Roast Quarter Of Lamb

Procure a nice hind-quarter, remove some of the fat that is around the kidney, skewer the lower joint up to the fillet, place it in a moderate oven, let it heat through slowly, then dredge it with salt and flour; quicken the fire, put half a pint of water into the dripping-pan, with a teaspoonful of salt. With this liquor baste the meat occasionally; serve with lettuce, green peas and mint sauce.

A quarter of lamb weighing seven or eight pounds will require two hours to roast.

A breast of lamb roasted is very sweet and is considered by many as preferable to hind-quarter. It requires nearly as long a time to roast as the quarter, and should be served in the same manner.

Make the gravy from the drippings, thickened with flour.

The mint sauce is made as follows: Take fresh, young spearmint leaves stripped from stems; wash and drain them or dry on a cloth, chop very fine, put in a gravy tureen, and to three tablespoonfuls of mint add two of finely powdered cut-loaf sugar; mix, and let it stand a few minutes, then pour over it six tablespoonfuls good cider or white-wine vinegar. The sauce should be made some time before dinner, so that the flavor of the mint may be well extracted.

How To Broil The Fore-Quarter Of Lamb

Take off the shoulder and lay it upon the gridiron with the breast; cut in two parts, to facilitate its cooking; put a tin sheet on top of the meat, and a weight upon that; turn the meat around frequently to prevent its burning; turn over as soon as cooked on one side; renew the coals occasionally, that all parts may cook alike; when done, season with butter, pepper and salt - exactly like beefsteak. It takes some time to broil it well; but when done it will be found to be equal to broiled chicken, the flavor being more delicate than when cooked otherwise. Serve with cream sauce, made as follows: Heat a table-spoonful of butter in a saucepan, add a teaspoonful of flour and stir until perfectly smooth; then add, slowly stirring in, a cup of cold milk; let it boil up once, and season to taste with salt and pepper and a tea-spoonful of finely chopped fresh parsley. Serve in a gravy boat, all hot.

Lamb Stew

Cut up the lamb into small pieces (after removing all the fat) say about two inches square. Wash it well and put it over the fire, with just enough cold water to cover it well, and let it heat gradually. It should stew gently until it is partly done; then add a few thin slices of salt pork, one or two onions sliced up fine, some pepper and salt if needed, and two or three raw potatoes cut up into inch pieces. Cover it closely and stew until the meat is tender. Drop in a few made dumplings, made like short biscuit, cut out very small. Cook fifteen minutes longer. Thicken the gravy with a little flour moistened with milk. Serve.

Pressed Lamb

The meat, either shoulder or leg, should be put to boil in the morning with water just enough to cover it; when tender, season with salt and pepper, then keep it over the fire until very tender and the juice nearly boiled out. Remove it from the fire-place in a wooden chopping bowl, season more if necessary, chop it up like hash. Place it in a breadpan, press out all the juice, and put it in a cool place to harden. The pressing is generally done by placing a dish over the meat and putting a flat-iron upon that. Nice cut up cold into thin slices, and the broth left from the meat would make a nice soup served with it, adding vegetables and spices.

Croquettes Of Odds And Ends

These are made of any scraps or bits of good food that happen to be left from one or more meals, and in such small quantities that they cannot be warmed up separately. As, for example, a couple of spoonfuls of frizzled beef and cream, the lean meat of one mutton chop, one spoonful of minced beef, two cold hard-boiled eggs, a little cold chopped potato, a little mashed potato, a chick's leg, all the gristle and hard outside taken from the meat. These things well chopped and seasoned, mixed with one raw egg, a little flour and butter, and boiling water; then made into round cakes, thick like fish-balls and browned well with butter in a frying pan or on a griddle.

Scraps of hash, cold rice, boiled oatmeal left from breakfast, every kind of fresh meat, bits of salt tongue, bacon, pork or ham, bits of poultry, and crumbs of bread may be used. They should be put together with care, so as not to have them too dry to be palatable, or too moist to cook in shape. Most housekeepers would be surprised at the result, making an addition to the breakfast or lunch table. Serve on small squares of buttered toast, and with cold celery if in season.