Mutton!

[Fat Guy]

MAD ABOUT MUTTON

[John Whiting]

To get serious -- ha! -- Julia Child's _Mastering the Art_ has a whole section on "Lamb and Mutton" in which she states at the outset that mutton is almost impossible to get (that was over thirty years ago) and then proceeds to give roasting times for mutton and lamb as if they were interchangeable. I wonder if she ever got any feedback on that from readers with broken dentures?

[GordonCooks]

Lamb Jerky ?

[Wilfrid]

For goodness sake. What about my question?

[Liza]

I can find out if it's available at the farmer's market...

[Gavin Jones]

Outside Halal butcheries the full sheep experience is hard to come by in cities. But I've never went further than discussing the general availability

so maybe it might have been kid - still delish.

I wonder if there are mail order places which would work - since on the odd occasion I've found myself in Lamb country it is sometimes possible to buy hogget (& occasionally mutton) from farms.

"Mutton - dressed as lamb - for you"

[Saffy]

As reported earlier (click here) I bought a leg of mutton -- not lamb -- at Borough Market.

Just out of interest, was it expensive? Here Mutton is waaay cheaper than lamb. Not hard to find at all. I am not sure how much mutton NZ exports, since the demand overseas seems to be for lamb.

I have dropped the New Zealand Beef and Lamb marketing board an email to see what they have to say about it all :)

[Fat Guy]

They have a nice mutton chop at Keen's in NYC.

I wonder if they have it at the butcher shops on Arthur Avenue. They tend to stock most furry things.

[Jonathan Day]

That leg of mutton (I do not remember the weight, but it was small to medium-sized) cost me £9.90. My guess is that a leg of spring lamb that size would have cost at least £15 and probably more like £20.

"Mutton ... the sheep that's cheap!"

[Saffy]

I just about choked on my toast and marmalade when I read your post about the price!!!!!!!!!!!

9 quid!!! that is so expensive!! 9 quid is about $27.00. I could buy a leg of mutton here for about $10.00 and a leg of lamb for about $15.00. You are paying 3 times what we pay here. Maybe there is some advantage to living in a country that has 70 million wool clad residents afterall.

[Jonathan Day]

Welcome to Blighty, Saffy...the land where everything costs more.

Your comment about the 70m sheep brings the following incident to mind.

We have a friend, Martin, who is a PR in the City but in his spare time is a "gentleman farmer". He has a small plot in the country where they raise ornamental chickens (about 20 of them last I visited), 2 or 3 ducks and a few sheep. Farmhouse, Aga, all the stuff.

A few years ago Martin visited New Zealand. In the immigration queue he was asked "have you been on a sheep farm recently?" Martin is an honest guy and answered "I live on a sheep farm", whereupon he was whisked into an interrogation room.

"Now then, sir," said the immigration agent, brandishing a pencil, "how many sheep do you have on your farm?"

"Three," said Martin.

The agent wrote "3,000" on the form (or perhaps it was "300,000" -- I don't remember).

"No," said Martin: "three."

This time the agent wrote "300" (or perhaps it was "3,000")

"No, no, no," Martin said: "I told you, three sheep."

"You mean three, as in one-two-three?" asked the agent.

"That's right," said Martin.

"Name them," said the agent. And Martin did.

"Get out of here," said the agent, collapsing in laughter. "Right now."

Here ends this evening's mutton story.

[Wilfrid]

They have a nice mutton chop at Keen's in NYC.

I wonder if they have it at the butcher shops on Arthur Avenue. They tend to stock most furry things.

Yes, I've had the chop. I suppose I'd better get over to a Halal butcher on 9th or on Lex in the 20's and have a look for myself. Boiled mutton with caper sauce, oh yes.

[Saffy]

JD that is so funny - you gave me a good laugh there, I can just imagine the immigration officers doing that. 3 sheep would hardly be worth mentioning.

Thanks for sharing that story :)

[Jinmyo]

"Mutton! At £9.90 it's not just for poor people anymore!"

[Jonathan Day]

Larousse Gastronomique (Prosper Montagné, 1938) talks about mutton (mouton) for some 14 pages. It is clear that mutton was eaten at least as frequently as lamb. There are recipes for every part: cutlets, saddle, head, tongue. The lamb (agneau) section is shorter. Many of the recipes overlap.

A lamb is defined as a sheep less than 1 year old.

After a year, or after the first (front) teeth appear, it is an "antenais".

After the molars appear, it is a "belier" or a "brebis".

Suckling lamb (agneau de lait) has not been weaned. After weaning, it is an agneau ordinaire or agneau de pré salé. Evidently the latter term is both generic and specific, because there is also an entry under agneau de pré salé specifynig that this is a young sheep raised on a salt meadow. The reader is directed to the "mutton" section for recipes!

The more recent edition (Robert Courtine, 1984; I have the English translation of this one) defines mutton as a castrated and fattened male sheep more than a year old. Rams have too much flavour of wool grease and ewes tend to be fat.

Milk lamb (agnelet): 30-40 days old, 8-10 kg

Agneau blanc or laiton: 70-150 days, 20-25 kg

Broutant or agneau gris: weaned, 6-9 months. "Many gourmets prefer this to agneau blanc".

Lamb is "increasingly replacing mutton, which having a stronger flavour is hardly ever in demand."

Alan Davidson cites Mrs Beeton to the effect that mutton was the most frequently used meat in England at the time she was writing.

Interesting both that the French terms have changed and that mutton has fallen so far out of favour.

[Jinmyo]

"Mutton! More great lamb taste!"

[Matthew Grant]

OK, I go my Mutton, I want a recipe, preferably slow cooked on the bone with an Asian or North African influence.

I'm normally quite confident with spices but I'm concerned that the spices may burn over such a long time, has anyone any experience of this?

[Adam Balic]

Adam = Australian = surrounded by many sheep. We killed a sheep once a week on my grandparents farm (for them and the extended family). It was always the least likely to live sheep. So it was nearly always old mutton. How I hated it. It was only upon moving to the city that I ate any type of sheep and enjoyed it (rack of lamb). But these sheep were all Merinos, which are bred for wool, not meat in Australia and I have subsequently found out that mutton in the UK is excellent.

So far I have had mutton from those Viking introduced hefted Lake District sheep, Iron age type Shetland sheep, Soay sheep and regular Blackfaced mutton. Of them all I prefer The Lake District breed, nice strong flavour, but still sweet.

Mutton hams were once an item of export (to England) from both Wales and Scotland (18th C.). I have been planing to make one in my new flat, but to b authentic to the Scottish recipe it has to be smoked and I am talking to my butcher about this. The basic recipe is a wet brine period, followed by drying (just like dry cured pork hams) then a light smoke. More detailed recipes can be found in Jane Grigson's "Good Things" (I think, will check).

Confit de Mouton is great slowly cooked though in new flageolet beans.

Saffy - welcome. The cost of living in the UK is indeed very very high compared to Australia or New Zealand. The most revolting frozen leg of New Zealand lamb is about seven quid. For a really top quality leg of lamb I pay 25 quid and for 2 kilos of (admittedly extremely good quality) wild salmon was 28 quid.

[Adam Balic]

OK, I go my Mutton, I want a recipe, preferably slow cooked on the bone with an Asian or North African influence.

I'm normally quite confident with spices but I'm concerned that the spices may burn over such a long time, has anyone any experience of this?

Matthew - If you have a recipe in mind do as per usual, but wrap the leg in parchement paper (or doubled foil) and tie it up. Cook slowly and you will get a self basted/steamed leg of very tender mutton. Cut off all the extra fat though, as it doesn't need it using this technique. In Fez they would use a vessel to get the same effect and they wouldn't brown the meat.

[Andy Lynes]

Would a fancy restaurateur be laughed out of court if mutton turned up on the menu?

Apparently not http://www.caterer.com/archive/articledeta...articleID=41729

[Gavin Jones]

Did he really refer to it as a 'love affair with mutton'.

[Andy Lynes]

They like their sheep in the South West don't they!

[Jinmyo]

Great link, Andy. Thanks.

[nervousnelli]

Go to a NY metro area supermarket, dig down to the bottom of the lamb section of the meat case looking for the earliest dated package of what they call half leg of lamb. I ended up with a hunk of meat that tasted very like mutton when roasted.

[Andy Lynes]

Great link, Andy. Thanks.

I met Richard Guest (subject of the above mentioned link) when I spent a week in the kitchens at Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane. Jean Christophe Novelli was head chef, but I was really left in Richard's care, who was chef saucier at the time. I was considering a change of career at the time and was working a "stage" to see if a chefs life was for me. Richard was quite insistant that, as I had a wife and young son, the life of a commis in a Michelin starred kitchen was not what I should be aiming for. During the first coouple of days, I thought he was mad. By the end of the week, I virtually crawled out of the hotel I was so tired, and was ready to take Richards advise a little more seriously. I will never forget the dish of incredibly rich and filling cassoulet he cooked for me and that I ate standing in the kitchen just after lunch service. Or the scallop and lamb brochette. It was one of the most "happening" restaurants of that time (1994) and I saw and learnt a great deal in those 5 days.

Richard was a very fine cook and I will never forget the dish of incredibly rich and filling cassoulet he cooked for me and that I ate standing in the kitchen just after lunch service. Or the scallop and lamb brochette. It was one of the most "happening" restaurants of that time (1994) and I saw and learnt a great deal in those 5 days. It therefore didn't suprise me that he went on to first become Novelli's group executive chef, and then, when that went pear shaped, to win a Michelin star at The Castle in Taunton. I have completely lost contact with him, but have followed his career with interest. Perhaps I ought to give him a call.