Buying mutton

[VivaLeBeaver]

Just been watching Great British Food Revival and am now inspired to cook a leg of mutton. Never seen mutton in the supermarket so looked online - £30 from some organic online farm thingy.

Will it be this much from a butcher? Does Waitrose sell it?

LOL at 'does Waitrose sell it'

DP is going to ask his butcher mate to order it

I didn't like the bloke presenting it though - bit of a cocky so and so

I thought I might have more chance in Waitrose than Morrisons.

Which recipe are you tempted by?

The one with the caper sauce. DP made a beef stew with a caper sauce the other week and it was LUSH

ALso liked the look of the Morrocan one

I think I'm going to do the Morrocan one.

will compare notes with you

Not if its going to cost £30 to buy a leg you won't. Can't afford that when DH is vegi and DD will no doubt not eat it. Be an expensive meal for one!

Hope you don't get mutton dressed as lamb

I'm more worried about getting lamb dressed as mutton.

Ask at a good local butcher - we bought a whole sheep portioned up (2 legs, 2 shoulders, rolled breast, chops, and mince - I think that was it...!) for £100. The flavour was fantastic (nicer than lamb) and we just bunged it all in the freezer and used it for ages

I've also been quoted £30 for a shoulder of mutton

Do you think those recipes can be done with lamb instead then? I've priced up lamb in Morrisons today and its less than half the price

I think they can Viva - I've used lamb instead of mutton when doiing a hughwhatshisface recipe.

Halal butchers sell Mutton very cheaply too We buy our Mutton and Goat from there also brilliant for cheap lamb and beef too. We had some diced beef from there once £3 a Kilo and it was beautiful well hung and gorgous (sp?)

Mmmmmm, I doubt there's a halal butcher in a 40 mile radius of where I live. Will try one with lamb instead and see how it goes, thanks.

Didn't they sound good on that programme? Found the recipes on line, but ran out of paper (!) so haven't printed off.

Also the slow cooked belly of pork James Martin did...

You really dont not need to go organic!!! There must be plenty of farmers aound that do direct sell or the farmers markets. I have a few in the field that I'm considering but know that by the time I'd sorted it out then people wouldnt want it. However we always have done hogget which is 1 year old lamb. Better carcus size and less fat.

Who hell sells a shoulder for £30 or was it a whole shoulder? Isnt one of those mad organic and bio people? You really need half a shoulder which can be either knuckle or blade parts.

www.somersetfarmdirect.co.uk/shop.htm is the only one I can find. Sure if you have a proper butcher close by he can order some in.

Like many farmers you do mutton and no one wants it so you revert back to lamb.

Matt Tubbett is lush (sado), his restaurant isnt far from us.

We get Hogget and Mutton from local famers market

Gorgeous

Will have to check out the farmer's market. Great idea. Thanks.

Have a look here:

www.blackface.co.uk/scottish_blackface_mutton.asp

www.muttonrenaissance.org.uk/shopping.php

And google for your local farmers market

oops!

Have a look here:

www.blackface.co.uk/scottish_blackface_mutton.asp

www.muttonrenaissance.org.uk/shopping.php

And google for your local farmers market

the taste of mutton makes me retch.

How do you plan to cook it?

This is the recipe I've got;

Mutton shoulder tagine
Slow cooking produces meltingly tender mutton and a crowd pleasing tagine.
Ingredients
For the tagine
? 1 mutton shoulder, on the bone
? olive oil, for rubbing
? salt and freshly ground black pepper
? 1 tsp coriander seeds
? ½ tsp cumin seeds
? 3 star anise
? 1 cinnamon stick
? 2 pinches saffron strands
? 2 preserved lemon rinds, quartered, flesh discarded
? 1 head garlic
? 2 x 400g/14oz cans chopped tomatoes
? 4 red onions
? 2 red chillies
? 600ml/1 pint lamb stock
To serve
? 1 bunch fresh coriander
? 1 bunch fresh mint
? olive oil, for drizzling
? couscous
Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
2. For the tagine, rub the mutton shoulder with olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place a large lidded casserole over a high heat and fry the shoulder on all sides, or until golden-brown all over. Add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, star anise, cinnamon stick, saffron, lemon rinds, garlic, chillies, chopped tomatoes and stock.
3. Cover the casserole with a lid and place into the oven to cook for 3 hours, or until the lamb is meltingly tender.
4. Remove the casserole from the oven and season the braising liquid with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. To serve, roughly chop the coriander and mint and stir into the tagine. Drizzle over some olive oil and serve with couscous.