Lamb and mutton, collectively sheep meat (or sheepmeat) is one of the most common meats around the world, taken meat from the Sheep, Ovis aries, and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in their second, and mutton, from older sheep.
In South Asian and Caribbean cuisine, "mutton" often means goat meat.[ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, June 2003, s.v., definition 1b][Charmaine O'Brien, The Penguin Food Guide to India, section "The Commons", under "Mutton", ][Madhur Jaffrey, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, , p. 49][Janet Groene, Gordon Groene, U.S. Caribbean Guide
]
p. 81 At various times and places, "mutton" or "goat mutton" has occasionally been used to mean goat meat.
Lamb is the most expensive of the three types, and in recent decades, sheep meat has increasingly only been 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.[ Australian Prime Lamb Industry, 2000 ] Other languages, such as French language, Spanish language, and Italian language, make similar or even more detailed distinctions among sheep meats by age and sometimes by sex and diet—for example, lechazo in Spanish refers to meat from milk-fed (unweaned) lambs.
Classifications and nomenclature
The definitions for lamb, hogget and mutton vary considerably between countries. Younger lambs are smaller and tenderer. Mutton is meat from a sheep over two years old, and has tougher flesh. In general, the darker the colour, the older the animal.
Britain, Australia, and New Zealand
- Mutton
- The meat of a female (ewe) or castrated male (wether) sheep having more than two permanent incisors in wear.
Italy
In Romanesco dialect, the offspring of the sheep who is still suckling or recently weaned is called
abbacchio, while the offspring of the sheep almost a year old who has already been shorn twice is called
agnello ().
This distinction exists only in the Romanesco dialect.
is consumed throughout
central Italy as an Easter and Christmas dish.
It is a product protected by the
European Union with the PGI mark.
Throughout central Italy, including Sardinia, pastoralism was the main source of meat. Since ancient times, abbacchio has been one of the staple foods of the Lazio region, especially for rural communities, whose consumption at the table was considerable.
South Asia
The term "mutton" is applied to
goat meat in most countries of South Asia, and the goat population has been rising. For example,
mutton curry is usually made from goat meat. It is estimated that over a third of the goat population is slaughtered every year and sold as mutton. The domestic sheep population in India and the Indian subcontinent 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.
However, in some Indian states(such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana), sheep meat is also popular.
United States
In the early 1900s, mutton was widely consumed in the United States, but mutton consumption has declined since World War II.
, most sheep meat in the United States comes from animals in between 12 and 14 months old,
and is called "lamb"; the term "hogget" is not used.
[Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. hogget : "chiefly British"] Federal statutes and regulations dealing with food labeling in the United States permit all sheep products to be marketed as "lamb."
for lamb are only partly a function of the animal's age. Animals up to 20 months old may meet the quality of the "USDA prime" grade depending on other factors, while "USDA choice" lamb can be of any age.
"Spring lamb" is defined by the USDA as having been slaughtered between March and October.
Other types
- Suckling lamb or milk-fed lamb
- Meat from an unweaned lamb, typically 4–6 weeks old and weighing 5.5–8 kg; this is typically unavailable in the United States and the United Kingdom. The flavour and texture of milk-fed lamb when grilled (such as the small lamb cutlets known as chuletillas in Spain) or roasted ( lechazo asado or cordero lechal asado) is generally thought to be finer than that of older lamb, and fetches higher prices.
- Young lamb
- A milk-fed lamb between six and eight weeks old
- Spring lamb
- A lamb, usually three to five months old, born in late winter or early spring and sold usually before 1 July (in the northern hemisphere).
- Sucker lambs
- A term used in Australia
- Yearling lamb
- a young sheep between 12 and 24 months old
- Saltbush mutton
- a term used in Australia for the meat of mature Merinos which have been allowed to graze on atriplex plants
Butchery and cookery
File:Plato de lechazo, Valladolid.jpg| Lechazo asado (roast lamb) is a typical dish from the province of Valladolid and other Castilian provinces in Spain.
File:Chuletillas-El-Mazuco.jpg| Chuletillas of milk-fed lamb in Asturias
File:Agnello arrosto.03.con patate,verdure e aromi cotto.jpg|Cooked boneless leg of lamb with potatoes and carrots, Italy
File:Lamb rendang.jpg|Lamb rendang
File:Lamb shank.jpg|Lamb shanks of a young lamb
File:Mutton rogan josh.jpg|Mutton rogan josh from India
File:Barbecued lamb sticks.jpg|Lamb chuanr (Xinjiang cuisine grilling lamb kebabs)
File:Aroab lamb pot.jpg|Lamb shanks cooked on an open fire in Aroab, Namibia
File:Lamb Chops from a Greek restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.jpg|A plate of Meat chop from a Greek restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
The meat of a lamb is taken from the animal between one month and one year old, with a carcass weight of between . 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.
[Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh. " What Is Mutton – Understanding the History ." Mutton Renaissance.] 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: , loin, and . 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.
meat chop are cut from the rib, loin, and shoulder areas. The rib chops include a rib bone; the loin chops include only a vertebra bone. Shoulder chops are usually considered inferior to loin chops; both kinds of chops are usually grilling. 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 roasting, though the leg is sometimes boiling.
Forequarter meat of sheep, as of other mammals, includes more connective tissue than some other Primal 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 barbecue. It is, in some countries, sold already chopped or diced.
Mutton barbeque is a tradition in Western Kentucky. The area was strong in the wool trade, which gave them plenty of older sheep that needed to be put to use.
Cuts
UK, Canada, and other Commonwealth countries
Approximate zones of the usual UK cuts of lamb:
[Montagné, Prosper (2001). Larousse Gastronomique. Third Edition. Éditions Larousse: France. ]
US and Ireland
-
Square cut shoulder – shoulder roast, shoulder chops and arm chops
-
Rack – rib chops and riblets, rib roast
-
Loin – loin chops or roast
-
Leg – sirloin chops, leg roast (leg of lamb)
-
Neck
-
mutton flaps
-
Shanks (fore or hind)
-
flank steak
New Zealand
-
Forequarter
-
Neck – neck chops
-
Shoulder – shoulder chops, shoulder roast (usually boned and rolled)
-
Rib-eye
-
Breast
-
Knuckle
-
Loin
-
Rib-loin – racks, frenched cutlets, spare ribs
-
Mid-loin – striploin (backstrap), loin chops
-
Tenderloin
-
Flap
-
Full leg – leg roast (may be boned and rolled), leg chops. A short-cut leg is a full leg without the chump; a carvery leg is a short-cut leg without the thick flank
-
Chump (rump) – chump chops, rump steak
-
Thick flank (knuckle) – schnitzel
-
Topside & silverside – steaks
-
Shank
Production and consumption figures
Sheep meat consumption
According to the
OECD-
FAO Agricultural Outlook for 2016, the top consumers of sheep meat in 2015 were as follows:
[ Meat consumption, OECD Data. Retrieved 25 October 2016.] EU countries are not individually surveyed in this list. Among EU nations,
Greece is the per capita leader in consumption at 12.3 kg,
with
Cyprus following right after,
while the UK's annual per capita lamb consumption is 4.7 kg.
Outside of the OECD, the largest per capita consumer overall is
Mongolia, with 45.1 kg.
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 |
| 8,470 |
| 261 |
| 556 |
| 85 |
| 2,080 |
| 114 |
| 36 |
| 90 |
| 296 |
| 113 |
| 126 |
| 128 |
| 448 |
| 174 |
| 173 |
| 272 |
| 133 |
| 275 |
| 72 |
Source: Helgi Library, |
Dishes
Meat from sheep features prominently in the cuisines of several Mediterranean cultures including
Greek cuisine,
Croatian cuisine,
Turkish cuisine, North Africa,
Jordan, and the Middle East, as well as in the cuisines of
Iran and
Afghanistan. In Greece, for example, it is an integral component of many meals and of religious feasts such as Easter, like
avgolemono and
magiritsa. It is also popular in the
Basque cuisine culture, both in the Basque country of Europe and in shepherding parts of the Western United States (where shepherds of Basque descent have been active since the 1850s). In the United States, the
Navajo have incorporated mutton and lamb into their traditional cuisine since the introduction of sheep by Spanish explorers and settlers in the 17th century, replacing wild turkey and venison and creating a pastoral culture. In
Northern Europe, mutton and lamb feature in many traditional dishes, including those of Iceland, Norway and the
British cuisine.
Mutton is also popular in Australia. Lamb and mutton are very popular in Central Asia and in certain parts of Chinese cuisine, where other red meats may be eschewed for religious or economic reasons. mutton is also a specialty in some areas of the United States (chiefly Owensboro, Kentucky) and Canada. However, meat from sheep is generally consumed far less in the US than in many European, Central American and Asian cuisines; for example, average per-capita consumption of lamb in the United States is only per year.
In Australia, the leg of lamb roast is considered to be the national dish.
In Indonesia, lamb is popularly served as lamb satay
In Mexico, lamb is the meat of choice for barbacoa, in which the lamb is roasted or steamed wrapped in maguey leaves underground.
In Japan, although lamb is not traditionally consumed in most of the country, on the northern island of Hokkaido and in the northeastern Tohoku regions, a hot-pot dish called jingisukan (i.e. "Genghis Khan") is popular. In that dish, thin-sliced lamb is cooked over a convex skillet alongside various vegetables and mushrooms in front of the diners, then dipped in soy-sauce-based dipping sauces and eaten. It was so named because lamb is popular in Mongolia (see "Sheep meat consumption" above).
Organ meats/offal
Lamb's liver, known as lamb's fry in New Zealand and Australia,
[Delbridge, Arthur, The Macquarie Dictionary, 2nd ed., Macquarie Library, North Ryde, 1991] is eaten in many countries. It 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, potentially also with bacon and mashed potatoes. It is a major ingredient, along with the lungs and heart (the pluck), in the traditional Scottish dish of
haggis.
Lamb testicles or lamb fries are a delicacy in many parts of the world.
Lamb are found in many cuisines across Europe and the Middle East, often split into two halves and grilled (on in the Middle East), or sautéed in a sauce. They are generally the most highly regarded of all kidneys.
Lamb are a delicacy in many cuisines.[* Sweetbread recipes BBC food
]
Nutrition and health effects
Lamb and mutton are forms of
red meat. Red meat is a good source of protein, iron, zinc, and vitamins B1, B2, B6, and B12.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), unprocessed red meat probably causes cancer, particularly colorectal cancer.
Studies have also linked red meat with higher risks of cardiovascular disease
and type 2 diabetes.
If meat is
Processed meat, such as by salting, curing, or smoking, health risks further increase.
The World Cancer Research Fund recommends limiting red meat to no more than three servings per week.
Environmental impact
Production of lamb emits more greenhouse gas per gram of protein than other common foods, except for beef.
See also
Bibliography
-
K.F. Warner, "Boning Lamb Cuts", Leaflet 74, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, June 1931. full text.
-
Bob Kennard, "Much ado about mutton". Ludlow: Merlin Unwin, 2014.
Notes
External links
