For the reception buffet at Costume Collegium V, I bought legs of lamb and ground them myself to make this dish. They turned out wonderfully! However, since I have many friends who do not care for lamb, I often make these with beef, or a mixture of lamb and beef. If using beef, add ¼ teaspoon cinnamon to the mixture.
The leftover stock will be very rich and meaty. Drain off any fat, and save the stock for use in another dish, or if you are pre-cooking these for a feast, save the stock to "re-poach" them just before serving.
Take a piece of a leg of mutton, mince it smal and season it with cloves, mace, pepper and salt, and Dates mixed with Currans, then roll it into round rolles, and so into little balles, and so boyle them in a little beefe broth and so serve them foorth.
The Good Huswife's Handmaid, 1594; Maxime de la Falaise (a.k.a. McKendry, Maxime), Seven Centuries of English Cooking; Arwen Southernwood, The Stewpot Period Culinary Guild (SCA)