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| Leg and rack of lamb |
Lamb, hogget, and mutton (UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) are terms for the meat of domestic sheep (species Ovis aries) at different ages. A sheep in its first year is called a lamb; and its meat is also called lamb. The meat of a juvenile sheep older than one year is hogget; outside North America this was also a term for the living animal, but this meaning is now largely obsolete. The meat of an adult sheep is mutton, a term only used for the meat, not the living animals.
Lamb is the most expensive of the three types, and in recent decades sheep-meat is increasingly only 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. Other languages, for example French and Italian, make similar, or even more detailed, distinctions between sheep meat by age and sometimes by gender, though they generally lack the particular habit of English in having different terms for the living animal and its meat.
Classifications and nomenclature
The definitions for lamb, hogget and mutton vary considerably between countries.
In New Zealand, they are defined as follows:
* Lamb — a young sheep under 12 months of age which does not have any permanent incisor teeth in wear.
* Hogget — a sheep of either sex having no more than two permanent incisors in wear
* Mutton — a female (ewe) or castrated male (wether) sheep having more than two permanent incisors in wear.
In Australia, South Africa and Saudi Arabia the definitions are extended to include ewes and rams, as well as being stricter on the definition for lamb, which is:
* Lamb — 0 permanent incisors; female or castrate entire male ovine 0–12 months (note that the Australian definition requires 0 permanent incisors, whereas the New Zealand definition allows 0 incisors 'in wear'.)
Under current United States federal regulations, only the term 'lamb' is used:
* Lamb — ovine animals of any age, including ewes and rams
The term 'mutton' is rare and 'hogget' unknown in the United States.
Younger lambs are smaller and more tender. Mutton is meat from a sheep over two years old, and has less tender flesh. In general, the darker the colour, the older the animal. Baby lamb meat will be pale pink, while regular lamb is pinkish-red.
* Milk-fed lamb — meat from an unweaned lamb, typically 4–6 weeks old and weighing 5.5 to 8 kg; this is almost unavailable in countries such as the USA and the UK, where it is considered uneconomic. The flavour and texture of milk-fed lamb when grilled (such as the tiny lamb chops known as chuletillas in Spain) or roasted (lechazo asado or cordero lechal asado) is generally thought to be finer than that of older lamb. The areas in northern Spain where this can be found include Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, and La Rioja. Milk-fed lambs (and kids) are especially prized for Easter in Greece, when they are roasted on a spit.
* Young lamb — a milk-fed lamb between six and eight weeks old
* Spring lamb — a milk-fed lamb, usually three to five months old, born in late winter or early spring and sold usually before July 1 (in the northern hemisphere).
* Sucker lambs — a term used in Australia — includes young milk-fed lambs, as well as slightly older lambs up to about seven months of age which are also still dependent on their mothers for milk. Carcases from these lambs usually weigh between 14 and 30 kg. Older weaned lambs which have not yet matured to become mutton are known as old-season lambs.
* Lamb — a young sheep that is less than one year old
* 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
* Salt marsh lamb (also known as 'saltmarsh lamb' or by its French name, agneau de pré-salé) is the meat of sheep which graze on salt marsh in coastal estuaries that are washed by the tides and support a range of salt-tolerant grasses and herbs, such as samphire, sparta grass, sorrel and sea lavender. Depending on where the salt marsh is located, the nature of the plants may be subtly different. Salt marsh lamb has long been appreciated in France and is growing in popularity in the United Kingdom. Places where salt marsh lamb are reared in the UK include Harlech and the Gower Peninsula in Wales, the Somerset Levels and Morecambe Bay.
* Saltgrass Lamb - A term used to describe a type of lamb exclusive to Flinders Island (Tasmania). The pastures on the island have been found to have a higher salt content than normal, leading to a flavour and texture similar to saltmarsh lamb.
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| Lamb Rib Chops |
The meat of a lamb is taken from the animal between one month and one year old, with a carcase (carcass in American English) weight of between 5.5 and 30 kilograms (12 and 65 lbs). 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 flavor than lamb because they contain a higher concentration of species-characteristic fatty acids and are preferred by some. 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: forequarter, loin, and hindquarter. 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.
Lamb chops are cut from the rib, loin, and shoulder areas. The rib chops include a rib bone; the loin chops include only a chine bone. Shoulder chops are usually considered inferior to loin chops; both kinds of chops are usually grilled. 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 roasted, though the leg is sometimes boiled.
Forequarter meat of sheep, as of other mammals, includes more connective tissue than some other 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 American barbecuing. It is, in some countries, sold already chopped or diced.
Lamb shank definitions vary, but generally include:
* Lamb shank is cut from the arm of shoulder, contains leg bone and part of round shoulder bone, and is covered by a thin layer of fat and fell (a thin, paper-like covering).
* Lamb shank is a cut of meat from the upper part of the leg.
Thin strips of fatty mutton can be cut into a substitute for bacon called macon.
Lamb tongue is popular in Middle Eastern cuisine both as a cold cut and in preparations like stews.
Cuts
US and Ireland:
* Square cut shoulder – shoulder roast, shoulder chops and arm chops
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| Barbecued lamb sticks |
* Loin – loin chops or roast
* Leg – sirloin chops, leg roast (leg of lamb)
* Neck
* Breast
* Shanks (fore or hind)
* Flank
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