Lamb (was Re: SC - New Job)

[WOLFMOMSCA at aol.com]

>From the Meat Department at the UF School of Animal Science:

Veal and Lamb are only Veal and Lamb as long as the animal is milk-fed.  If 
you pen them up and feed them milk from a bucket and they don't graze, they 
are Veal and Lamb.  If they are free range beasties, they will not be Veal or 
Lamb once the mother begins weaning, which can begin as early as 3-4 weeks of 
age.  It is not recommended that exclusive milk feeding be continued past 12 
weeks of age, for the health & well-being of the animal.   If you exclusively 
milk feed much beyond  12 weeks, you will have yourself an animal which is 
not going to develop the muscle tissue necessary to walk, graze, or breed.  
The decision is the farmer's as to whether that animal will be turned loose 
to grow up, or be removed from the herd.  By the time it's 12 weeks old, most 
birth defects and breeding weaknesses will have evidenced themselves and the 
farmer will know exactly what to do with said beast.

Now you know why the animal rights folks get so up in arms about the beef 
industry.  Big ranchers will often milk-feed calves for up to six months, 
waiting for the market prices to be "right".  

However,  this is now.  In the Middle Ages, I suspect that Veal and Lamb 
recipes were specifically designed for the small number of herd culls which a 
good husbandman would separate and slaughter early in their lives due to the 
same types of birth defects and weaknesses the breeds still have today.  And 
it would only be on large farms with fairly large herds of the same breed of 
animal.  The local villagers who kept a cow would probably cook their culls 
in the same recipes they used for older animals, just didn't need to cook the 
meat as long.   Medieval cooks didn't watch a clock to determine "doneness".  
They would constantly check the dish for doneness by other means.  

Walk in peace,
Wolfmother
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