Lamb and mutton

"Mutton" redirects here. For goat meat used interchangeably with mutton, see Goat meat. For other uses, see Mutton (disambiguation).
Leg and rack of lamb

Lamb, hogget, and mutton (UK, India, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia)[1] are terms for the meat of domestic sheep (species Ovis aries) at different ages. A sheep in its first year is called a lamb; and its meat is also called lamb. The meat of a juvenile sheep older than one year is hogget; outside North America this is also a term for the living animal.[2] The meat of an adult sheep is mutton, a term only used for the meat, not the living animals.

Lamb is the most expensive of the three types, and in recent decades sheep-meat is increasingly only retailed as "lamb", sometimes stretching the accepted distinctions given above. The stronger tasting mutton is now hard to find in many areas, despite the efforts of the Mutton Renaissance Campaign in the UK. In Australia, the term prime lamb is often used to refer to lambs raised for meat.[3] Other languages, for example French and Italian, make similar, or even more detailed, distinctions between sheep meat by age and sometimes by gender, though they generally lack the particular habit of English in having different terms for the living animal and its meat.

Classifications and nomenclature

Lamb rib chops

The definitions for lamb, hogget and mutton vary considerably between countries. Younger lambs are smaller and more tender. Mutton is meat from a sheep over two years old, and has less tender flesh. In general, the darker the colour, the older the animal. Baby lamb meat will be pale pink, while regular lamb is pinkish-red.

Commonwealth of Nations

United States

Under current federal regulations, only the term 'lamb' is used:

The terms 'mutton' and 'hogget' are rare [6] in the United States.

South East Asia

The term "mutton" is applied to goat meat in most of these countries, and the goat population has been rising. For example, mutton-curry is always made from goat meat. It is estimated that over one-third of the goat population is slaughtered every year and sold as mutton. The husbanded sheep population in India and other SE Asian countries has been in decline for over 40 years and has survived at marginal levels in mountainous regions, based on wild-sheep breeds, and mainly for wool production.

Chuletillas of milk-fed lamb in Asturias
Lamb shanks of a young lamb

Other definitions include:

Butchery and cookery

Mutton rogan josh from Kashmir
Lamb chuanr (Chinese Islamic barbecued lamb sticks)

The meat of a lamb is taken from the animal between one month and one year old, with a carcase (carcass in American English) weight of between 5.5 and 30 kilograms (12 and 65 lbs). This meat generally is more tender than that from older sheep and appears more often on tables in some Western countries. Hogget and mutton have a stronger flavour than lamb because they contain a higher concentration of species-characteristic fatty acids and are preferred by some.[10] Mutton and hogget also tend to be tougher than lamb (because of connective tissue maturation) and are therefore better suited to casserole-style cooking, as in Lancashire hotpot, for example.

Lamb is often sorted into three kinds of meat: forequarter, loin, and hindquarter. The forequarter includes the neck, shoulder, front legs, and the ribs up to the shoulder blade. The hindquarter includes the rear legs and hip. The loin includes the ribs between the two.

Lamb chops are cut from the rib, loin, and shoulder areas. The rib chops include a rib bone; the loin chops include only a chine bone. Shoulder chops are usually considered inferior to loin chops; both kinds of chops are usually grilled. Breast of lamb (baby chops) can be cooked in an oven.

Leg of lamb is a whole leg; saddle of lamb is the two loins with the hip. Leg and saddle are usually roasted, though the leg is sometimes boiled.

Forequarter meat of sheep, as of other mammals, includes more connective tissue than some other cuts, and, if not from a young lamb, is best cooked slowly using either a moist method, such as braising or stewing, or by slow roasting or American barbecuing. It is, in some countries, sold already chopped or diced.

Lamb shank definitions vary, but generally include:

Thin strips of fatty mutton can be cut into a substitute for bacon called macon.

Lamb tongue is popular in Middle Eastern cuisine both as a cold cut and in preparations like stews.[11]

Cuts

Commonwealth countries

British cuts of lamb

Approximate zones of the usual UK cuts of lamb:[12]

US and Ireland

National cuisines

Meat from sheep features prominently in several cuisines of the Mediterranean, for example in Greece, where it is an integral component of many meals, including religious feasts such as Easter (see avgolemono, magiritsa); Turkey, in North Africa, the Middle East, in Pakistan and Afghanistan; in the Basque culture, both in the Basque country of Europe and in the shepherding areas of the Western United States. In Northern Europe, mutton and lamb feature in many traditional dishes, including those of Iceland and of the United Kingdom, particularly in the western and northern uplands, Scotland and Wales. It is also very popular in Australia. Lamb and mutton are very popular in Central Asia and in certain parts of China, where other red meats may be eschewed for religious or economic reasons. Barbecued mutton is also a specialty in some areas of the United States (chiefly Owensboro, KY) and Canada. However, meat from sheep is generally consumed far less in North America than in many European, Central American and Asian cuisines; for example, average per capita consumption of lamb in the United States is only 400 grams, with half the population never having tried it.[13]

In Australia, the leg of lamb roast is considered to be the national dish.[14] Commonly served on a Sunday or any other special occasion, it can be done in a kettle BBQ or a conventional oven. Typical preparation involves covering the leg of lamb with butter and rosemary springs pushed inside incisions cut in the leg, and rosemary leaves sprinkled on top. The lamb is then roasted for two hours at 180 °C (360 °F) and typically served with carrots and potato (also roasted), green vegetables and gravy.

In Indonesia, lamb is popularly served as lamb satay[15] and lamb curry.[16] Both dishes are cooked with various spices from the islands, and served with either rice or lontong. A version of lamb and bamboo shoot curry is the specialty of Minang cuisine, although similar dish could also be found in Thai cuisine.

In Mexico, lamb is the meat of choice for the popular barbacoa dish, in which the lamb is roasted or steamed wrapped in maguey leaves underground. In Medieval India: the armies, unable to cook elaborate meals, would prepare a one-pot dish where they cooked rice with mutton. This dish led to the famous Biryani.

Lamb's liver, known as lamb's fry in New Zealand and Australia,[17] is eaten in many countries and, along with the lungs and heart (the pluck), is a major ingredient in the traditional Scottish dish of haggis. Lamb testicles, also known as lamb's fries (a term also used for other lamb offal),[18] is another delicacy. Lamb's liver is the most common form of offal eaten in the UK, traditionally used in the family favourite (and pub grub staple) of liver with onions and/or bacon and mashed potatoes.

Lamb kidneys are found in many cuisines across Europe and the Middle East, often split into two halves and grilled (on kebabs in the Middle East), or sautéed in a sauce. They are generally the most highly regarded of all kidneys. Lamb sweetbreads are a delicacy in many cuisines, though generally ignored in the traditional national cooking of English-speaking countries.

Sheep meat production

The table below gives a sample of producing nations, but many other significant producers in the 50-120 KT range are not given.

Sheep meat production (kt)
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
World 8,415 8,354 8,229 8,348 8,470
 Algeria 179 197 205 253 261
 Australia 660 635 556 513 556
 Brazil 79 80 82 84 85
 China 1978 2044 2070 2050 2080
 European Union 985 934 892 895 880
 France 130 126 119 115 114
 Germany 38 38 38 39 36
 Greece 91 90 90 90 90
 India 275 286 289 293 296
 Iran 170 114 90 104 126
 Indonesia 113 128 113 113 113
 Kazakhstan 110 116 123 128 128
 New Zealand 598 478 471 465 448
 Nigeria 145 149 171 172 174
 Russia 156 164 167 171 173
 Turkey 278 262 240 253 272
 Turkmenistan 124 128 130 130 133
 USA 81 80 76 69 72
 UK 326 307 277 289 275

Source: Helgi Library,[19] World Bank, FAOSTAT

See also

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary Third edition, August 2010; online version November 2010
  2. ↑ OED "Hogget"; The term 'hogget' was only added to the U.S. National Agricultural Library's thesaurus in 2009
  3. ↑ http://www.abare.gov.au/publications_html/livestock/livestock_00/lamb.pdf Australian Prime Lamb Industry, 2000
  4. ↑ Delbridge, Arthur, "The Macquarie Dictionary", 2nd ed., Macquarie Library, North Ryde, 1991
  5. ↑ Code of Federal Regulations 7:XI:1280.111 http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/7cfr1280.114.pdf
  6. ↑ Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. hogget: "chiefly British"
  7. ↑ http://www.speleogroup.org/sg2012.html#20.06
  8. ↑ Sheep CRC
  9. ↑ Keating, Sheila."Food Detective: Salt Marsh Lamb." The Times Online, 28 June 2008.
  10. ↑ Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh. "What Is Mutton - Understanding the History." Mutton Renaissance.
  11. ↑ http://www.discoverlebanon.com/en/recipes/lamb_tongue.php
  12. ↑ Larousse Gastronomique(2001), ISBN 0-600-60235-4
  13. ↑ "Is the UK unusually fond of lamb and potatoes?". BBC News. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Roast lamb rules as Australia's national dish". February 2, 2010.
  15. ↑ Indonesian Regional Food and Cookery By Sri Owen. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  16. ↑ http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/lamb-curry-gulai-kambing
  17. ↑ Delbridge, Arthur, The Macquarie Dictionary, 2nd ed., Macquarie Library, North Ryde, 1991
  18. ↑ OED
  19. ↑ | http://helgilibrary.com/indicators/index/sheep-meat-production Sheep Meat Production | 12 February 2014

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