Taken from:
RICH CABINET
Scored with all manner of
RARE RECEIPTS
FOR
Preserving, Candying and Cookery
by Hannah Woolley (1622-1675)
printed at the White Lion in Duck-Lane, near West-Smithfield, London in 1672
=============================Original Recipe of 1672:
To boil a Neck of Mutton
Boil it in water and salt, then make sauce for it with Samphire and a little of the Broth, Verjuice, large Mace, Pepper and Onion, the yolks of hard Eggs minced, some sweet herbs and a little salt, let these boil together half an hour or more: Then beat it up with Butter and Limon; then dish your Meat upon Sippets, and pour it on.
=============================My version:
Ingredients:-
- 500g stewing lamb, diced and trimmed of skin but not suet
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice (not actually in this recipe but very popular in Elizabethan times)
- 25g butter to fry
- 25g of butter to thicken
- 100g Samphire (or thinly sliced green beans or runner beans marinated in salt water)
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar (verjuice)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 5 sprigs fresh flat-leaved parsley, finely chopped
- 3 yolks of hard boiled eggs, loosely broken up
- juice of 1 lemon
- Salt to taste
- Bread, to eat with (Sippet)
Method:-
- In a frying pan just large enough for the meat, brown the meat in the butter (with a few drops of olive oil added to stop the butter burning).
- Add the allspice just before the end of frying and stir in to coat the meat and let the heat activate the spice.
- Add water sparingly until the meat is just about covered and simmer very gently until the meat is almost cooked.
- Now add the samphire (or drained green beans), the sliced onion, the herbs, the egg yolk, mace and pepper.
- Add the vinegar and a little water to cover all the ingredients.
- Simmer for further half-hour, or until the lamb is very tender.
- Finally, stir in the juice of a lemon and 25g of butter to thicken the sauce.
To serve:
- Serve in wide bowls with a good serving of bread.
