Renaissance Mutton from Wethers
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The following organisations can be contacted for further information on the Mutton A guide to Renaissance campaign Renaissance Mutton and have provided a taste for producers, abattoirs, butchers valuable support on the and chefs production of this booklet. for marketing Department of the Environment, mutton Food and Rural Affairs www.defra.gov.uk National Sheep Association Policy Director – John Thorley O.B.E. Telephone 01684 892661 www.nationalsheep.org.uk Academy of Culinary Arts Director - Sara Jayne-Stanes Telephone 020 8673 6300 www.academyofculinaryarts.org.uk Meat & Livestock Commission Chairman – Peter Barr Telephone 01908 677577 www.mlc.org.uk English Beef & Lamb Executive Chief Executive – Richard Ali Telephone 01480 482980 www.eblex.org.uk Hybu Cig Cymru Meat Promotion Wales Chief Executive – Gwyn Howells Telephone 01970 625050 www.hccmpw.org.uk Association of Independent Meat Suppliers Policy Director – Norman Bagley Telephone 01609 761547 www.aims2001.co.uk Supply Chain Contacts Details of businesses that have registered with the Mutton Renaissance campaign and that are producing, processing or serving high quality mutton can be found at www.muttonrenaissance.org.uk MUTTON A comprehensive guide to producingMUTTON premium oduction by Kabassa Marketing Communications Kabassa Marketing oduction by RENAISSANCE Pr value added mutton for farmers, butchersRENAISSANCE and chefs Foreword Contents Introduction 3 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES I could not be more pleased to write this message of About this Guide support for the Mutton Renaissance campaign, which I 4Mutton’s This information booklet has been written to help launched in 2004. The idea to recreate a market for reconnect the supply chain for Renaissance Mutton; meat mutton arose from a visit I made to a remarkable Agricultural and from ewes and wethers produced in line with the organisation in County Durham, that provides invaluable Culinary History specifications set out in the following chapters. support to local farmers. It is split into clear sections so that farmers, abattoirs, A number of upland sheep farmers told me about the butchers and chefs can work together to produce, poor prices they were getting for the older ewes that had 6Information process, cook and serve mutton of high quality and help come to the end of their productive lives. That conversation to continue a renaissance in this traditional favourite. started me thinking about mutton, which was one of my forSheep Farmers Mutton has been an unfashionable, and indeed an favourite dishes when I was a child, but that had all but unmarketable meat for over 50 years and because of this, disappeared over the last thirty or forty years. Wouldn’t it Including the Renaissance supply chain expertise has inevitably declined. Little has be wonderful, I thought, if we could help boost the incomes Mutton Specification been written about the production, processing and HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES Patron, Mutton Renaissance of our hill farmers by encouraging a mutton renaissance? cooking of mutton over this time so it’s unlikely that this I drew on the skills and enthusiasm of some eminent booklet will have all of the answers. Instead it aims to chefs from the Academy of Culinary Arts, of which I am the 11 Information guide those keen to play a part in mutton’s revival and to patron, as well as the knowledge and wisdom of the call for fresh input and feedback from the supply chain. National Sheep Association. And with support from the for Abattoirs The campaign to promote mutton - known as the English Beef and Lamb Executive and Hybu Cig Cymru - Mutton Renaissance - was the brainchild of His Royal Meat Promotion Wales, the campaign was launched… Highness The Prince of Wales and is co-ordinated on his I believe that we have already made an impact with this 14Information behalf by the National Sheep Association and the campaign. The purpose, therefore, of this booklet, which has Academy of Culinary Arts. The two organisations share been so generously supported by DEFRA and produced with for Catering the Prince’s passion for good food and the environment the guidance of MLC, is the next step in the project to help to and they work together to bring sheep farmers and chefs bring together farmers, abattoirs, butchers and chefs. Butchers closer together in the name of taste. It explains the new specification for Renaissance Mutton, gives advice on sourcing and also recommends some ways to cook it. 17Information I have been overwhelmed by the support which I have received from a galaxy of culinary stars who share my belief for Chefs in the quality of mutton as an ingredient. By stimulating new interest in quality mutton, I hope that we can make a difference to the incomes of the hill farmers who care for 20Renaissance PHIL CARELESS BOB KENNARD JOHN WILLIAMS some of the most precious and fragile landscapes in this Sheep Farmer Wholesale Butcher Executive Chef country and so help to keep them and future generations on their farms. Mutton Recipes If we can do that, we will help to preserve that magical scenery which attracts so many visitors, and keep alive those villages and market towns which depend so crucially on a thriving JASON STEPHENS AND HIS FELLOW SLAUGHTERMEN agricultural economy. Main photography by www.agripix.co.uk Slaughtermen 4 MUTTON was seen as a reliable, nutritious and But it was the decline Staple Diet 5 affordable meat but at its best, it was celebrated of the British wool trade Mutton was a as a delicacy. Mrs Beeton, writing in her Guide to that really helped wave traditional part of 1Mutton’s Household Management in 1861, lauds praise goodbye to mutton. The the family diet. upon its flavour and its performance in cooking. advent of modern In centuries past wool was the driving force textiles, greater Agricultural and behind sheep farming. Animals were traditionally international trade links reared for their fleeces and after several years, and with these, new fattened for slaughter. The resulting meat was the competition from mutton that the Victorians and their forefathers overseas, farmers no Culinary History consumed with such passion. longer saw value in Food lovers in the 19th century recorded that keeping their sheep on The British have a long history of the finest mutton came from a five-year-old A Cut Above the land for their fleeces. wether and that a favourite breed was Southdown. The Victorians New eating trends farming sheep for wool, milk and Cooking mutton has traditionally been slow and made the most of for lamb that could be gentle and this reflected the typical method of all the cuts of a purchased relatively meat and until the 1940s, older meat cookery until the advent of improved gas mutton carcase. cheaply and cooked and oil supplies for ovens and hobs. quickly also helped to sheep meat prized for its texture and But mutton’s rich flavour, achieved through influence farming rearing, handling and hanging, is traditionally practices. Later EU flavour would have been the unlocked in stews and casseroles with added subsidies through the Common Agricultural Policy liquor replacing moisture lost through the put further emphasis on efficient production of food. increasingly diverse ethnic communities eagerly buy this mutton as it is well population’s meat of choice. maturation process. Mutton is most definitely a ‘slow food’ and this suited to cuisines that use intense marinades, rich spices, slow cooking or a Mutton’s demise was most notable during the has not matched the needs of the fast food combination of all three. Consequently, the mutton is usually slaughtered in aftermath of World generation nor the businesses that feed its hunger. line with religious beliefs. Wool Trade War II, though the However, as trends change and traditional foods find Reports from catering and retail butchers suggest that some communities from Rearing sheep for Fat Great War probably favour, mutton is indeed well placed for a renaissance. West Africa like mutton with a very strong flavour, others from North East Africa wool was important also had an impact. and Pakistan like very lean animals. Other communities need the meat to be as up until the 1940s. mutton“ Many sheep farmers Mutton Today fresh as possible and will only buy meat from animals killed on the same day. were away at war and While mutton has all but disappeared from the Renaissance Mutton comes from animals that have been carefully is the much of the expertise mainstream diet of the UK, the meat has selected, finished and processed to achieve optimum flavour and an excellent to produce the best continued to be produced as a by-product of the eating experience for traditional British palates. It has a distinct season from best mutton was absent vibrant lamb trade. October to March. from the countryside. This meat, usually from unfinished ‘cull ewes’, The campaign to promote high quality mutton is timed to coincide with Since the 1880s can be lean and inexpensive. The UK’s the UK’s renewed passion for good food and forgotten British flavours. and the mutton and lamb had been imported largely Herdwick finest from New Zealand. One of the breeds These supplies gaining a new comes continued at an following for mutton. increased rate after from World War II and helped to maintain a five year-round supply. The war years, with year old the constrained supply of fresh food, also served up the worst wether examples of mutton to THE HOUSEKEEPER”’S entrenched ORACLE, WILLIAM communities during KITCHINER, 1817 the blackouts. Many that lived through that period remember fatty mutton, poorly cooked and with little else to accompany it. This legacy helped to damage mutton’s reputation.