Whatever happened to mutton?

[penultima_thule]

BBQ sauce?

Gahhh …not on your nelly with any decent roast.

Gravy is the go with potato and pumpkin pieces roasted with the joint. Add salt, pepper, rosemary and/or thyme to taste. Sides are green peas, carrots and mint, maybe Worcestershire sauce or HP. Health food and sustenance of a nation.

[Clark_K]

@pulykamell

The Owensboro BBQ is actually not really soaked in BBQ sauce at all. It’s basically just straight-up smoked mutton, sometimes served with a thin drizzle of worcestershire-vinegar sauce, but just as often to be dressed at the table at the diner’s desire. You do get to taste the goodness of the mutton, but it can be a bit of an acquired taste. Think lamb, but stronger.

I grew up on Owensboro mutton (and in my family “mutton” is synonymous with “barbecued mutton”) and consider it an earthy, smoky taste of heaven. But it is greasy and has a strong, strange flavor to newbies.

[FlyingRat]

@Clark_K

I grew up on Owensboro mutton (and in my family “mutton” is synonymous with “barbecued mutton”) and consider it an earthy, smoky taste of heaven. But it is greasy and has a strong, strange flavor to newbies.

I just got back from a two-week trip to Western China (Xinjiang), where the main item on the menu was-- lamb. Mutton, actually, in kebabs or added to noodles or stuffed into the equivalent of samosas or used to add fat to pilaf.

And…it was AWESOME. Not really gamy, quite young, and blended beautifully with the (relatively simple) spicing of Uighur cuisine. The earthy, smoky taste of heaven indeed, especially when done as kebabs, sprinkled only with a blend of sea salt, cumin, and chili powder and grilled over charcoal. The fat gets all crispy and…mmm.

It gave me a whole new appreciation for this meat, and I’m looking forward to trying it out for myself when we get back to the States (I’m gonna get a terracotta windowbox and fill it with sand and wood charcoal, as a backyard kebab grill).

[CrazyCatLady]

@pulykamell

Yes, more or less. It’s chopped or pulled mutton, usually served with a “dip” that is mainly worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and vinegar rather than a tomato-based BBQ sauce. It can be served as a sandwich with raw onions and a couple of pickles, or on its own. You can find a report on it here, and my contribution is under the screen name “Binko.” (And, apparently, my favorite overall was Old Hickory for the mutton, and George’s for the burgoo.)

According to Google maps, it appears to be a 3-3.5 hour drive from Cincinnati to Owensboro.

You can also get it as slices, either already slightly soaked with sauce, or “off the pit”–they pull a shoulder out of the meat warmer, pop it on the culinary bandsaw and custom cut you a few slices to be sauced at your discretion. I greatly prefer off the pit, since it’s drier and smokier. You can also get mutton ribs, at least at Old Hickory (and honestly, why would you eat barbecue anywhere else?) The ribs are awesome, the muttoniest mutton I ever mutton gluttoned.