On Carving Joints

Appears in
top 1000A Shilling Cookery for the People
A Shilling Cookery for the People

By Alexis Soyer

Published 1854

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Dear Eloise,—I insert the following lesson on that culinary accomplishment, carving, knowing what an important item it is in the art and mystery of cookery, and yet, how few there are who understand that apparently simple art.

First, you must truss your joint with taste, and take away any unsightly bone to give it a good shape, more especially the neck, loin, or breast of either veal, mutton, pork, or lamb.
For a shilling or so you can purchase a small saw, and instead of letting the butcher divide the bone of a loin of mutton carelessly, saw the bone through at about a distance of half an inch from each other. Bibs of lamb, and breasts of mutton and veal the same, These being most difficult joints to carve, should be sawn carefully.