Mutton!

[Jonathan Day]

As reported earlier (click here) I bought a leg of mutton -- not lamb -- at Borough Market. The raw meat was a dark red and had a gamy, almost spicy odor: not at all "off", but richer than the usual lamb.

It went into a slow oven for 7 hours, with garlic, onions, a splash of red wine and a few bay leaves. I took the fat off the liquid after 4 hours.

The result was delicious: tender and moist, with much deeper flavours than I've had using true lamb. I'm now motivated to try things like mutton civets and stews. This is the sort of dish that could partner a very big wine.

It's hard to find mutton even in France, though my butcher there can order it. The butcher I usually use in London laughed when I asked about mutton -- he did not remember it as a desirable meat.

Do other members cook with mutton? Would a fancy restaurateur be laughed out of court if mutton turned up on the menu?

Only hassle is that the oven temperature was clearly a bit too high for this dish -- and this was in the plate-warming oven of an Aga, which measures about 82 C. Next time I will prop the door open or somehow contrive to get the temperature down to 60C. I think that would produce an even more tender 7 hour mutton.

[John Whiting]

I'll respond in more detail later, but must say quickly that I couldn't possibly agree with you more. You've pushed one of my favorite buttons!

[spicegirl]

Where did the word Mutton come from?

I thought the English brought it to what is now India and Pakistan.

Is that true?

Is Mutton the word for goat?

[John Whiting]

I haven't looked this up in order to be more precise, but mutton is, of course, mature lamb and comes from the French "mouton", which is their generic term for the species. It reminds us that lamb was once most commonly eaten when it was older.

[Simon Majumdar]

I love mutton. It is a wonderful ingredient in Indian cookery. It stands up to slow cooking so much better than young lamb.

I find that marrinating it for 24 hours in a mixture of spices and vinegar and then roasting slowly ( 7hrs again ) in a medium oven creates the closest I have ever had to some of the mutton dishes in Goa

[Saffy]

Mutton is eaten a lot here in New Zealand. A nice leg of mutton roasted with potatos, Kumara, crown pumpkin and parsnips is a very traditional sunday dinner here.

Naming convention for sheep meat goes like this. Lamb = 1 year or less. Hogget = one to two years old. Mutton older than 2 years.

Mutton on the whole tends to be a little stronger in flavour than lamb and the meat is much more tender. A lovely leg of mutton will just literally fall off the bone.

It is also often cured to make mutton ham which is excellent and surprisingly it is not too different from traditional ham.

It is most suited to stewing braising and roasting as the favoured cooking methods.

A lovely juicy piece of mutton .. great stuff :)

[Jinmyo]

Saffy, that's very interesting. I have never heard of mutton ham before.

In Southeast Asia "mutton" refers to both sheep and goat.

[John Whiting]

de Groot's famous "Gigot de Mouton de Sept Heures", passed along in _Recipes from the Flowering Hearth_, specifies mutton as the preferred meat for the long slow cooking. But more modern cookbooks tend to avoid it. Does Elizabeth David have any mutton recipes? I've not time at the moment to look it up.

[Bux]

I wonder of one can get mutton in NYC? It's hardly possible to see the word "lamb" without seeing "baby," "young" or "spring" directly in front of it. Is this a factor of the economics or raising sheep, or just changing taste (or perception of taste)? It may also be that sheep over two years of age is still sold as lamb. I guess that would be a matter of mislabeling to appease popular taste for the idea of lamb vs. mutton. I had never heard of "hogget" or mutton ham before. As a matter of fact, sheep may be the one animal whose meat I've never had cured.

[CathyL]

Many years ago, I regularly bought mutton chops at Oppenheimer's, an excellent NYC butcher shop at 97th & Broadway. (Harry O., the now-retired proprietor, was a former OSS operative and a major character.) All I ever did was broil them, and they were superb. I've been lightly smoking leg of lamb - I'll bet the same treatment would work even better with mutton. Time for a pilgrimage uptown...

[Fat Guy]

"Mutton! Very good after 7 hours of cooking." Someone please forward this to the Mutton Marketing Board.

[Jinmyo]

On billboards and magazine ads:

"Mutton! Really not so bad as you think! It's rather good, in fact!"

"Mutton! The other sheep meat!"

[Fat Guy]

"Mutton! The more you cook it, the better it gets."

"Mutton! Cooks while you're at the office."

[Jinmyo]

"Mutton! The long-term meat!"

Mutton! You can't cook too much mutton too much!"

[Gavin Jones]

"Mutton - taste of the whole Sheep"

"Mutton - for life - not just for lunch"

"Mutton - Lamb that's been around"

[Suvir Saran]

Simon,

But in Goa they do not have lamb available. Did you know that? I e-mailed the director of the tourism board when I was working on some recipes for lamb and pork from Goa. He cleared the confusion. Goat is the meat they use.

This makes it further confusing. In India mutton is used to refer to lamb and goat. But most Indians prefer to use Goat for it is leaner and they are able to find baby goat more easily.

And reading this thread, I am all confused.

[StephenT]

"Mutton - lamb that's lived a little"

[Liza]

"Mutton - aged, so you don't have to".

[Jinmyo]

"Mutton! Eat ugly old sheep instead of cute widdle lambs!"

[Fat Guy]

"Mutton! Grown-up lamb; lamb for grown-ups."

[John Whiting]

"Mutton chops! They're not just whiskers!"

[Jinmyo]

"Mutton! Are you game for it?"

[Wilfrid]

Stop mucking about, everyone.

I have read several references recently to boiled mutton with caper sauce, which sounds like a treat. I have bought mutton in the UK in the past. Any NYC members know if I can get it from Halal butchers, eg over on 9th Avenue, or elsewhere?

Ta. Okay, carry on with your silliness now.

[GordonCooks]

"Mutton. the other Thanksgiving meat"

sorry.

[CathyL]

"Mutton: breakfast of champions!"

(see Borden, Lizzie)

I'm sorry too, but not very.