To collar a breast of mutton is a traditional British recipe, based on Hannah Glasse's recipe of 1747, for a classic dish of a boned breast of mutton that's served with a spiced beef, onion, herb and mushroom sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: To collar a breast of mutton.
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To collar a breaſet of mutton.
DO it the ſame way, and it eats very well. But you muſt take off the ſkin.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients
The recipe referred to here as 'do it the same way' is the previous recipe in the book, that for To Collar a Breast of Veal.
1 breast of mutton, with the skin removed
1 mutton or lamb sweetbread, soaked over night in water and blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes
freshly-grated nutmeg, to taste
1/4 tsp ground mace
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp sweet herbs, finely minced
1 tbsp finely-grated lemon zest
50g breadcrumbs caul fat
plain flour for dusting
50g butter, melted
200g shin of beef (or other tough cut)
1 onion
1 bunch of sweet herbs, tied together
1 crust of bread, toasted
2 blades of mace
4 cloves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
50g wild mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp ketchup
2 artichoke bottoms (optional)
salt, to taste
6 forcemeat balls, grilled to cook
lemon slices, to garnish
Method:
Take a boning knife and carefully remove all the bones from the breast of mutton (be careful not to pierce all the way through the skin. Remove any meat and fat from the bones and set aside.
Turn the mutton so that the meat side is upper most then season with the nutmeg, mace, salt, black pepper, sweet herbs and lemon zest. Scatter over the breadcrumbs then roll the breast up tightly. Do this so that one end is slightly flared so that, when cooked, you can stand the veal breast upright.
Stick a skewer through to secure then bind with butcher's twine. Cover in the caul fat, sit on a rack in a roasting tin then place in an oven pre-heated to 200°C. Roast for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 180�B0;C. Remove the remains of the caul fat, dust the meat with plain flour then baste with the melted butter. Return to the oven and cook for about 60 minutes more, or until cooked through and nicely coloured.
In the meantime, cut the beef into dice, fry in a little butter until nicely browned then turn into a stew pan. Add the onion, sweet herbs, bread, mace, cloves, black peppercorns and veal bones. Pour over 1.5l of boiling water then bring to a boil and continue cooking for about 60 minutes, or utnil thick and strong.
At this point, strain off the liquid, pour into a pan and add the mushrooms, ketchup and artichoke bottoms. Season to taste with salt and set aside to keep warm.
When the mutton breast has roasted, remove the string then stand upright in a dish, cover with foil and set aside to rest for 15 minutes. Take the prepared veal sweetbread, cut into four pieces and grill these until nicely browned and cooked through.
Pour the reduced sauce around the mutton breast, and arrange the sweetbread and forcemeat balls around. Garnish with lemon slices and serve.
