At a Sunday School class one Sunday morning, we arranged to have a dinner and social. Plenty of sheep men in the class. Mutton and Sourdough was to be the menu. It just so happened that no one wanted to cook and in order to keep things going, I volunteered. Never having done it before, it didn't turn out too good. I decided to keep trying, and after three years of effort, I finally learned how. From then on, I could do a pretty good meal. With some help to get over the volume, I done several dinners, and for about twelve years I cooked a mutton and sourdough dinner for the ward in the fall. Serving about 300 people each time.
There are several ways to serve mutton. The sheep herder likes his fried in deep fat and served with a hot drink, usually lamb is his choice.
The older sheep need to have more effort and care to make it tender. Sliced pieces of meat dipped in eggs and rolled in cracker crumbs, then browned to a golden brown and placed in a steamer for five hours; this will make it very tender without any grease. Anybody will just love it.
Sourdough: Some claim to have a sourdough start that grandfather brought with him across the plain, but I prefer to start mine fresh each time I'm going to use it for a while. It is easy done; just takes a little time.
Using a crockery jar that will hold about one gallon.
Mix one cup of white flour
1/2 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
Enough water to make a paste
Stir well, then let set in a warm place for a day, stir again.
Add a cup of water and enough flour to keep it a soft paste
Then let it set for another day.
It should be ready to use by the third day.
If you want more, just increase the flour and water until you have the volume you need. Just remember it takes a day or two to be ripe enough to use.
When your start is ready to use, put it into a large mixing pan and mix with flour and water, and a little yeast and work it just like you would a batch of bread. After it is d well (kneaded) place in pan, cover with a cloth and let it rise until it doubles in size. Don't hurry.
Knead it again and roll it out on a board, cut into roll sized pieces and place them on a baking pan. Brush them with grease, cover and let rise until double in size. Place in the oven (350 degrees)
and bake for about 35 minutes. When golden brown, take from the oven, brush with grease again and place them on a cooling rack. They are ready to serve. Have butter and honey or jam ready.
Sometimes it takes several tries to get everything to turn out alright.
You should be a lot faster than I was. Good Luck !!!
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