Another Ragout ( of Pieces of Mutton, Veal, Beef, etc. ).
Make rich pie-paste about the size of an egg (for four persons); roll it a quarter of an inch thick; cut it into diamonds, say an inch long and half an inch broad. Bake them, and put them aside until five minutes before serving the ragout. Take mutton, veal, beef, or almost any kind of meat. Any cheap cut of meat will make a good ragout, and choice cuts had better be cooked in other ways. In this instance, I will say, cut two pounds from the side of mutton. Put a table-spoonful of lard or drippings into a saucepan, and when hot sauté in it the pieces of mutton; when half done, place them in a kettle. Add a heaping table-spoonful of flour to the drippings in the saucepan; stir it constantly several minutes to brown, then add gradually a pint of hot water; now pour this over the meat in the kettle, adding three small onions, two sprigs of parsley, three cloves, and a clove or bulb of garlic, if you have it; pepper and salt. Cover it closely, and let it simmer slowly for an hour, occasionally turning the kettle to one side to skim off all the fat. Five minutes before serving, add the diamonds of crust.
At the moment of serving, take out the meat, crust, and three onions, and arrange them on a hot platter. Pass the gravy through a sieve, and skim off every remaining particle of fat; taste to see if it is properly seasoned with pepper and salt, and pour it over the meat.