Ways to cook mutton not casserole/stew/crock = wet

ange164, Jul 12, 9:36pm
Hi all. My title might sound like a fuss pot; sorry about that.
We were fortunate to have been gifted a whole sheep. Butchered, free flow, frozen. Fabulous! But I'm getting bored of stews and curries to cook it. Some of it I don't know what part of the sheep it is even. It's all unlabelled of course. I recognise some bits like soup bones and heart and large chunks such as roasts. Tonight I have shoulder chops out and will be baking them for a couple hours on 130 fan bake under foil, to try that out.

So the question is. is there any other tasty methods of slow cooking mutton that doesn't involve lots of liquids thereby giving that "stew" feeling to it?
smallwoods, Jul 12, 10:04pm
Apart from what you are doing tonight, try steaming them.
I have a kai cooker (hangi pot), basically just a tiered steamer.
I use cabbage leaves under anything to catch some juice, the rest flows down into the pan.
Remember to salt/season before cooking.
I prefer mutton over hogget over lamb, but I still enjoy a lamb roast.
kay141, Jul 12, 10:29pm
The roasts ie. legs and shoulder can be roasted. I used to do it very slowly, rosemary and garlic poked into holes in the fat, a small amount of water added to the dish and the whole thing covered. After about 3-4 hours, remove the cover and let it brown. The water should evaporate. If I could get it and was cooking for more than one, mutton would be my choice every time.
beaker59, Jul 12, 10:48pm
When baking mutton shoulder chips I cover them in sliced tomatoes and onions then sprinkle spiced and seasoned breadcrumbs over then bake uncovered so you get a crunchy crumb crust. mmmmmmmm delicious.
rainrain1, Jul 12, 11:44pm
Dip in beaten egg, then in dried breadcrumbs, and slow bake them
kiwiscrapper1, Jul 13, 2:14am
Omg. its revolting! , love Hogget but Mutton is so strong and old.
rainrain1, Jul 13, 2:10pm
Depends how old you consider old when it comes to mutton, young mutton is not old, and tastes delicious
lythande1, Jul 13, 8:59pm
Sure just cook it long and low. slowly is the key.
kiwilion, Jul 13, 9:15pm
Agree! and the ton of yellow mutton fat is gross and sick-making.

Go yummy Hogget and Lamb!
rainrain1, Jul 13, 9:54pm
Cut the fat off before you cook it eh?
kay141, Jul 13, 10:16pm
That solution may be too simple for some. I have noticed that the mutton I have seen for sale lately had very little fat and it definitely wasn't yellow.
huggy5, Jul 13, 10:22pm
We used to only eat mutton roasts when I was a kid (lived on a sheep station). I personally love it roasted, and cold the next day with salt on sandwiches. My mother roasted it the classic way, with added lard and crispy roast veges.
I think you should give it a go if you can identify a roast cut, you might like it! And if you hate it you can always do that other favourite, and that's mince the cooked meat and make shepherds pie. Or use in rissoles.
uli, Jul 13, 11:28pm
Sure an amazing discussion :)

Personally I prefer goat anytime. Even 10 year old bucks are really tasty (and not smelly if killed in winter) - had many visitors remarking on the great quality beef we have.

That was many years before we had cows and while we tried to rid the land of the wild goats that infested the hills after first the goat dairy didn't take off then the fiber goats didn't take off, then some other kind of goats didn't take off. Kept us in meat for a decade at least :)
beaker59, Jul 14, 1:04am
We are having a roast leg of goat for dinner tonight a wild Nanny. 3 hours at 150 fan bake over a bed of rosemary in a covered roasting dish and a few cloves of garlic. Yum.

My favourite roast though is a slow roasted leg of mutton preferably cooked over charcoal on my Webber Kettle.
kiwiscrapper1, Jul 14, 1:55am
mutton is old, there is no such thing as young mutton, young is lamb next is Hogget, Mutton is old sheep, very strong stinks the house out when cooked.
rainrain1, Jul 14, 2:09am
Feed yours properly then
morticia, Jul 14, 2:12am
It's a nasty piece of mutton that stinks the house out. Good mutton doesn't. I'd rather have mutton than hogget any day.
lythande1, Jul 14, 2:00pm
Roast - cook it slow and at a low temperature. Still roasted, no liquids and comes out tender.
fifie, Jul 14, 4:14pm
Cant beat mutton for flavour, however you cook it do it long and slow, roasted is good on low temperature with garlic and rosemary. Leftover roasts make the best shepherds pie in winter.
rainrain1, Jul 14, 4:32pm
I'd love to try goat, but never had the opportunity, I might ask one of the hunters around here for a piece. Normally mutton is all we kill for the freezer, even though we have lamb and hogget, I guess there is a fine line when a hogget becomes a mutton, after two teeth appear, then we have 'young mutton', they still taste good for a few years after that too. Sometimes they band saw a whole frozen mutton into chops, and free flow them, as we enjoy the chops the best of all. The only part I stew are the neck chops, everything else gets baked or roasted.
Obviously there are some who don't like the taste of mutton at all, maybe they've been sold or given a bad one, but I've never tasted a one that isn't delicious, but each to their own.
Of course we eat lamb and hogget too, but only if they have to be killed for some unfortunate reason
sampa, Jul 14, 4:49pm
Hi Ange. No, your title doesn't make you sound fussy, just desperate for a change of pace and fair enough too. How about this (I've kind of leapt off the slow cooking boat here to an extent sorry). many years ago we were given some venison sausages made especially for a friend of my husbands that had access to venison (I know, venison isn't mutton lol but bear with me, I'm getting there) anyway - he took it off to his friendly local butcher who turned a lot of it into sausages for him *but* venison is a lean meat so mutton fat was added to ensure richness (worked too. they were delicious!). So. I'm thinking why couldn't you do something along those lines? You have options here 1 - find a butcher to make sausages for you 2 - do it yourself (if you have or can borrow a meat grinder and are confidant to have a go stuffing sausage skins (fiddly work but kinda fun too) or you can do it using a food processor in brief bursts with partially defrosted meat (have to watch that you don't turn the meat to paste using this method by over processing and it could take a while). Or - 3 (and possibly the most viable) grind your mutton to a mince like texture (whatever grade suits) and make it into patties using various seasonings to change the flavour. You could even add other meats to alter the flavour and texture if you wanted (often doing this seems an odd idea to us Kiwis but it's not uncommon overseas and makes perfect sense if you have an excess of something to use up). It could be fun to play around with various seasoning. rosemary and garlic seem obvious but what about red wine, pepper and. the possibilities are endless. If you like the idea I'm sure others will have flavour combos to add that could get you started. :)
valentino, Jul 14, 5:39pm
Best way to cook Mutton. IN A HANGI !

Very nice and the fats does it's true magic, nothing better.

Cheers
chesty1, Mar 12, 4:55am
I always thought Lamb was classed as lamb until one year old - Hogget up to two and Mutton anything over two years old.