he meat is to be rare, or to 165 deg. Fahr., if it is to be well
done; and to maintain this gentle heat until the meat is tender. There is
comparatively little waste in boiling, from the fact that fat melts less
quickly than in broiling or roasting, and the covering of the pot
retards evaporation, while the water absorbed by the meat adds to its
bulk to a certain extent without detracting from its quality. A strainer
or plate should be placed in the bottom of the pot to prevent burning;
the pot should be skimmed clear as soon as it boils, and the subsequent
simmering should be gentle and steady; there should always be sufficient
water to cover the meat in order to keep it plump. Less body of heat is
required to boil in copper or iron pots, than in those made of tin,
especially if the latter have polished surfaces which throw off the
heat. The pot-liquor from boiled meat should always be strained into an
earthen jar and left to cool; the fat can then be taken off for kitchen
use, and the liquor utilized as the basis for some kind of soup.

112. =Leg of Mutton with Caper Sauce.=--Put a leg of mutton, weighing
about six pounds, on the fire in enough boiling hot water to cover it;
boil it for five minutes, skimming it as often as any scum rises, then
pour in enough cold water to reduce the heat to about 160 deg. Fahr.,
season with a tablespoonful of salt, and simmer the meat at that heat
until it is tender, allowing about twenty minutes cooking to each pound
of meat; if turnips are to be served with it as a garnish, choose them
of equal size, pare them smoothly, and boil them with the mutton; if the
vegetables are cooked first take them up without breaking, and set them
back off the fire, in a little of the mutton stock, to keep hot. Just
before dishing the meat, make a caper sauce, as directed in receipt No.
113; serve the mutton on a hot dish, with the turnips laid around it,
and send the sauce in a gravy-boat to the table with it.

113. =Caper Sauce.=--Put one ounce of butter and one ounce of flour in a
sauce-pan over the fire, and stir until smoothly melted; gradually pour
in half a pint of boiling water, season with one teaspoonful of salt,
and quarter of a saltspoonful of white pepper, and stir until the sauce
coats the spoon when you lift it out; take it from the fire, and stir in
two ounces of butter, and two tablespoonfuls of small capers, and serve
at once. _Do not permit the sauce to boil after you have added the