Cooking Big Lumps of Meat

[ailbhe]

We have recently bought, at a bargain price, half a mutton. It came butchered, but some of the lumps are lumpy. the one we're baffled by is 2.2kg of Shoulder Of Mutton On The Bone. It's practically Shoulder Of Mutton Comes On Own Plate.

I assume we can put it in the oven at gas mark 4 or 5 for 20 minutes a pound and 20 minutes over, but has anyone any excellent recommendations?

Comments

[ailbhe]

I've almost never eaten mutton, because it's very difficult to buy. Most places only sell lamb. Mutton is now a specialist product for which people can find themselves paying specialist prices.

[papabearnz.livejournal.com]

hehehe. I find it amusing that mutton is a specialist product that commands high prices! here it's a sheep that's too old to be productive anymore that's only one step away from the offal pit!

[the0lady.livejournal.com]

Not so here - mutton is anything that is no longer lamb, and the life expectancy of lamb is not high, less than 18 months if I remember correctly. So the stereotype of mutton as stringy old geriatric sheep is really not up to date anyore.

[papabearnz.livejournal.com]

Ahh - Here from Lamb you get two-tooth (2 year old) and then hoggett till about 4 years old then it's mutton from there on (The year breakpoints might vary but it's something like that).

[ailbhe]

I think you're not allowed to sell it for eating after it's three years old, here. But that's from unchecked memory and could be wrong.