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

[liasbluestone.livejournal.com]

Seven hour lamb" (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1094/sevenhour-lamb) is a recipe we've done several times with a leg of lamb, and I see no reason to believe it won't work with a shoulder of mutton.

The meat comes out meltingly tender. Put aside the veg you cook it with - they're practically mush - and serve it with roast potatoes and roasted winter veg (carrots, parsnips, beetroot, turnip, onion).

Your 5lb joint should serve 6-8 easily, and it freezes and reheats really well.

Finally, deglaze the casserole with a couple pints of stock, add the mushy veg, heat through and liquidise. Stir in a tablespoon of concentrated mint sauce and you got soup.

I'm hungry now.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Mind you, I haven't cooked mutton in a decade and never without supervision. But if I were you, or I had the similar cut of a big lamb, I would braise it with root vegetables and a tablespoon of tomato paste stirred in. I think it might respond better than if roasted, and you could take advantage of the bones.

[papabearnz.livejournal.com]

One thing to remember with mutton is that it needs to cook very slowly and over a long period of time, of course. personally I find mutton too chewy regardless of how long it's cooked but then lamb is a little cheaper to get down here in the antipodes. *grin*

[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!

alison

[(Anonymous)]

Was going to suggest cooking it slowly too - have a very good Nigel Slater recipe that involves rubbing it with spices and cooking for hours. I've done it with leg and shoulder of lamb. I'll give it to you next time I see you if you want.

Oh, look what I found!

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/mar/20/foodanddrink.recipes

[k425.livejournal.com]

Jamie Oliver's recipe is ace. It does take over 4 hours, but seriously, it's worth it. And the smell is divine. For a big shoulder, I'd probably cook it longer, but we did our 2kg shoulder for the time suggested in the recipe and it worked fine.

I'd buy another half a lamb purely for the shoulder, to be honest!

http://tinyurl.com/5y62ah

[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).

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

For shoulder of mutton, I'd slow cook it for hours and hours and hours with veggies and so on, wrapped in vast amounts of foil if need be. It'll be delicious. I wouldn't roast it.

[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.