We’ve been very lucky with our lingering summer, hot, sunny days, warm pleasant nights, so we shouldn’t be surprised but I am feeling in somewhat of a state of shock at how cold it is compared to yesterday. I’m sure the weatherman didn’t say it was going to be quite so miserable and what’s with all this rain? I can’t tell if it’s the rain streaming down the windows or not, but it all seems a little misty outside. I’m not ready to give up wearing shorts and no socks!
For some reason, mutton stew leapt into my mind – not that I’m going to make any, or would fancy it at the movement – my stomach is still in summer mode, but I wondered what sort of recipes there are for it. I’ve made stews so often I don’t need a recipe, but having been looking at Constance Spry’s cookery book the other day, I wondered what she would suggest. Her recipe, poshly titled Navarin or Ragoût of Mutton, uses middle neck of mutton – I’m not sure mutton is available these days, everyone prefers lamb. Constance includes garlic, tomato purée, bouquet garni, sugar, pickling onions (not pickled!), carrots, turnip and served with potato purée seasoned with nutmeg.
These are her general notes, prefacing the recipe:
This is an excellent homely dish if properly made. It is often served in an unappetising way, the gravy greasy and the vegetables overcooked. To avoid these faults the following points should be observed.
The gravy should be rich and full-flavoured, and carefully skimmed at the point indicated in the recipe, and, as in the case of all dishes containing fat, the navarin should be served on piping hot plates. The meat should be tender and about to fall from the bones, the potatoes and other vegetables tender and melting, but retaining their shape and not in a state of mush. To ensure this it is desirable to cook the navarin in two stages in the way to be described. The meat used may be middle neck, breast, part of a shoulder, or, as the breast is fat, a mixture of breast and shoulder. In this way one obtains a proper proportion of both fat and lean. The vegetables for the navarin may vary according to season; sometimes only one variety is used, sometimes a mixture as in Navarin Printanière.
I think, seventy years on, this advice is still sound!
Lois Elsden 