I’ve Got Plenty of Mutton

Mutton roast

I never had mutton before today. I’ve had lamb plenty of times. When lamb is over a year in age it is called mutton. I got my roast from a local farm- thanks to Kaey Brey. She raises lamb and I had enjoyed several of her lamb roasts before. I was not sure what to expect. Kaey told me to braise it for a long time. It is a shoulder roast- even with lamb a shoulder would take long cooking with moist heat. Since mutton is tougher I was told to cook it a much longer time. I set it up in a covered roaster on a rack. This way the fat would drip off and the meat would not be sitting in it while cooking. I did a simple rub on the meat- salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder and paprika. In the bottom of the roaster I put red wine, some chicken stock, and an assortment of aromatic veggies. I cooked it at 350 degrees for 8 hours. The house smelled amazing and the dog kept following me to the kitchen- sure that what he was smelling certainly must be ready. I did have to add more liquid a couple of times. Make sure your roaster has a very tight lid or check on it from time to time so the liquid does not run out. The plan was to share the mutton with Jonathan the next day so I cooled the roast and took out the bones. Well, in the interest of full disclosure the bones fell away from the roast when I took it out of the roasting pan. It was very tender. I strained out the pan juices and placed all in the fridge. This morning I took the roast and placed it in the crock pot. I added the de-fatted pan juices and set it to heat up while we ran errands. When we got back we enjoyed the mutton with a tossed salad and some steamed sweet potatoes. It was really good. The flavor and texture reminded me of beef. Dense and very filling. Since the roast was over 7 pounds we’ll be having mutton a few more times. I think I’ll make shepherd’s pie from at least some of it. It makes me wonder why we don’t see more mutton in the market. It was really tasty and rich, while not being gamey. Don’t know if you ever had mutton but if you haven’t I hope you get a chance to try it sometime.

Ready for the oven