# I finally got to try mutton. Anyone here into it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [May 1, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012 "2024-05-01T14:28:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/21 "2024-05-01T19:06:53Z")
Oh, yeah, duh. That’ll do it too! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/22 "2024-05-01T19:31:12Z")
I read something ages ago (hardcopy, not online) how mutton used to be really popular and ubiquitous in the US. IIRC it was because there was a lot of sheep raising in the 19th C, and as a result, mutton was fairly cheap. But a lot of people hated _because_ it was so widespread, sheep ranching ebbed, and then mutton became rare in the US. I love me a good rare lamp chop, but mutton? No. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/23 "2024-05-01T19:53:00Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > My only other data point is a “Sanford and Son” episode with guest actress Mary Wickes, where she asks Fred “Do you like mutton?” Fred responds, “Does anybody?” There is a Seinfeld episode also where Jerry is hiding his mutton everywhere he can to avoid eating it. Come to think of it I don’t recall seeing that episode in syndication. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/24 "2024-05-01T19:56:14Z")
My father-in-law said he couldn’t abide lamb because of his experiences eating mutton when he lived in a boarding house. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/25 "2024-05-01T19:56:40Z")
I remember going to a Chinese restaurant and trying a “lamb” dish where the lamb seemed kind of tough, gamey and greasy. I always assumed that the meat came from an older sheep. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/26 "2024-05-01T20:30:29Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I have never eaten it after I read of the young Horatio Hornblower complaining that he could taste the wool. I just looked up the 5 young Hornblower books here [Search: fadedpage.com](https://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Smith,%20Cecil%20Louis%20Troughton) and don’t see a reference to mutton tasting like wool in any of them? In _Hornblower and the Hotspur_ he doesn’t dislike it: “Stewed mutton and pearl barley and potatoes and cabbage. It might have been a very pleasant dinner, except that the atmosphere was unfavourable, in two senses. The room, with its sea-coal fire, was unbearably hot. Thanks to the rain no washing could be hung out of doors…” As for eating mutton, the last time I had it was in Wales, 25+ years ago, at a pub serving mutton shepherd’s pie. It was greasy. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/27 "2024-05-01T20:55:56Z")
As a New Zealander, I grew up with it and love it. I’m surprised some people don’t like it, or have never had it, I didn’t realise it was uncommon. > [@bob\_2](#): > > When does lamb become mutton? > [@pulykamell](#): > > One year. > > ETA: sorry, two years. I coulda sworn it was one. We called one year sheep ‘hogget’. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/28 "2024-05-01T20:57:44Z")
I like goat tacos but can never find the meat. A local Mexican grocery store sells frozen chunks of mutton. I put it in a pressure cooker with water and some chopped chilies. The stringy meat falls off the bone. I season it and make tacos. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/29 "2024-05-01T21:17:34Z")
I’ve had it once or twice. It was different than other meats I’m familiar with, and I like variety, so that was nice. I guess that the difference is what folks refer to as “gaminess”, but I didn’t find it at all inherently unpleasant, just, well, different. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/30 "2024-05-01T21:24:11Z")
One branch of the family ran sheep on their land, so mutton was sometimes sent to our family. Just… no. Maybe we were sent the really old, gamy tough ones, and I’ll certainly allow that no one in my family knew how to prepare it well, but I could never get past the gaminess. I say this as someone who adores lamb and goat. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/31 "2024-05-01T21:31:57Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > _“I finally got to try mutton. Anyone here into it?”_ > > I am surely relieved this is a thread about food and eating. Never mind, **Hal Briston**. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/32 "2024-05-01T21:39:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I bet a lot varies based on how mature the mutton is, as there can be younger and older mutton. The stuff I had in Owensboro wasn’t all that strongly flavored. It maybe was slightly more “sheepy” than lamb, but I also feel like lamb has become less lamb-y than my childhood memories of it. Okay, see- there’s lamb, and then at farms, etc- there is mutton- which is usually a wool sheep that died or had to be put down. That sort of mutton is gamy. My Dad was stationed in Australia for a bit in WW2, and the Aussies quickly figured out that Yank wanted hamburgers- but since mutton was way cheaper than beef then- their “hamburger” had a lot of mutton in it- which doesnt taste right. > [@gkster](#): > > In _Hornblower and the Hotspur_ he doesn’t dislike it: Remember, back then beef wasnt corn fed in a feedlot, like today. Pork was the big yummy meat. Hornblower did get served a big beefsteak once, but didnt eat much of it. I like Lamb, but since out here is is several times the cost of good beef, I rarely eat it. I have had- and enjoyed- irish Mutton stew. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > As a New Zealander, I grew up with it and love it. There are over 25 million sheep there, and less than 4 million beef cattle. So, yeah, you are probably used to it. But again- lamb is tasty, but mutton from a really old sheep is not. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I like goat tacos but can never find the meat. Yum- _birria_. If they have it- I order it. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/33 "2024-05-01T21:42:49Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I like goat tacos but can never find the meat. A local Mexican grocery store sells frozen chunks of mutton Just the opposite, here. Goat is easy to find but I don’t think I’ve seen mutton retail. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/34 "2024-05-01T21:46:32Z")
My one encounter with mutton, that I know of, was when I was doing clinicals in the Four Corners region, and went to a Navajo flea market in Gallup, NM. A food vendor was serving Indian tacos, this one made with fry bread, a green onion, and strips of mutton. It was delicious! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/35 "2024-05-01T22:11:14Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Just the opposite, here Where, perchance is “here” in this case? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/36 "2024-05-02T00:06:07Z")
I haven’t had it a lot except that I did butcher a 3 year old ewe that was officially mutton but she was a hair sheep so it did not have the gaminess that mutton might have. The meat was still mild-ish in flavor but fattier (she was a mean hog of a ewe, which is why she was butchered). I think I had it in some Indian food in the UK also but to be honest, they brought us SO much food, I may be misremembering. Everything they brought us was outstanding but did kind of meld together in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/37 "2024-05-02T00:44:03Z")
Chicago. We have a large Mexican population but I think a lot of the goat I see for sale is intended for Middle Eastern customers. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/38 "2024-05-02T07:55:41Z")
I don’t ever recall eating mutton labelled as such. Lamb is a regular feature on our dinner table and I cook it in several different ways. Slow-baked leg, cooked to be slightly pink in the middle can be delicious but is sometimes a bit tough - I guess it can depend on the provenance of the meat. My personal favourite is a pair of shank ends cooked in the slow cooker for around eight hours with carrots, shallots, garlic and a good slug of port wine. The meat stays together but falls off the bone and it is delicious. Lamb shanks used to be cheap, but popularity has pushed the price right up in recent times. I have cooked much cheaper half-shoulders the same way but I do have to lift a good deal of fat off the top. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/39 "2024-05-02T08:23:06Z")
I love lamb, but i like cuts that can be cooked medium or medium rare. I really don’t like lamb that has been cooked to death, which is pretty much the only way shanks are served. “Falling off the bones tender” means “gamey and overcooked” to me. I’ve had kid, which i also like. I don’t think I’ve had mature goat or mutton. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012/40 "2024-05-02T10:45:26Z")
Funny mutton story: My stepfather was a Malaysian of Indian roots. He visited us in Kansas, and mentioned he loved mutton. After a little research, we learned there was a small sheep farm a couple miles from town that raised and sold mutton meat. We cooked him some, and though he was polite about it, I could tell he wasn’t impressed. Years later, we discovered that many Indians (and Indian Malaysians) use the word “mutton” to simply mean “goat meat,” of whatever age! (Others upthread have addressed this linguistic quirk.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-finally-got-to-try-mutton-anyone-here-into-it/1001012.md?page=3)