I don't want to eat babies, butchery advice needed

[silverfish 10]

On lambs that is! It's all spring lamb now, which surely means lambs that have only lived a few months. I want to eat animals that have at least had a summer jumping around in the fields, ie last year's lambs but they're not lamb anymore - (over a year old). What do I ask for at the butchers?

[cgksheff 44]

By European Meat Trade definition:

 

Lamb is from sheep 'less than 1 year old'.

Sheep meat from animals older than that is Mutton.

 

Previously people would have said mutton was from sheep over 2 years old but fashions change.

 

"Lamb" has sacrificed flavour for tenderness.

Mutton needs longer handling, preparation and cooking times but gives a much richer flavour with more depth than lamb.

 

Any 'good' butcher will be able to get you some mutton, but if you are struggling then look towards the Halal shops.

[silverfish 10]

thanks cgk - but there must be a difference between a sheep that is just over a year old and one that's 6 or 7 say - that's what I'd really classify as mutton.

[cgksheff 44]

It is the curse of economics that limits the time a farmer is prepared to keep an animal feeding before slaughter.

 

Will the extra rearing costs be (more than) compensated by a higher-value product? Not usually the case here, I'm afraid.

 

The Organic producers are offering more mutton these days and are probably the source of the older meat of maybe up to 3 years old. But most of it will be around 2 year-old.

 

I guess that to get older meat you are going to have to look for a wool sheep and stick it in your boot!

 

Back to naming: a sheep between 1 and 2 years old (in its second spring) is known as a hogget.

[savbaby 10]

Originally posted by silverfish

On lambs that is! It's all spring lamb now, which surely means lambs that have only lived a few months. I want to eat animals that have at least had a summer jumping around in the fields, ie last year's lambs but they're not lamb anymore - (over a year old). What do I ask for at the butchers?

 

do you eat chicken? i ask this as most chickens you buy in the shops are only around 10 weeks old when they are slaughtered and prepared. if you are wanting to know the lamb has had a time jumping around surely you would want the same for the chickens:suspect:

[theflyingfish 10]

Originally posted by savbaby

do you eat chicken? i ask this as most chickens you buy in the shops are only around 10 weeks old when they are slaughtered and prepared. if you are wanting to know the lamb has had a time jumping around surely you would want the same for the chickens:suspect:

 

and free range at that

[silverfish 10]

I do only buy free range/organic chicken, but with lamb I decided that wasn't so important as I know sheep in this country - especially the ones on the hills are just left to get on with being sheepish. I used to eat duck ont he same principle until I found out they were all kept indoors with no pond. No more duck for me!

 

What sort of reaction would I get if I went to a butchers and asked for hogget?

[Kristian 11]

Why not try Quorn? No sleepless nights then!

[JoeP 11]

I shot a Quorn one...damn thing took three bearers to bring it back to The Towers. We hung it for a few weeks to mature the taste but it wasn't quite the same as lamb.

 

I have to say that as I've got older I've toyed with the idea of becoming a vegetarian more and more. The problem is that I really, really enjoy the taste of mutton and pork, especially. I know this makes me a terrible person...

 

I try and get free range / organic meat nowadays but don't always. Perhaps I need to start making some major efforts to learn to love the taste of cauliflower instead.

 

Joe

[theflyingfish 10]

Originally posted by Kristian

Why not try Quorn? No sleepless nights then!

 

Quorn uses battery eggs though!

[Greybeard 10]

Originally posted by JoeP

The problem is that I really, really enjoy the taste of mutton and pork, especially.

 

But sadly it doesn't seem to taste anything like it used to. These days most supermarket meat, except whole chicken of course, appears to be butchered [ie cut up into joints] immediately after slaughter, and then either chilled or frozen. When I was a lad [ ] we bought our meat from the Co-Op butchers and the carcases were mostly butchered on the premises after being properly hung in cool conditions for a few days.

 

It was fascinating to watch the butcher unhook half a pig from the rail and set about it with a very sharp knife, - wanting a particular joint could often involve a wait of ten minutes or more.

 

My mother was fussy about meat in that she insisted on home-killed because it hadn't been frozen, unlike the New Zealand lamb or Argentine beef. Her father had been a butcher and she always maintained freezing meat spoiled the taste and texture.

[silverfish 10]

I don't eat processed stuff if I can avoid it. Thanks for the battery eggs reminder too, flyingfish.

 

I have been veggie in the past (and tend to vegan apart from my lamb habit). Surely humans who've evolved in these islands have also evolved to eat animals and vegetables, I just don't want to be harder on the animals than needed.