Lamb

The vein in the neck of the fore-quarter should be blueish, and firm - otherwise do not buy it. If greenish or yellowish, it is tainted, and fit only for manure. Never buy any thing that has been kept too long. The worst may, by some process, be a little disguised, but nothing can render wholesome any article of food in which decomposition has commenced, even in the slightest degree. The fat should be quite white. If there is but little meat on the shoulder it has not been a good lamb. In America, where food is abundant, there is no occasion to eat any thing, that has the flavor in the least changed by keeping.

A fore-quarter of lamb comprises the shoulder, the neck, and the breast together. The hind-quarter is the loin and leg. Lamb comes in season in the beginning of April, if the spring is not unusually backward.

Jersey lamb is sometimes garlicky early in the season. Avoid buying it; you can easily tell it by the garlicky smell. It can only be rendered eatable by stewing, or frying it with plenty of onions. To plain roast or boil garlicky meat is in vain. Beef, also, is sometimes garlicky.

Lamb may be cooked in every way that is proper for mutton

Roast Lamb

The roasting pieces for lamb are the fore-quarter, and hind-quarter; and the saddle, or both hind-quarters together, not having been cut apart. If the saddle is cooked whole, it should be of a small delicate lamb, nice and fat, and is then a fashionable dish at company dinners. Like all other young meat lamb should always be thoroughly done, not the least redness being left perceptible any where about it. A hind-quarter of eight pounds will require at least two hours - a fore-quarter, rather longer. It should be placed before a clear brisk fire, but not very near at first. Put a little water in the dripping-pan, and baste it with that till it begins to cook, adding a little nice fresh butter. Then place it nearer the fire, and when the gravy begins to fall, baste it with that, and repeat the basting very frequently. When the lamb drops white gravy it is nearly done, and you may prepare for taking it up. Skim the gravy that is in the dripping-pan till all the fat is taken off. Then dredge over it a little flour, and send it to table in a gravy boat, having stirred in one or two table-spoonfuls of currant jelly. Lettuce is always an accompaniment to cold lamb.

In carving a fore-quarter of lamb it is usual to take off the shoulder from the ribs, put in a slice of fresh butter, sprinkle it with a little cayenne, and squeeze over the divided parts a fresh lemon cut in half; and put, for that purpose, on a small plate beside the carver.

The vegetables to be eaten with lamb are, new potatos, asparagus, green peas, and spinach. Mint sauce is indispensable. French cooks seldom understand how to make it. To do it properly, take a large bunch of fresh green mint, wash it, and when you have shaken the wet frem them, mince the leaves very fine, omitting the stems. Put the leaves, when chopped, into a small tureen or sauce-boat, and pour on a sufficient quantity of the best cider vinegar to moisten the mint thoroughly, but not to render it the least liquid or thin. It should be as thick as horse-radish, prepared to eat with roast beef. Mix in sufficient sugar to make it very sweet. Good brown sugar will do. At table put a tea-spoonful on the side of your plate. Those who make mint sauce thin and weak, and pour it over the meat like gravy, know nothing about it.