Trying it out tonight.

MDAL

Our regular customers have beeen raving about the recipes from michelin star chefs that the Mutton Renaissance campaign promoted. So to follow on in our series of recipes here is an amazing heart warming recipe from John Williams, Executive Chef at the Ritz.

Mutton Broth – recipe below:

Like mutton, chunky home-made soups are gaining a new following. This recipe combines both trends in a warming broth ideal for chilly days. It requires some crusty bread and little else.

SERVES: 6

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg (2.2lb) 1/2 leg of mutton with bone removed
• 3 litres (5 1/4 pints) fresh lamb stock or made with good quality cubes
• 225g (8oz) barley
• 175g (6oz) green and yellow split peas
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, finely chopped
• 2 big carrots, finely chopped
• 3 small turnips, finely chopped
• 1/2 swede, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• Oil for frying
• 50g (2oz) chopped parsley to garnish

METHOD

1. Wash the pulses and soak overnight.
2. Place the mutton in a pan and cover with the stock. Cook for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. Top up the pan with water if necessary to ensure the meat remains covered. Skim off any crust that forms on the surface.
3. Remove meat from the stock and cut into chunks when it is cool enough to handle.
4. In another large pan heat a little oil and sweat off the finely chopped vegetables until soft then add the barley, split peas and the stock from the mutton pan.
5. Add the diced meat to the vegetables, adjust the seasoning and cook for a further 30 minutes. Finish with chopped parsley.

I’m often asked what my thoughts are on things like GM and Cloning by non-farming friends and colleagues.

In short:

• I believe in choice for the consumer, so if it is really what people want then fine.

• It is unecessary because “traditional” advances in yields are already outgrowing population forecasts anyway.

• Massive potential for single genome plants/animals to be susceptable to single diseases/pathogens – Genetic variation is a massive benefit in disease protection. Imagine if all british dairy cows were cloned from the same cow and all died – not good for food security.

• If we routinely clone other animals how long before we start to justify others like……Humans? That can’t be good!

However, because of the lobbying pressure and widespread research these genes are creeping into our livestock and plant sectors anyway through sale of bulls and semen and cross pollination. So do we really know that our commodity level food is GM or Clone free now?

No we don’t.

This gives a small producer like me a slight dilema of conscience. . . .

You see it can only help small artisan producers.

Every time I see something like this I get a little guilty glow of pleasure knowing that it can only drive more business towards small authentic producers. This is always tempered by the fact that I would rather it didn’t happen in the first place.

The real problem is signposting and labelling. A market works best with perfect information. The trouble is that the market has spoken in its true democratic sense – NO-ONE WANTS TO BUY FOOD WITH “GM” or “CLONED” stamped on the front.

So what do the big multiples do?

Blur the lines between GM/CLONED and bog standard food by infiltrating it into our everyday shopping. How long before we hear the refrain “its too late now – it’s already in everything anyway…”

So the fact that you now don’t know what is in the food you buy from the supermarket anymore means that more people will choose to buy from small genuine producers. Producers who know exactly what went in to every single mutton chop or celery stalk. If you can shake the hand of the person who grew your food then it’s not a bad start.

We are back in the grove after selling out at Christmas and now have mutton ready for sale on the farm.

What I like about these Mutton Rennaisance recipes is that they encourage people to explore lots of different cuts and highlight the versatility of the meat.

This is one of the classic ways to cook mutton; the gentle poaching enables the meat to reach optimum tenderness. Wow your friends by serving it at a dinner party with some red cabbage and baby root veg.

SERVES: 6

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

1. Place the mutton into a large saucepan and bury it in the sliced onions. Add the salt. Tie the bay leaves, peppercorns, cinnamon and orange zest in a piece of muslin and add this to the pan with half of the wine.
2. Cover with the chicken stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Skim off the crust that forms on the surface with a spoon.
3. Simmer gently for approximately 2 hours or until tender.
4. After 1 hour, take a saucepan and melt 150g (6oz) of the butter, add the shallots and capers and cook gently until softened then turn up the heat to lightly colour the shallots.
5. Add the rest of the wine and cook briskly until the liquid reduces by half. Draw off approximately 1 litre (2 pints) of the poaching liquor from the mutton pan and add it to the capers and shallots. Bring this to the boil and reduce by half. Add the double cream and bring back to the boil. Reduce the mixture further until you achieve a glossy cream gravy. Adjust seasoning and keep warm.
6. When the mutton is ready, transfer to a serving dish, cover and keep warm. Strain the poaching liquid from the onions but retain.
7. Heat a large frying pan and melt the remaining butter until foaming. Add the drained onions and fry briskly until they turn golden and have begun to caramelise.
8. Place some of the golden onions onto a plate and slice the mutton finely on top of it. Garnish with a ladling of the caper cream sauce. Note: The retained poaching liquid can be used to make a delicious soup.

MDAL.

Also checkout this search on the BBC food website (why 2 food websites on the BBC???)

The last one in particular is a corker with 20 or so recipes.

Happy New Year!

MDAL.

A hearty mid-week supper that’s delicious served on its own or with some creamy mash to soak up the juices.

SERVES: 6

 Don’t forget our Mutton Buying guide “Where to buy Mutton”

 Searching for other Mutton recipes I came accros this which looks delicious. Love to know what “mutton masala” is think I’ll have to research that one for future reference.

INGREDIENTS
For the Stew

• 1kg (2.2lb) diced leg of mutton
• 2 celery stalks, halved
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut in half
• 1/2 small swede, cut into 12 chunks
• 6 shallots, peeled
• 6 small turnips, scrubbed but not peeled
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• salt
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 litre (13/4 pints) lamb stock made with 2 good quality stock cubes

For the Cobbler top

• 350g (12oz) self raising flour
• 100g (4oz) butter, diced
• 50g (2oz) capers, chopped
• 10g (1/2 oz) parsley, chopped
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 30ml (2 tbsp) plain natural yoghurt
• mixed with 70ml (5 tbsp) cold water.

METHOD

1. Place the mutton in a large casserole or pan with the vegetables and herbs.
2. Add peppercorns and season with salt.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1 hour.
4. To make the cobbler rub the fat and the flour together.
5. Stir in the capers, parsley, onions and pepper.
6. Add enough of the yoghurt and water mix to make a soft, pliable dough.
7. Roll dough to 2.5cm (1”) thick and cut into 12 rounds or wedges. Place on top of the mutton.
8. Bake at 200°C, Gas 6, 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until the cobbler is golden brown

I do a fair bit of work with the Mutton Renaissance crew and one of the best things they have done is get Michelin Star chefs from some of the best restaurants in the country to come up with some recipes worthy of this fabulous meat. They have given me all the media relating to these and I will post all five recipes here over the next few weeks. See below for Mark Hix’s Mutton and Turnip Pie

First remember to use our “where to buy Mutton” guide.

Then check out the sumptuous delight that is below. Ideal with a pint or two of local real ale. My choice would be Butty Bach by Wye Valley Brewery.

The recipe below is good with either neck fillet, tenderloin of Mutton or Diced mutton. Obviously the neck fillet and tenderloin give a more tender meat. It is importnat to buy mutton specifically to your recipe and of course we recommend rare breed mutton for the fuller flavour. It really is as good as it looks and the turnip really compliments the rich mutton flavour.

The filling for this simple pie is slow-cooked to help the flavours of the mutton and the vegetables combine. Serve on a cold day with buttered cabbage, boiled potatoes or mashed swede and enjoy with a fruity red wine.

 See Full recipe below.

SERVES: 6

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg (2.2lb) neck fillet of mutton, cut into rough 2cm pieces
• Plain flour for dusting
• 2 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
• Vegetable oil for frying
• A small sprig of rosemary
• Salt & Freshly ground black pepper
• 1.5 litres (21/2 pints) chicken or lamb stock
• 425g (1lb) turnips, peeled and cut into rough 2-3 cm chunks
• 350g (12oz) puff pastry, rolled to about 1cm (1/2 cm) thick
• 1 egg, beaten

METHOD

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C, Gas 6, 400°C.
2. Season the pieces of mutton and dust generously with about a tbsp or so of flour.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and fry the pieces of mutton and onions without colouring them too much, for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the rosemary and stock, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 11/2 -2 hours until the mutton is soft and tender.
5. Add the turnips. Cover with a lid and add a little boiled water if necessary. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the turnips are cooked. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
6. Meanwhile cut the pastry a little larger than the pie dish or dishes if you are making individual pies. 6 When the mutton mixture is cooled transfer it to your pie dish.
7. Brush the edges of the pastry with some egg and lay the pastry on the dish, pressing the edges onto the rim.
8. Cut a slit about 2-3cms (1”) in the centre to let the steam out or for a larger pie use a pie funnel. 9 Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes until golden.

This is one I hadn’t heard of from China. Looks great and I can’t wait to give it a go, the blog is well worth a trawl through too. Some absolutely corking stuff in there:

http://helengraves.co.uk/2010/08/mutton-paomo/

Remember you can always find quality mutton if you just follow our Mutton Buying Guide.

MDAL.

UPDATE 16.12.2010 – Now taking orders for 2011….

We supply locally because we like to know the customers and deliver in the local area. It also helps to keep our focus on our local customers as they tend to be more loyal in the long-term. Having said that we have some very loyal people who order online and just prefer our rare breed mutton to what they can get locally.

If in doubt about a supplier you can always check out the mutton renaissance website for good suppliers.

A quick guide to buying mutton:

1. Try and buy rare/traditional breeds where possible – it will be more fatty and therefore more flavoursome.

2. Make sure it IS actually mutton. Mutton is over 2 years old and if good quality then under 5. You see a lot of hogget lamb (1-2 years) sold as mutton. Goat is also called mutton in Caribbean cooking.

3. Your mutton should be hung for at least 2 weeks or it will be tough – this is why it often gets a bad reputation. Also avoid phrases like “aged 21 days”. Words like “aged” or “matured” usually mean something nasty has been injected to mimick hanging. Hanging meat is expensive so expect to pay more for this.

4. For roasts I would always go for shoulders over legs and rolled breasts over loins. Chops for a slow cooked stew, leg steaks are great for frying or stripped for a stir fry and the tender-loin and neck fillets are to die for in a mutton stew or mutton curry.

5. When you get it home cook it slowly! With such great flavour it’s important you treat it with great care.

MDAL.