[Sca-cooks] lamb vs. mutton

[Stefan li Rous]

Adele asked me, and Bear answered her with:
 >>>>>
Under USDA rules, lamb is a sheep under one year old, so calling
hogget lamb is fraud.

Bear

 > Are you thinking, perhaps of hogget (sheep 1-2 years old)?  Someone
 > told me that US domestic "lamb" is usually hogget.
 > I'll look around for a recipe.
 > --
 > Adele de Maisieres
<<<<<<

I was referring to the fact that I believe we discussed in the past,  
that medieval lamb was a sheep which was still nursing. The taste of  
such meat is much milder than mutton or what is often today called  
"lamb". There is an economic incentive to get the animal as big as  
possible before slaughtering it since that yields more meat and thus  
more money. Unfortunately, the longer this goes on the more the  
"lamb" tastes like mutton. Since it sounded like this lamb had not  
come through the usual channels I was just wondering if it was more  
lamb or mutton. It might affect what recipes you choose for it.

Here is a message which I've saved which hasn't yet made it into the  
Florilegium files.
------
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 05:18:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Honour Horne-Jaruk <jarukcomp at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] mutton VS. lamb
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

David Friedman/Duke Cariadoc said:
 > We also tend to do mutton recipes with lamb, mutton not being
 > that readily available.
 > --
 > David/Cariadoc
 > www.daviddfriedman.com

Respected friend:
Unless you are buying your lamb from a slaughterhouse,
the chances are better than 95% that you aren't eating
actual lamb.

Supermarket lamb is about six months old at slaughter.
Until the 1920s or so, such meat was labeled "young
mutton". Lamb was originally  an animal under three
months old. At that age, the flavor is so mild that a
fat-free piece can't always be identified as lamb in a
taste test, even by professional chefs.

(This is one of my hobby-horses - when names stay the
same but the object they're talking about changes.
Purple carrots, anyone?

Yours in service to both the Societies of which I am a member-
(Friend) Honour Horne-Jaruk, R.S.F.
Alisond de Brebeuf, C.O.L. S.C.A.- AKA Una the wisewoman, or That Pict
---------

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****