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Don't be a sheep: the reasons we need to eat more mutton

Words by Molly

12 September 2019 | 

4 mins

Mutton has been the victim of some seriously bad PR. Engineered to sound like one of those awful foods served up by an elderly relative who’s lost all sense of taste, and completely unfairly, deemed a second-class citizen to lamb.

It’s time to change the way we treat our mutton and move it up alongside the millennial pièce de résistance that is quinoa salad and passion fruit kombucha (okay, perhaps a mountain to climb, but we’ve got to start somewhere).

What is mutton (and why does it taste so good)?

Mutton is the meat of an older sheep, usually aged between two and five years. Being a matured meat, mutton has a generous fat content and brings with it a depth of flavour that younger lamb simply hasn’t had the chance to develop. You might hear mutton being described as ‘gamey’ because the flavour is strong and rich, mellowing when the meat is cooked.

The rich flavour of mutton will hold up against an equally bold sauce, so it’s the perfect choice for a hearty Autumnal curry or tagine-style stew. You can also sauté your mutton as you would flat iron steak or wild venison haunch, but make sure to use great quality meat to avoid the tough-as-old-boots style of mutton that’s been putting us off for decades (more on this later).

Where did it all go wrong for mutton?

It might make sense to start with the rise of mutton. The humble sheep has done a lot for us Brits, forming the backbone of the economic boom in the 13th century and all thanks to the production and selling of wool. It was actually only after the invention of synthetic fibres that farmers turned to the meat of their animals to make a living.

What might surprise you (given the less than impressive modern-day opinion) is that mutton was embraced with open arms and became a delicacy for both rich and poor. For the Victorians, a good piece of mutton was a common sight and, in many instances, even more popular than beef.

So what gives? Well, it was a mixture of social proof, farming practice and our tendency to be creatures of habit that forged the downfall of mutton. Farmers were able to produce lamb for selling much quicker and so it made economic sense to sell. Mutton became a rarity and gradually the taste for this meat was lost. Production slowed, our friends weren’t eating mutton and so we didn’t either (the social proof element, a surprisingly tricky little thing to overcome).

We should point out that we’re not alone in our mission to get mutton back en vogue. You might have noticed the odd mutton curry popping up on a trendy restaurant menu, or gracing the side of an intimidatingly cool street food van. In 2004 the Prince of Wales even launched a Mutton Renaissance Campaign to get mutton back onto the radar. Progress is being made but these things take time. Re-educating a nation, and in particular re-educating our taste buds, is notoriously difficult (I’m sure parents having broccoli-wars with their children will agree with us on this one).

Mutton wins on the sustainability front.

British sheep farmers are faced with a problem: the consumer demands lamb and yet rejects the older animal. Farmers struggle to sell their older meat and so this perfectly edible (and we hope we’ve convinced you, delicious) mutton goes to waste.

From a sustainability viewpoint, it’s obvious that if we wish to continue eating lamb, we should also be eating mutton. Not only this, but sheep will forage naturally on grass and will quite happily graze on land that doesn’t have much agricultural use. This removes the need to produce carbon-heavy grain and means the farmer can use land that would otherwise be barren. Put simply, buying and eating mutton will help our farmers to get the most from their land, their animals and their labour.

How to prepare your mutton for mouth-watering results.

With all this talk about how wonderful mutton really is, you might be left wondering why lamb is the more popular meat. We often ponder this question ourselves, but we’ll be the first to admit that lamb is more consistent, being a naturally tender meat while mutton has a tendency to be tough. If cooked wrong (and reared in a low-welfare conditions) mutton is unlikely to convert even the most die-hard of meat eaters.

Our top tips for mouth-watering mutton:

• Source your mutton from high-welfare famers (*cough* Field & Flower *cough*) and no, this isn’t just a shameless plug. How sheep are reared and the diet they are fed has a direct impact on the quality of the meat.
• Know how the meat is slaughtered. Stress and slaughter can impact meat quality, which is why we work with farmers who keep this to an absolute minimum.
• Know how the meat is treated after slaughter. We hand-butcher our sheep and let them hang on the bone for 5-7 days. This reduces water content, tenderises the meat and enhances the natural flavours of the mutton.
• Slow-cook your mutton in a warming and hearty curry (we’ve got just the recipe). Or, if you love the flavour of game, try sautéing and searing our cannon of mutton. It’s so tender you won’t believe it’s mutton.
• Enjoy your mutton from October through until March. This is when mutton will be at its absolute best, raised on the nutritious grass and heather that summer has to offer.

It’s time to embrace British mutton, to accept that our Victorian ancestors were on to good thing and to support British farmers. All while enjoying a delicious, free-range mutton curry. Now that doesn’t sound so bad after all…