# Relative popularity of lamb/mutton in American cuisine **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317 "2009-01-08T02:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/81 "2009-01-10T03:34:49Z")
I first had mutton at Keene’s Steakhouse here in Manhattan and have been back multiple times to have it again. It’s better than your average steak. And better by a significant margin than nearly all lamb I’ve had, too. I think Americans tend not to try foods they aren’t already familiar with. Me, I’d try crocodile, lemur, salamander, gila monster, fried crickets, etc, in a heartbeat whenever and wherever I find them, but judging from my friends and acquaintances that’s unusual, and most Americans learn a handful of foods and then don’t go beyond them. And mutton isn’t on the list. Might as well be roaches. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/82 "2009-01-10T03:42:23Z")
We ate it when I was really small, but I don’t think I’ve had it since I was old enough to connect the word lamb to the cute furry critter. I don’t recall particularly liking it way back when, and I’m in the “I don’t eat baby animals” (or game. or seafood) camp so I’ve never sought it out as an adult. I do know that the grocery stores around here have it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/83 "2009-01-10T03:44:02Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I think Americans tend not to try foods they aren’t already familiar with. Me, I’d try crocodile, lemur, salamander, gila monster, fried crickets, etc, in a heartbeat whenever and wherever I find them… Me too. I’ll try any food once, given the opportunity. I haven’t had crocodile, but I’ve had alligator sausage and deep-fried alligator. It’s good. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/84 "2009-01-10T03:57:35Z")
I can convince all of you to lamb with a single dolmas. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/85 "2009-01-10T04:00:22Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > I can convince all of you to lamb with a single dolmas. Yes, please! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/86 "2009-01-10T04:19:05Z")
> [@Smokinjbc](#): > > The best lamb I’ve made at home was a night I forgot to buy thyme and lemon for chops and all I had was a bottle of Buffalo Wild Wings Carribean Jerk Sauce. Kosher Salt/Pepper and that sauce was some of the best chops I’ve made at home. I don’t find lamb hard at all to prepare- simpler seems to be better, for the most part- but I do find that the cooking method is crucial. Over cooked lamb is unforgiving and I find that if it isn’t a slow cooked shank, it’s better off on the grill. I guess I could experiment with treatments I give beef and pork and chicken. Though combined with my first reason, and the fact that other meats are much more readily available in a greater variety of cuts, looking so good… it’s hard to pick up something iffy when you know a guaranteed hit is there. I’d probably be more willing to test it if my SO was into it, but he’s on the same page as me. Plus his last attempt at shepherd’s pie with ground lamb turned out badly, so he’s not eager to relive the experience. Ah well, that leaves more for the people who do like it. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/87 "2009-01-10T04:47:46Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I first had mutton at Keene’s Steakhouse here in Manhattan [Are you sure](http://events.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/dining/reviews/14rest.html)? > [@NYT review](#): > > THERE’S a secret to the surprising mellowness of the “legendary mutton chop” at Keens Steakhouse, a restaurant long synonymous with that gargantuan slab of meat. (The menu announces it with a verbal trumpet blast.) > > There’s a simple reason it has none of the gaminess that diners expect of mutton, which is sheep, and instead reminds them of lamb, the younger version they know and trust. > > Nix the trumpet and commence a drum roll: it is lamb. The mutton lore is a mutton lie. For at least two decades and perhaps many more, the legendary mutton chop has indeed been a matter of legend. The following sentence is inevitable, as is the one on its tail. Diners have had the wool pulled over their eyes. They do agree that it’s very good, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317/88 "2009-01-10T04:49:41Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Your dad is the Serb, right? > > Upon assimilation, the food is always the last to go. 🙂 That he is and true enough ;). Oddly enough my father is the better cook in the family compared to my mother or step-mother - wonder if his father cooked as well? His mother was a great cook, but his father died when I was a baby. Hmmm…I should ask. Can’t say I liked most of those doughy East European pastries and breads he learned, but man did I love that poppyseed strudel. > [@devilsknew](#): > > I can convince all of you to lamb with a single dolmas. Ohhh…dolmas. I should never have opened this thread. Now I HAVE to do lamb this weekend. Maybe I’ll take a stab at that shepherd’s pie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relative-popularity-of-lamb-mutton-in-american-cuisine/480317.md?page=4)