remarkably nutritious, and whilst the natural healthiness of the climate, consequent on the dryness of the air and the moderate elevation of the land, is eminently favorable to rearing a superior race of sheep. The arable lands in the immediate neighborhood of the Downs affords the means of a supply of other food when the natural produce of the hills fails. The mutton of the South Down breed of sheep is highly valued for its delicate flavor and the wool for its fineness. But the best specimens of this breed, when imported from England into the West Indies, become miserably lean in the course of a year or two, and their wooly fleece gives place to a covering of short, crisp, brownish hair. Broiled Kidneys A breakfast or supper dish 724 Ingredients Sheep Kidneys Pepper and Salt to Taste Mode Ask the chain that the kidneys are fresh, and cut them open very evenly, lengthwise, down to the root. For should one half be thicker than the other, one would be underdone whilst the other would be dried, but do not separate them. Skin them and pass a skewer under the white part of each half to keep them flat, and broil over a nice clear fire, placing the inside downwards. Turn them when done enough on one side, and cook them on the other. Remove the skewers, place the kidneys on a very hot dish, seasoned with pepper and salt, and put a tiny piece of butter in the middle of each. Serve very hot and quickly, and send very hot plates to table. Time 6 to 8 minutes Average cost One and a half pence each Sufficient? Allow one for each person Seasonable? Anytime Note A prettier dish than the above may be made by serving the kidneys each on a piece of buttered toast out in any fanciful shape. In this case, a little lemon juice will be found in improvement. Fried kidneys 725 Ingredients Kidneys, butter, pepper and salt to taste Mode Cut the kidneys open without quite dividing them. Remove the skin and put a small piece of butter in the frying pan. When the butter is melted, lay in the kidneys the flat side downwards, and fry them for 7 or 8 minutes. Turning them when they are half done. Serve on a piece of dry toast, seasoned with pepper and salt, and put a small piece of butter in each kidney. Pour the gravy from the pan over them, and serve very hot. Time 7 or 8 minutes Average cost Sufficient? Allow one kidney to each person Seasonable? Anytime Roast haunch of mutton 726 Ingredients Haunch of mutton A little salt Flour Mode Let this joint hang as long as possible without becoming tainted, and while hanging, dust flour over it, which keeps off the flies and prevents the air from getting to it. If not well hung, the joint, when it comes to table, will neither do quite it to the butcher or the cook, as it will not be tender. Wash the outside well, lest it should have a bad flavor from keeping. Then flour it and put it down to a nice brisk fire, at some distance, so that it may gradually warm through. Keep continually basting, at about half an hour before it is served. Draw it nearer to the fire to get it nicely brown. Sprinkle a little fine salt over the meat, pour off the dripping, add a little boiling water, slightly salted, and strain this over the joint. Place a paper roosh on the bone, and send red current jelly and gravy in a terrain to table with it. Time About 4 hours Average cost 9 pence per pound Sufficient? In best season from September to March. How to buy meat economically? If the housekeeper is not very particular as to the precise joints to cook for dinner, there is often times an opportunity for her to save as much money in her purchases of meat as will pay for the bread to eat it with. It often occurs, for instance, that the butcher may have a superfluity of certain joints. And these he would be glad to get rid of at a reduction of sometimes as much as one pence or one and a half pence per pound. And thus, in a joint of eight or nine pounds, will be saved enough to buy two quartin loaves. It frequently happens with mini-butchers that, in consequence of a demand for legs and loins of mutton, they have only shoulders left. And these they will be glad to sell at a reduction. Roast leg of mutton Illustration, leg of mutton 727 Ingredients Leg of mutton, a little salt Mode As mutton, when freshly killed is never tender, hang it almost as long as it will keep, flour it, and put it in a cool, airy place for a few days if the weather will permit. Wash off the flour, wipe it very dry, and cut off the shank bone. Put it down to a brisk, clear fire, dredged with flour, and keep continually basting the whole time it is cooking. About 20 minutes before serving, draw it near to the fire to get nicely brown. Sprinkle over it a little salt, dish the meat, pour off the dripping, add some boiling water, slightly salted, strain it over the joint and serve. Time A leg of mutton weighing 10 pounds, about 2.25 or 2.5 hours, one of 7 pounds, about 2 hours or rather less. Average cost, 8.5 pence per pound. Sufficient A moderate-sized leg of mutton, sufficient for 6 or 8 persons. Seasonable at any time, but not so good in June, July, and August. Roast loin of mutton 728 Ingredients Loin of mutton, a little salt Mode Cut and trim off the superfluous fat, and see that the butcher joins the meat properly, as thereby much annoyance is saved to the carver when it comes to table. Have ready a nice clear fire, it need not be a very wide, large one. Put down the meat, dredged with flour, and baste well until it is done. Make the gravy as for roast leg of mutton and serve very hot. Time A loin of mutton weighing 6 pounds, one and a half hour or rather longer. Average cost, 8.5 pence per pound. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable at any time. Roast loin of mutton, very excellent. 729 Ingredients About 6 pounds of a loin of mutton, 1.5 teaspoon full of pepper, 1.25 teaspoon full of pounded allspice, 1.25 teaspoon full of mace, 1.25 teaspoon full of nutmeg, 6 cloves, force meat number 417, 1 glass of port wine, 2 tablespoons full of mushroom ketchup. Mode Hang the mutton till tender. Bone it and sprinkle over it pepper, mace, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg in the above proportion. All of which must be pounded very fine. Let it remain for a day, then make a force meat by recipe number 417. Cover the meat with it and roll and bind it up firmly. Half bake it in a slow oven. Let it grow cold, take off the fat, and put the gravy into a stew pan. Flour the meat, put it in the gravy, and stew it till perfectly tender. Now take out the meat, unbind it, add to the gravy, wine, and ketchup as above, give one boil, and pour over the meat. Serve with red currant jelly, and, if obtainable, a few mushrooms, stewed for a few minutes in the gravy. Will be found a great improvement. Time 1.5 hour to break the meat. 1.5 hour to stew gently. Average cost 4 shillings, 9 pence. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. 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 serve with a good gravy and currant jelly. Boiled neck of mutton, 730. Ingredients 4 pounds of the middle, or best end of the neck of mutton. Salt Mode Trim off a portion of the fat. Should there be too much, and if it is to look particularly nice, the chined bone should be sawn down, the ribs stripped half way 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 scum. Draw the saucepan to the side of the fire so that the water gets so cool that the finger may be born in it. Then simmer very slowly and gently until the meat is done, which will be in about one and a half hour, or rather more, reckoning from the time that it begins to simmer. Serve with turnips and capersauce, number 382, and pour a little of it over the meat. The turnips should be boiled with a mutton, and when at hand, a few carrots will also be found in improvement. These, however, 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 around the mutton. Time, four pounds of the neck of mutton, about one and a half hour. Average cost, eight and a half pence per pound, sufficient for six or seven 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 are used. 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 favorite of the poets and has supplied them with figures and similes without end. Shakespeare frequently compares men to sheep. When Gloucester 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 necks 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, follows not thee. Therefore thou art a sheep. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry. Bah! The descriptive poets give us some charming pictures of sheep. Everyone is familiar with the sheep-sharing scene in Thompson's Seasons. Heavy in dripping to the breezy brow slow move the harmless race where, as they spread their dwelling treasures to the sunny ray, really disturbed and wondering what this wild-out-wage's tumult means. Then loud complaints the country fill and tossed from rock to rock incessant bleeding run around the hills. What an exquisite idea of stillness is conveyed in the off-quoted line from Gray's Elegy and drowsy tinklings lull the distant fold. From Dyer's quaint poem of the fleece we could call a hundred passages relating to sheep. We exceeded our space. We cannot, however, close this brief notice of the illusions that had been made to sheep by our poets without quoting a couple of verses from Robert Burns's Elegy on Poor Mallie, his only pet-yowl. Through other towns she trod by him. A lang half-mile she could describe him. With kindly bleed, when she did spy him, she ran with speed. A friend mere faithful I watched she was a sheep of sense and could behave herself with mince. I'll say it, she never break a fence. Though thievery's greed, our birdie Lainey, keeps the spence, sin Mallie's dead. Mutton, colaps, cold meat cookery, 731. Ingredients a few slices of a cold leg or loin of mutton salt and pepper to taste, pounded mace, one small bunch of savory herbs minced very fine, two or three shallots, two or three ounces of butter, one dessert spoonful of flour, half pint of gravy, one tablespoon full of lemon juice. Mold, cut some very thin slices from a leg or the chump end of a loin of mutton. Sprinkle them with pepper, salt, pounded mace, minced savory herbs fried them in butter, stir in a dessert spoonful of flour, add the gravy and lemon juice, simmer very gently about five or seven minutes and serve immediately. Time five to seven minutes average cost exclusive of the meat six pence seasonable at any time. Mutton cutlets with mashed potatoes 732 ingredients about three pounds of the best end of the neck of mutton salt and pepper to taste, mashed potatoes. Mold, procure a well hung neck of mutton saw off about three inches of the top of the bones and cut the cutlets of a moderate thickness shape them by chopping off the thick part of the chine bone beat them flat with a cutlet chopper and scrape quite clean portion of the top of the bone boil them over a nice clear fire for about seven or eight minutes and turn them frequently have ready some smoothly mashed white potatoes place these in the middle of the dish when the cutlets are done season with pepper and salt arrange them around the potatoes with the thick end of the cutlets downwards and serve very hot and quickly time seven or eight minutes average cost for this quantity two shillings, four pence sufficient for five or six persons seasonable at any time note cutlets may be served in various ways with peas, tomatoes, onions sauce, pecanti, etc. mutton pie cold meat cookery 733 ingredients the remains of a cold leg, loin, or neck of mutton pepper and salt to taste two blades of pounded mace one dessert spoonful have chopped parsley one teaspoonful have minced savory herbs when liked a little minced onion or shallot three or four potatoes one tea cup full of gravy crust moat cold mutton may be made into very good pies if well seasoned if the leg is used cut it into very thin slices if the loin or neck into thin cutlets place some at the bottom of the dish season well with pepper salt, mace, parsley, and herbs then put a layer of potatoes sliced then more mutton and so on till the dish is full add the gravy cover with a crust and bake for one hour time, one hour seasonable at any time note the remains of an underdone leg of mutton may be converted into a very good family pudding by cutting the meat into slices and putting them into a basin lined with a suet crust it should be seasoned well with pepper, salt, and minced shallot covered with a crust and boiled for about three hours mutton pie 734 ingredients cut the loin of mutton weight after being boned 2 kidneys pepper and salt to taste 2 tea cup fulls of gravy or water 2 tablespoon fulls of minced parsley when liked a little minced onion or shallot puff crust mowed bone the mutton and cut the meat into steaks all of the same thickness and leave but very little fat cut up the kidneys sprinkle over them the minced parsley and a seasoning of pepper and salt pour in the gravy and cover with a tolerably good puff crust bake for one and a half hour or rather longer should the pie be very large and let the oven be rather brisk a well made suet crust may be used instead of puff crust and will be found exceedingly good time one and a half hour or rather longer sufficient for six or six persons seasonable at any time mutton pudding 735 ingredients about two pounds of the chump end of the loin of mutton weight after being boned pepper and salt to taste suet crust made with milk sea pastry in the proportion of six ounces of suet to each pound of flour a very small quantity of minced onion this may be omitted when the flavor is not light mode cut the meat into rather thin slices and season them with pepper and salt line the pudding dish with crust lay in the meat and nearly but do not quite fill it up with water when the flavor is light add a small quantity of minced onion cover with crust and proceed in the same manner as directed in recipe number 605 using the same kind of pudding dish as there mentioned time about three hours average cost one shilling nine pence sufficient for six persons seasonable all the year but more suitable in winter ragu of cold neck of mutton cold meat cookery 736 ingredients the remains of a cold neck or loin of mutton two ounces of butter a little flour two onions sliced a quarter pint of water two small carrots two turnips pepper and salt to taste mode cut the mutton into small chops and trim off the greater portion of the fat put the butter into a stew pan dredge in a little flour add the sliced onions in the meat when this is quite brown add the water and the carrots and turnips which should be cut into very thin slices season with pepper and salt and stew to a quite tender which will be in about three quarters of an hour when in season green peas may be substituted for the carrots and turnips they should be piled in the center of the dish and the chops laid round time three quarters of an hour for the mutton season with peas from June to August roast neck of mutton 737 ingredients neck of mutton a little salt mode for roasting choose the middle or the best end of the neck of mutton and if there is a very large proportion of fat trim off some of it and save it for making into sweet puddings which will be found exceedingly good for the mutton when the mutton is cooked cut it short and see that it is properly jointed before it is laid down to the fire as they will be more easily separated when they come to table place the joint at a nice brisk fire dredge it with flour and keep continually basting until done a few minutes before serving draw it near to the fire to acquire a nice color sprinkle over it a little salt strain this over the meat and serve red currant jelly may be sent to table with it time 4 pounds of the neck of mutton rather than more than 1 hour average cost 8.5 pence per pound sufficient for 4 or 5 persons seasonable at any time woolen manufacturers the distinction between hair and wool is rather arbitrary than natural consisting in the greater or less degrees of fineness, softness and pliability of the fibers when the fibers possess these properties so far as to omit of their being spun and woven into a texture sufficiently pliable to be used as an article of dress they are called wool the sheep, llama and gore goat and the goat of Tibet are the animals from which most of the wool used in manufacturers is obtained but of which the cashmere's shawls are made of European wools the fineness is that yielded by the merino sheep the Spanish and Saxon breeds taking the precedence the merino sheep as now naturalized in Australia furnishes an excellent fleece put all varieties of sheep wool reared either in Europe or Australia are inferior in softness of feel to that grown in India the best of our British wools are inferior in fineness to any of the above mentioned being nearly 12 times the thickness of the finest Spanish merino but for the ordinary purposes of the manufacturer they are unraveled roast saddle of mutton 738 ingredients saddle of mutton a little salt to ensure this joint being tender let it hang for 10 days if the weather permits cut off the tail and flaps and trim away every part that has not indisputable pretensions to be eaten and have the skin taken off and skewered on again put it down to a bright clear fire and when the joint has been cooking for an hour remove the skin and dredge it with flour it should not be placed too near the fire as the fat should not be poured and after the skin is removed sprinkle some salt over the joint make a little gravy in the dripping pan pour it over the meat which send to table with a torrent of made gravy and red currant jelly time a saddle of mutton weighing 10 lbs 2.5 hours 14 lbs 3.25 hours when light under done allow rather less time sufficient? a moderate sized saddle of 10 lbs for 7 or 8 persons seasonable all the year not so good when lamb is in full season roast shoulder of mutton 739 ingredients shoulder of mutton a little salt put the joint down to a bright clear fire flour it well and keep continually basting about a quarter hour before serving draw it near the fire that the outside may acquire a nice brown color but not sufficiently near to blacken the fat sprinkle a little fine salt over the meat empty the dripping pan of its contents pour in a little boiling water slightly salted and strain this over the joint onion sauce or stewed spanish onions are usually sent to table with this dish a shoulder of mutton weighing 6 or 7 lbs 1.5 hour average cost 9 pence per pound sufficient for 5 or 6 persons seasonable at any time note shoulder of mutton may be dressed in a variety of ways boiled and served with onion sauce boned and stuffed with a good veal of force meat or baked with sliced potatoes in the dripping pan the etchric shepherd James Hogg was perhaps the most remarkable man that ever wore the mod of a shepherd under the garb aspect and bearing of a rude peasant and rude enough he was in most of these things even after no inconsiderable experience of society the world soon discovered a true poet he taught himself to write by copying the letters of a printed book as he lay watching his flock on the hillside with the utmost pitch of his ambition when he first found that his artless rhymes could touch the heart of the ewe milker who partake the shelter of his mantle during the passing storm if the shepherd of Professor Wilson's Nocturne's and Bruziane may be taken as a true portrait of James Hogg we must admit that for quateness of humor the poet of etchric forest had a few rivals Sir Walter Scott of absurdity afforded him more entertainment than the best comedy that ever set the pit in a roar among the written productions of the shepherd poet is an account of his own experiences in sheep tending called the shepherd's calendar this work contains a vast amount of useful information upon the sheep their diseases have its own management the etchric shepherd died in 1835 sheep's brains found metalut an entree 740 ingredients six sheep's brains vinegar, salt a few slices of bacon one small onion two cloves a small bunch of parsley sufficient stock or weak broth to cover the brains one tablespoon full of lemon juice metalut sauce number 512 put in the heads without breaking them and put them into a pan of warm water remove the skin and let them remain for two hours have ready a saucepan of boiling water add a little vinegar and salt and put in the brains when they are quite firm take them out and put them into very cold water place two or three slices of bacon in a stew pan put in the brains the onion stuck with two cloves the parsley pepper and salt cover with stock or weak broth and boil them gently for about 25 minutes have ready some croutons arrange these in the dish alternately with the brains and cover with a metalut sauce number 512 to which has been added the above proportion of lemon juice time 25 minutes average cost one shilling 6 pence time sheep's feet or trotters soyer's recipe 741 ingredients 12 feet a quarter pound of beef or mutton suet two onions one carrot two bay leaves two sprigs of thyme one ounce of salt a quarter ounce of pepper two tablespoonfuls of flour two and a half quarts of water two teaspoons full of flour three quarters teaspoonful of pepper a little grated nutmeg the juice of one lemon one gill of milk the yolks of two eggs mode have the feet cleaned and the long bone extracted from them put the suet into a stew pan with the onions and carrot sliced the bay leaves thyme, salt and pepper and let these simmer for five minutes add two tablespoonfuls of flour and the water and keep stirring till it boils then put in the feet let these simmer for three hours or until perfectly tender and take them and lay them on a sieve mix together on a plate with the back of the spoon butter, salt, flour one teaspoonful pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice as above and put the feet with the gill of milk into a stew pan continually until melted now mix the yolks of two eggs with five tablespoonfuls of milk stir this to the other ingredients keep moving the pan over the fire continually for a minute or two but do not allow it to boil after the eggs are added serve in a very hot dish and garnish with croutons or snippets of toasted bread thyme, three hours average cost one shilling, six pence and one tablespoonful at any time to dress a sheep's head 742 ingredients one sheep's head sufficient water to cover it three carrots three turnips two or three parsnips three onions a small bunch of parsley one teaspoonful of pepper three teaspoonfuls of salt a quarter pound of scotch oatmeal mode put it into a saucepan with sufficient cold water to cover it and when it boils add the vegetables peeled and sliced and the remaining ingredients before adding the oatmeal mix it to a smooth batter with a little of the liquor keep stirring until it boils up then shut the saucepan closely and let it stew gently for one and a half or two hours it may be thickened with rice or barley but oatmeal is preferable thyme one and a half or two hours average cost eight pence each sufficient for three persons seasonable at any time singed sheep's head the village of Duttingston which stands within a mile of Edinburgh town was formally celebrated for this ancient and homely Scottish dish in the summer months many opulent citizens used to resort to this place but the sheep's heads themselves over singed sheep's heads boiled or baked the sheep fed upon the neighbouring hills were slaughtered at this village and the carcasses were sent to town but the heads were left to be consumed in the place we are not aware whether the custom eating sheep's heads at Duttingston is still capped up by the good folks of Edinburgh toad in the hole cold meat cookery 743 ingredients one pint of milk three eggs butter a few slices of cold mutton pepper and salt to taste two kidneys make a smooth batter of flour milk and eggs in the above proportion butter a baking dish and pour in the batter into this place a few slices of cold mutton previously well seasoned in the kidneys a few slices of butter and send it to table in the dish it was baked in oysters and mushrooms may be substituted for the kidneys and will be found exceedingly good time rather more than one hour average cost exclusive of the cold meat 8 pence seasonable at any time end of section 34 recording by Jennifer Stearns