32 ms·
Why don’t Americans eat mutton?
- callalex 3y agoWhy do we separate the name of the animal from the name of the food? Is it just basic denial?
- lIl-IIIl 3y agoWe do the same for plants (e.g.trees).
- eesmith 3y agoBecause of the linguistic effect of Norman French on English. The ruling Normans used French names for the meals they ate. The peasant Anglo-Saxons, who could not afford to eat such meats, used English names for the animals they took care of: English English French Animal Food Animal ------ ------- ------ cow beef bœuf (adulte mâle castré) calf veal veau ou velle (f.) (jeune jusqu'à 6 mois) pig pork porc sheep mutton mouton deer venison Norman French venaison ("to hunt"; once included boars, hares, ...) Peasants could afford chickens. While we use the name chicken for both the animal and the food, "poultry" also came to English from Norman French: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/85638/normans-vs-saxons-cow-beef-sheep-mutton-chicken https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/85638/normans-vs... The Normans knew nothing about turkeys or bison, so we have no Norman French words for those meats. (We use "buffalo" for bison due to Samuel de Champlain use in 1616 of the French name "buffle" for the distantly related members of the Bubalina subfamily.) I do not know why we use "frog legs" instead of a French word. I can only guess that Britain did not have edible frogs or the Normans did not want to eat them.
- bengale 3y agoI remember the first time I had mutton curry in the Middle East. I thought it was going to be gross, turns out it's delicious. It does seem a shame its not more common in the west.
- 317070 3y agoI did not even notice it is not a thing in the US. It's definitely not all of "The West". In Europe (UK, France, Belgium), mutton is pretty common.
- ssl232 3y agoActually, in the UK, mutton tends mainly to be eaten by members of Asian, Middle Eastern and Caribbean communities. It's not widely sold in supermarkets all over the country, unlike, say, lamb. And where it is sold in a supermarket it tends to be one product line where there might be several for more common types of meat like beef, pork and lamb.
- downWidOutaFite 3y agoIs there really much difference between mutton and lamb meats?
- kbash9 3y agoMutton is really goat. Lamb is just lamb meat. IMO, lamb is sometimes harder to cook because of the smell - you need the right spices to get rid of the smell. Easy to get mutton in most urban areas in the west - just look for a Halal meat shop.
- MisterBastahrd 3y agoThe same reason we eat tilapia, beef, and chicken from farms. Because they don't have a whole lot of gamey flavors. That, and lamb is seen as an upper class food in the US when it comes to home preparation.
- zht 3y agoyea but I wonder if folks would still care about "gameyness" if they ate it from birth one thing that you often notice moving from abroad is that the pork in North America (raw) smells and tastes like piss. but if you're used to it you just don't question it
- crazygringo 3y agoI don't know where you're getting your pork from but no it doesn't...?
- DennisP 3y agoI haven't noticed that but it's been quite a while since I cooked unprocessed raw pork. I wonder if the intense ammonia smell that builds up in pig factories had anything to do with the smell you experienced.
- crazygringo 3y agoExactly, the same reason we don't eat goat either. Goat BBQ is absolutely delicious. But it is a strong flavor that lingers for a long time. It's just not palatable for the average American consumer to eat on a regular basis. On the one hand I absolutely wish we had a wider variety of meats available. But on the other hand I totally understand why there isn't enough demand for it to be economically viable.
- tptacek 3y agoGoat is pretty easy to find in Chicago, at birrierias and in the really good butcher shops. It braises well.
- tptacek 3y agoThey eat a lot of it in Kentucky, where it's a barbecue staple. PQM does mutton BBQ sandwiches here in Chicago occasionally.
- michaelsmanley 3y agoI was about to post the same thing here. BBQ mutton from Moonlite in Owensboro, KY is one of my favorite foods, second only to their burgoo made with mutton. Long, long ago, Owensboro was a major wool production center and river port and there was often a surplus of sheep, so they ate mutton.
- WhyCause 3y agoIt's not just Moonlite and Owensboro; it's common further downriver too. I end up in Paducah at least once a year, and I always try to make it to Kountry Kastle for a mutton sandwich. I'd say that mutton and burgoo are the defining elements of Kentucky BBQ.
- bigpeopleareold 3y agoI searched "Kentucky" in the comments here precisely because of thinking of my time in Owensboro, where my uncle moved to many years ago. That barbecue mutton was utterly fantastic when I had it :)
- HankB99 3y agoThanks for the tip. I'll need to check that out. Unrelated humor: I searched "pqm bbq chicago" on duckduckgo.com and on the map, just west of PQM there's a marker for "Duck Duck Goat" :D
- tptacek 3y agoThe Chinese outpost of Stephanie Izard's Girl & The Goat empire.
- zxexz 3y agoI wish I could find mutton easier! I've always loved "Gamey" meats. I've mostly only found mutton at Halal butchers, and only some times. Rarely at extremely "high-end", bougie butchers, and very expensive.
- a2tech 3y agoMove to Michigan! Our large Middle Eastern and African population ensures you'll always be able to get it from any stand alone butcher and very often at your normal grocery store.
- conductr 3y agoI (American) think the gamey taste is exactly what most American's do not like at this point. Any time lamb, elk, bison, etc. are an option (usually at a restaurant), people voice complaints about gaminess and order beef (in my experience/social groups). It doesn't explain why it wasn't part of our food options we grew up with as this article is trying to explain, but I think it's why it's a hard sell today. I will get lamb occasionally at a restaurant and about half the time it's too gamey for me (and I then regret my ordering decision). We also don't eat a ton of curry dishes where the seasoning and spices can maybe mask or enhance that flavor (I don't know what it does but assuming more flavors results in less noticeable gaminess). It seems that it's difficult to introduce new meat sources to the market. Bison has been trying hard the past 10-20 years and it's a really good beef-like meat for burgers/steaks but still quite rare to see at a restaurant much less a grocery store.
- SoftTalker 3y agoYes, Americans are very accustomed to the taste of grain or corn fed beef as that's what you get in supermarkets and restaurants. If you are used to that and then try a steak from a strictly pasture (grass) fed cow, it will have a distinctly different flavor.
- chrisco255 3y agoThere is still a big difference from grass fed beef and bison and the leaner meats like elk and venison have a much different flavor and they seem more difficult for me to cook right. I love venison, for example, but I don't always nail it. And it usually helps to spice it or sauce it.
- glonq 3y agoIn places where mutton is consumed, I'm curious: is there a distinction between "sheep raised for mutton" and "sheep raised for wool", or is it always both? Do all wool sheep eventually become mutton?
- elorant 3y agoIn Greece where we regularly consume sheep it's mostly both, mainly because we don't have specialized breeds for wool. They do exist, but they're rare.
- Darmody 3y agoThose who raise sheep for the wool usually raise expensive ones with pedigree like the merino breed in Spain.
- thefifthsetpin 3y agoI can't speak to sheep specifically, but we use different species of goats and cattle and chickens when raised for meat vs for dairy or eggs. Still, dairy cows do eventually become beef. If you ever see a cut of beef that's normally bone-in but the butcher chose to debone this one, then there's a good chance it was from a dairy cow whose bones were too calcified to saw through.
- pavon 3y agoI was under the impression that lamb was from young sheep raised explicitly for meat, while mutton was from old sheep after their wool career was over, but I can't say I've investigated it deeply.
- zombielinux 3y agoThere is actually a distinction. I raise hair sheep (Katahdin/Barbados crosses) , which produce no useful (that I've seen) wool. But are fantastic in terms of meat. I'm starting to see a market for them in the specialty realm (beyond halal/kosher/immigrant markets) I'm thinking I'll need to eventually set up something like this: https://www.deepsouthventures.com/i-sell-onions-on-the-internet/ https://www.deepsouthventures.com/i-sell-onions-on-the-inter...
- 3y ago
- esotericimpl 3y ago[dead]
- poulsbohemian 3y agoI'm the cook in our household and for me the article doesn't quite capture my observations... maybe it's because of my location, but it isn't easy to find lamb in my local grocery stores and it is at a super premium relative to other options. The lamb available is so flavorful that I can't imagine something even stronger. Having checked with butcher shops, anything they can get that would be local (rather than from NZ or AUS) is even more expensive, and generally only ground or chops. So... I'm seeing a catch-22 here where it's not really available, therefore people don't eat it. And if the cost is x2+ of other choices, people are going to think carefully about their budget. Finally, it really is a unique flavor that even for all my culinary explorations, I see it as an occasional change-of-pace rather than a regular part of our menu. Great as doner / gyro, individual kebabs, in stews, but beyond that I continue to be at a loss of what to do with it.
- CoastalCoder 3y agoMy family jas a wonderful recipe for lamb stew, and it has some strong flavors via tomatoes, garlic, onion, and lemon. I've never eaten mutton, but I'm wondering if its stronger flavor would be fine in that stew.
- poulsbohemian 3y agoYeah - sounds a lot like the various dishes across a range from the Mediterranean to the "-stans" that I've made with lamb. No reason I couldn't use mutton - if it were available. I've had some lamb that was absolutely overpowering, so having a hard time imaging something more than that.
- gingerrr 3y agoI've only eaten mutton in heavily spiced dishes and it does go very well in those settings - you need other strong flavors to stand up to the gaminess of the mutton, which might be why it hasn't caught on in American cuisine which tends to focus less on heavy spice profiles and more on just cooking ingredients to present their natural flavors.
- a2tech 3y ago
- _8j50 3y agoI think that sienfeld episode had a huge impact. That's where I first heard of mutton and I wouldn't try it now unless in dire situations.
- ranting-moth 3y agoFor me personally it's the same reason for why I don't eat an old cow. It tastes disgusting.
- downWidOutaFite 3y agoHow do you know if the beef you're eating is from an old or young cow?
- TuringNYC 3y agoThey are probably referring to Veal, which is the meat from a calf or young animal. Note there are a number of controversies the other way also, where people oppose eating young cow because of the practices surrounding raising veal.
- jcampbell1 3y agoVeal is male dairy calves.
- tptacek 3y agoNo, the beef you buy at Whole Foods or Safeway has generally been harvested from steers slaughtered at 1-2 years old --- it's all young. Specialty purveyors will sell you beef from much older cows, which is less tender and has a much deeper flavor (there's also a high-end thing right now about eating beef from dairy cows).
- jcampbell1 3y agoYou can taste it. Fast food ground meat has that signature old dairy cow flavor.
- tptacek 3y agoThis seems extremely unlikely, given the relatively small percentage of beef that comes from culled dairy cows, the absolutely vast amount of beef used as an input for fast food, and the named suppliers companies like McDonalds use.
- Animats 3y agoThe mutton industry needs influencers, then. Or maybe a name change. In 1959, a packing company in Auckland came up with the name "kiwi fruit" for Chinese gooseberry.[1] That turned the market around. It's also hard to get rabbit in the US. [1] https://teara.govt.nz/en/kiwifruit/page-2 https://teara.govt.nz/en/kiwifruit/page-2
- tssva 3y agoSeveral of the grocery stores in my area carry rabbit in their specialty meat section. If you can't source it locally, there are a good number of suppliers from which you can order it online.
- Animats 3y agoYes, you can get rabbit, but it's not mainstream. Nobody offers bunny burgers.
- bananapub 3y agoLamb doesn't even seem very common in the US from my limited experience, certainly much less common than in Australia or even the UK.
- esafak 3y agoSo much so that Americans get their lamb shipped from down under.
- Aaronstotle 3y agoI would love to find Mutton at a supermarket. I only see Lamb, which tastes good however I choose not to eat for ethical reason (much like Veal).
- kyllo 3y agoThe Costco near my house sells a large box of frozen mutton cubes, which is the only mutton product I've ever seen at a store in America, and I believe it's mostly purchased by South Asian and Middle Eastern immigrant customers.
- stickfigure 3y agoWhat city? The Costcos I've visited in the SF Bay Area usually carry lamb rack and lamb chops (both of which are delicious!), but I've never seen mutton. I'd love to find it.
- madengr 3y ago[dead]
- debacle 3y agoMost of America's pasture and grazing land is too rich and flat for it to make sense to raise sheep, when cows are the alternative. You see sheep and goats in hilly, rugged areas of the US, but those are few and far between (and not generally economically viable).
- yieldcrv 3y agonever knew the word, looked up and my face squinched in disgust and absurdity am American so, how does it taste? whats the trick to preparing it. smother it in gravy?
- Mistletoe 3y agoI used to get lamb chops at Albertson's in college (it must not have been expensive since I was dirt poor) and it tasted really great. Like kind of a spicier tasting steak. It definitely wasn't gamey at all.
- gav 3y agoIf you visit NYC, the mutton chop at Keen's is well worth trying: https://ny.eater.com/2015/1/30/7948527/the-mutton-chop-at-keens-is-a-new-york-city-classic#0 https://ny.eater.com/2015/1/30/7948527/the-mutton-chop-at-ke...
- AlbertCory 3y agosince I just mentioned the Master and Commander series yesterday: A very common dish on Capt. Aubrey's table was mutton chops. I love lamb, but interestingly, even that is too strongly flavored for a lot of Americans. Sad. There's a halal grocery near me, but I don't remember seeing mutton in their display case. Maybe you can ask for it.
- ryzvonusef 3y agoAdam Ragusea did a video on this exact topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77IoP9r4hOI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77IoP9r4hOI one of the interesting points he mentioned was the presence of "skatole" as one of the determinants of the sheepy taste. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skatole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skatole yeah...
- tptacek 3y agoThis is a Harold McGee thing, originally, and skatole is a determinant of the gamey or barnyardy flavor of lamb as well; further, it's probably more prevalent/dominant in higher-end heritage lamb than in factory lamb.
- daft_pink 3y agoWe call it lamb. Sometimes we eat it. If you ask us if we eat Mutton, most of us will have no idea what you are talking about. Just sayin'
- karaterobot 3y agoMutton is defined as lamb with a few more candles on its birthday cake.
- whoitwas 3y agoI'm not sure how similar it is, but it's usually pretty easy to find goat at Halal butchers.
- smabie 3y agoIt's pretty obvious why we don't eat goat tho: it tastes really bad.
- andybak 3y agoWhy do you say this? I've eaten it and enjoyed it and it's commonly eaten in many places.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ah27182 3y agoI heard this sentiment from co-workers and friends who didnt grow up eating goat. I think it boils down to two different things: 1. "meat musk" (lack of a better word, lol): People dont realize how pungent beef can be, its just that most Americans are accustomed to it. You can really smell this with grass-fed beef. I think goat/lamb meat is "musky" for the same reasons, as they eat mainly from foraging/hay. 2. preparation/cooking: If you plan on cooking goat like a steak, its not a gonna taste good. Generally, most dishes require that the goat is simmered or slow-cooked to make the meat more tender. Spices also make a big difference here with the dish.
- ComputerGuru 3y ago“meat musk” is perfect!
- andybak 3y agoIn the UK, lamb is pretty much an everyday meat (well - every week...) but goat is regarded as pretty exotic - common mainly in Afro-caribbean takeaways or restaurants. (I'm from the South-East so this might not be true in other regions). Mutton - I don't recall seeing very often at all in butcher shops. As the meat in takeway - it's more common but sometimes the terminology isn't precise. Some Indian takeaways use the word "meat" when they mean something sheep-based. And "mutton" sometimes means "goat" (and vice-versa). And "mutton" sometimes is just lamb...
- johnea 3y agoWhy does ANYONE eat mutton? The 1st world diet really does reflect the primitive primate species we are...
- shrimp_emoji 3y agoDo gyros count? It's lamb meat. It's one of the best-tasting meats ever, imo.
- selimthegrim 3y agoNo.
- andrewstuart 3y agoMutton/lamb is the most delicious of all non-fish meats. I don't particularly love beef/chicken/pork but a sunday lamb roast with crispy potatoes and gravy - yum. BUT - cooking lamb well is an art and takes alot of practice. You can't just go cook lamb any old way and think it will be delicious. If you want to learn how to cook lamb well then focus on slow cooking and slow roasting - and anticipate you won't really knock people out with it until you've practiced enough. Jamie Oliver has the best lamb roast recipes. Lamb leg is extremely cheap at the moment in Australia - $10/KG - so I am practicing my lamb leg roasting skills.
- jahnu 3y agoI love lamb too but my love for it is heavily tempered by its extreme environmental impact :(
- esafak 3y agoLamb had the highest carbon footprint of all animals last I checked. Now I took another look and beef is back on top! https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/food-emissions-supply-chain https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/food-emissions-supply-cha...
- janc_ 3y agoIt probably depends highly on what you feed them...
- nrp 3y agoRuminants inherently have large methane output that drives up climate impact. There are only very early efforts to reduce methane output through diet change.
- Jill_the_Pill 3y agoI think it depends on if you include shipping from Australia to North America in the footprint calculation.
- walthamstow 3y agoI make an absolutely tidy mutton saag with mature spinach leaf and lots of cardamom and mustard. Make sure you get a really good colour on the mutton before you stew it.
- andrewstuart 3y agoI love curry but can't help feeling that meat as delicious as good lamb or fish is wasted in the strong flavor of the curry - better to have a vegetarian curry and enjoy the curry flavors on their own, cook the lamb separately. Well cooked lamb is so delicious it - in my opinion should be eaten only with gravy or a tiny dab of mustard or tiny dab of mint sauce.
- masfuerte 3y agoI make curry out of lamb neck chops with the bones in. It's delicious and what else are you going to do with them?
- nmcfarl 3y agoIn addition to curries I make a New Mexican style posole stew with my necks - it is also delicious.
- huytersd 3y agoThere’s an assumption that ingredients taste good on their own in the west. Most Asian cuisine relies heavily on creating a fantastic spice mix that the meat provides a background flavor to. Texture also matters a lot. The background flavor is not interchangeable. For instance I love fish curries but can’t stand regular roasted/steamed fish lightly flavored with salt, dill, butter etc.
- jrochkind1 3y agoThe main point I got from the OP was that mutton (meat from sheep over 2 years old) and lamb (meat from sheep younger than 1 year) have pretty different taste and other culinary qualities as meat. In particular, that mutton is much stronger flavored and tougher, lamb more tender and delicately flavored. Yet the comments section is full of people treating them interchangeably, replying to someone who talked about mutton by talking about lamb, or vice versa, or talking about "lamb/mutton". I'm not sure if the commentors disagree with the OP and think it's over-stating the difference? Or just aren't really paying attention. I (who live in the USA) have had plenty of lamb, but have never had mutton. So I can't say from personal experience. But this is one of those HN articles where the comments section seems entirely divorced from the article.
- davidw 3y agoIn the western US there were some pretty violent confrontations between sheep and cattle ranchers, with the cattle folks seemingly coming out ahead in a lot of cases. For instance: https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/central-oregon-range-wars/ https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-rec...
- ramesh31 3y agoIt's not so much taste, but texture. Americans like steaks and boneless skinless breastmeat. Lamb is not very amenable to that.
- SoftTalker 3y agoLamb chops with mint jelly was a fairly regular dinner item when I was growing up (1970s). Seems like my mom might have prepared mutton occasionally but I don't specificially remember it.
- ilamont 3y agoIn Boston area supermarkets I see limited displays of lamb chops and other cuts of lamb regularly priced around the same as lower-mid cuts of beef, roughly $8-$10 per pound, sometimes less on sale. Legs are usually imported from New Zealand, which considering it's halfway around the world the price is quite impressive. We usually make stew or curry. My dad roasts it. I have a feeling a lot of local non-immigrants don't know how to cook lamb, let alone goat or mutton. Goat shows up at some of the Caribbean and South Asian markets and take-out places. I don't recall ever seeing mutton at any local market or menu. This 2016 forum thread advises asking some specialist halal or Armenian butchers: https://www.hungryonion.org/t/places-to-buy-mutton-in-boston/6630/3 https://www.hungryonion.org/t/places-to-buy-mutton-in-boston...
- sharadov 3y agoGrew up eating goat meat in India, but can't handle sheep - it has a strong flavor which I can't handle. Even goat needs spices to make it palatable and flavorful - hence it's a big part of Middle-eastern, Carribean and Indian cuisines which use a lot of spices.
- hackernewds 3y agoGoat meat in India comes from castrated goats. You get the stress hormones especially when the goat is slaughtered in the West. Hence you might find Halal meat perhaps more palatable
- herbst 3y agoCan confirm. The best goat I ever ate was driven to the slaughter in a normal car with the people it grow up with to get stress near to zero. (Not halal, Demeter) and this meat was honestly on another level.
- michaeljhg 3y agoThe breed, age, sex and method of slaughter makes a difference for both sheep and goats In South Africa lamb is part of our culture and often the most sought after meat, if you can afford it. It's used in pie, various stews, curry, samoosas, roast, braai(BBQ), grilled, fried, etc. The innards are not forgotten either https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skilpadjies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skilpadjies
- thom 3y agoI was raised vegetarian and married into Yorkshire, and I've tried to expand my palate over the years. Lamb is the one thing that just utterly defeats me. I can get through most roast dinners by slathering the meat in various sauces, and while I don't really see the attraction, I can survive family meals. But lamb is unlike any vegetarian food in that it just sticks around like bubblegum. I'm chewing and chewing and hoping it'll dissolve and it never goes anywhere, so you're left having to just force this stuff down against your gag reflex. Genuinely horrifying every time I've tried it. My wife claims slower cooked stuff like lamb shank is different but I'm completely off it at this point.
- secondcoming 3y agoneck of lamb is great in a stew. It’s not fatty at all.
- freeopinion 3y agoYou represent a conundrum for me. I'd love to connect with somebody like you and try out dozens of different approaches. But, of course, that wouldn't be a very nice thing to do. There's always the promise that there are some handful of techniques that would produce results that you actually like. But how do you ask somebody to suffer through the misery of all the techniques that don't in the hope of finding the treasures?
- nkurz 3y agoI love your attitude, but I think your mental model is wrong. I think many people don't like lamb (and can't stand mutton) simply because of the way it tastes. My one-time fiancee grew up on a (meat) sheep farm in Manitoba. With her, I've toured sheep stations in Australia and New Zealand. I've been offered and eaten it as a local specialty all around the world---I just don't like the flavor. Sure, a preparation can make it taste less like lamb, but (for me) I don't think it can make it taste good. I'll always prefer beef. The closest I've come to liking it is Gyro meat, and that's usually half beef, and even then, I'm sure I'd like it more without the lamb. Just last month I had to force myself to finish some homemade golubki (cabbage rolls) made with half lamb and half pork that I otherwise would have found fantastic. One theory is that it depends on what you grew up with, but I don't think that's true either. I grew up eating primarily (deer) venison, and never came to like it either. Later in life I've tried a whole lot of other big game meats, and haven't really liked them either. The major exception was (black) bear, which I first had as an adult and thought would be terrible, but it turned out to be incredibly delicious. Whale can be pretty good too, but I don't feel right eating it. I personally think the correct theory is that some people are sensitive to the flavors of different proteins, and that those who are most sensitive are least likely to like lamb. A competing theory is that everyone tastes it but some simply like that flavor. It would be interesting to arrange a dilution test to see which of these hypotheses is closer to true. I don't think the "just haven't had it prepared right" hypothesis has much going for it.
- lvl102 3y agoIf you’re in NYC area (or visiting), go try mutton chops at Keens. It is one of the best I’ve had in the US. Of course, nothing beats Patagonian lamb on the spit. They just taste different down there.
- eatonphil 3y agoI don't eat beef much anymore and lamb chops are my indulgence. I had no reason to go to Keens before but now I do! Thanks!
- yellowstuff 3y agoI love Keens and go there a fair amount, and I had no idea that mutton was so rare in the US. Now that I think of it I've never seen it anywhere else.
- michael1999 3y agoWhere would Americans raise mutton that isn't already crowded with people? They don't like cold winters, and can't tolerate high heat. Keeping them inside all winter with fodder is pretty expensive.
- irrational 3y agoCrowded with people? I have to drive 3 hours north to get to another urban area, 6 hours to the east to get to another urban area, and 9 hours south to get to another urban area (there is nothing to the west). Everything in between the urban areas is mostly empty. Just forests and meadows and mountains and such.
- rendang 3y agoDo you live in an area that has neither cold winters nor hot summers? The only place in the US I know of that qualifies is coastal California
- michael1999 3y agoExactly. And they will browse right down to the dirt without regular moisture for the grass. Maybe the Carolinas near the coast, but I figure that’s all occupied, or marsh. Scottish and New Zealand weather are perfect for sheep.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- irrational 3y agoI've never seen it sold at the grocery store. This might be a chicken and egg thing. The grocery stores don't stock it because people don't buy it, but people don't buy it because the grocery stores don't stock it. I would also imagine the cost would be quite high. I almost never see sheep farms around, but I see cattle and chickens and pigs everywhere. They would probably have to import it from another country.
- dunham 3y agoMy ordinary grocery store has it (Kroger affiliate in the US near Seattle). I'm usually buying stew meat for saag or ground for keema or kofta, but I've cooked shanks and rack before. (I also get it from the farmer's market.) If you want it, a normal grocery store near a university might be a good bet. They tend to have more diverse foods, because of their customer base. Otherwise look for a halal or kosher butcher, I think they carry stuff like lamb and goat and there probably is one somewhere in most cities. Now Squab has been hard to find since I moved here from San Francisco. Uwajimaya did have it frozen last time I went, but I've never seen fresh squab here.
- giaour 3y agoMost grocery store butcher counters would be able to order some for you if you ask, but they're unlikely to have any on hand if customers aren't already buying it off the shelves. In a lot of the US, people who would want mutton are already going to specialty shops to pick up meat and imports; where I live (in northern Virginia), there are a couple of halal butcher shops within walking distance that always stock lamb and mutton, and the grocery stores in the same area might stock lamb (usually French cuts) but never carry mutton or goat.
- moron4hire 3y agoIDK, do we not? Half the bougie gastropub places here in the DC area seem to have it. We cook it ourselves into Shepherds Pie or chops on a pretty regular basis. It's not substantially more expensive than the other meats, but then we aren't ever buying the absolute cheapest cuts.
- birdshit 3y ago[flagged]
- gweinberg 3y agoWhen I was kid, Cambell's Scotch Broth (mutton soup) was one of my favorite things. But it seems they stopped making it.
- ChumpGPT 3y agoCostco sells New Zealand Lamb for $6.99 lb. It's Grass Fed and cheaper than their Steak. I don't know if I'm making it correctly but I put like 4 of those little chops on the Barbecue for a few minutes and OMG they are delicious. Took me a little to acquire a taste but now it's my favorite meat.
- biggio 3y agoHere are the 50 best rated lamb dishes. https://www.tasteatlas.com/50-best-rated-lamb-dishes-in-the-world https://www.tasteatlas.com/50-best-rated-lamb-dishes-in-the-... Not sure how trustworthy this list is. It is missing one of my favourites, kavurma.
- julienmarie 3y agoMutton doesn't fit much our western traditional cooking esthetics where we want tasty but subtle. Lamb and mutton are for different types of recipes. As a french guy selling and importing high end food in South East Asia, I've tasted quite a wide array of lambs. The best lamb is young, but not too young. I'm not a fan of milk-fed lamb where I feel there is quite no taste. The right balance is slaughtered at around 90 to 150 days old. Agneau de Sisteron is a gem. You don't need to be highly skilled to cook it. For cutlets, just pan sear until pink inside. For roast and leg, oven, basted with salt olive oil, some garlic cloves inserted inside the meat. It's truly magnificent. The older the animal, the bolder the recipes it needs. The best lamb/mutton I've ever had was in Marocco, a slow roasted lamb in honey and almonds. So tender it was served from the bone with a spoon. You'll notice that mutton is always cooked in a way to counter balance the strong muttony flavour and sublime it with contrasts. Mutton curries are also delicious for the same reason.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- xattt 3y ago[flagged]
- firen777 3y agoyou /s, but the parent comment makes me wonder where in the hell is lab grown meat now.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago> I prefer my meat to be ... labeled with words no longer than 5 letters and two syllables Slain pals? Surely that would sell. (There’s a lot of words for “murder” but not many with 5 or fewer letters. Same with “friend”. A thesaurus is only so helpful.)
- twism 3y agowhat is jerky? i'll take meats on HN for 400 downvotes pls
- User23 3y agoBecause good beef is cheap here. Yes it's that simple.
- emodendroket 3y agoPerhaps the more salient question is how we got locked into only eating a handful of animals. That's kind of strange when you think about it.
- NamTaf 3y agoNot really to me. The standard ones tick some pretty convenient boxes: - herbivores - relatively quick to raise from birth to useful slaughtering - high volume of usable meat from the animal (though husbandry undoubtedly guides this) - produce useful secondary products (leather, milk, wool, eggs, garbage disposal, mechanical effort) - IMO probably the primary driver the further back you look, towards subsistence farming times Yeh, other animals can hit some of these to some degree, but when you look at the main livestock choices it's fairly obvious to me why sheep, pigs and cows were chosen (in western Europe). If you're some family living on a farm back in the middle ages, you're only going to have capacity to raise a couple of animals and these give you the best return on your effort/resources. Look at the central Asian Steppe region, where horses were absolute cornerstones of society for millennia due to the roaming structure of their living. Horse and horse products such as mare's milk are still products consumed there today, and it makes absolute sense that their ancestors found multiple uses for the animals their scarce resources went into keeping alive.
- klyrs 3y agoBy all accounts, the dodo was delicious. I imagine the same was true of mammoths, giant sloths, etc. But I think you're missing something: seafood. We eat quite a large variety of fish, crustaceans and mollusks.
- emodendroket 3y agoYeah we do, but generally are resistant to eating snails or frogs or lots of other animals commonly eaten elsewhere.
- bizzletk 3y agoCGP Grey has a great video [0] that goes into why some animals are better to farm/breed/eat than others. The top selection criteria are animals that are: 1. Friendly 2. Feedable 3. "Fecund" 4. Family-friendly [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOmjnioNulo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOmjnioNulo
- innocentoldguy 3y agoI do eat mutton. It's my favorite kind of meat. The flavor is fantastic and it goes well in all kinds of dishes.
- myshpa 3y agoThis seems like a discussion that could benefit from a reminder: animal agriculture is highly polluting (16.5% of all emissions) and destructive (the leading cause of deforestation and biodiversity loss). Lamb and mutton are nearly as environmentally damaging as beef (116m2 vs. 119m2 for beef). https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets And why lambs and not kittens or puppies? It's the same kind of psychopathic indifference.
- leetcodesucks 3y ago[dead]
- INTPenis 3y ago...anymore? Growing up on american media in the 80s and 90s I clearly remember "we're having lamb chops" uttered many times. Even on that famous vegan episode of the simpsons. Sorry but all I knew about American culture growing up came from TV. I'd assume it's more expensive than the farmed to death chicken and beef.
- jrochkind1 3y agoThe article is talking about mutton as different than lamb. A thing that most of the discussion thread seems to have missed, presumably having a pre-existing notion that lamb and mutton are synonyms and not making it past the title? > Mutton has less tender flesh and a stronger flavor than lamb, which comes from sheep that are less than a year old. (Meat from sheep aged one to two years is generally called “yearling” in the US, and “hogget” elsewhere around the world.) That stronger flavor lends itself to curries, stews and “value-added” products such as spiced sausages, says Wortman, “so most of our mutton goes into value-added products or into specialty ethnic markets at this point. But also, no, lamb I think lamb was not as popular in the USA in the 1990s as American sitcoms apparently gave you the idea of, although it wasn't unheard of. It's probably less popular now than it was then. Mutton has been pretty unheard of in the USA since the 1950s, as discussed in teh article.
- c_o_n_v_e_x 3y agoI'm a guero and grew up eating cabrito in taquerias around Houston. Australian lamb is much better tasting than American lamb imo.
- adastra22 3y agoWe do though…?
- slyall 3y agoAs a New Zealander I remember there was a whole thing in the mid-1980s where our Trade Minister (Mike Moore) was trying to promote "Lamb Burgers" to be sold in the US. At the time NZ sheep farmers were having a slump in sales and the theory was if every America ate one Lamb Burger a year... Not sure how serious it all was but Moore was closely identified with it, it's mentioned in several of his obituaries
- kepler1 3y agoI will posit a simple and maybe frivolous reason -- "Mutton" just doesn't sound like an appealing name for a meat. There's something offputting about the sound of it. Or maybe it has just become so, given that it's associated in all our experience with "old" animal meat. Although, by that logic, maybe "haggis" also just has a branding problem.
- GlenTheMachine 3y agoBreed really matters, as is said in the article. My wife and I raise Katahdins, a meat breed (one of the few sheep that shed instead of having a fleece that needs to be sheared off). We've eaten three year old ewes, which is pretty solidly mutton. They taste, to my palate, exactly like lamb does. It's my understanding that the taste comes from lanolin, which is of course the thing that makes wool so awesome. If you have a wool breed on your hands, lanolin will be higher.
- aj7 3y agoI was researching a machine tool exporter in Tengzhou, China on Google maps and I found 10 mutton restaurants in Tengzhou.
- voxelghost 3y agoIs this any different from how you'll find lots of leather boot shops, and beef in Texas?
- woodruffw 3y agoOthers have pointed out, and I agree: supermarkets are a large factor here. The transition of American food shopping from a "market" pattern to a "supermarket" one has taken a heavy toll on food items that aren't true luxuries, but are effectively made into luxuries by failing to fit cleanly into supermarket-scaled supply chains. We now spend less than (nearly) ever on food at home[1], in large part because we've eliminated the foodstuffs that can't be produced at the smallest possible margins. [1]: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=76967 https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery...
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoAnswer: the American industrial food market decided not to invest in it. Literally everything that Americans eat today is a byproduct of the marketing of industrial food producers. If they don't want you to eat it, you won't see it. If they do want you to eat it, it'll be inescapable, visually appealing, and flavor-and-nutrition-bankrupt.
- an_aparallel 3y agocorrect answer. boggles my mind how much nutrient lobbying goes on in the world....from demonising certain nutrients, to pumping others up. I grew up eating everything, trying everything, in a multicultural area...its quite odd for me not to have tasted something. It's not like that in a lot of places, and it's easy to forget that! Blows my mind when people say "oh wow i've never tried a [insert fresh food ingredient here]. You'd think people get curious about all the cool options you have to cook with...nope...a small percentage do.
- DoingIsLearning 3y agoI read this and 100% heard Adam Curtis narrating it. Too early in the morning for such violent truths.
- imajoredinecon 3y agoThis article linked from the OP turned out to be a find too > in western Kentucky, a tradition of barbecued mutton still holds, although no one is quite sure why. https://bittersoutherner.com/southern-perspective/2020/southern-mutton https://bittersoutherner.com/southern-perspective/2020/south...
- buyx 3y agoMy good friend from South Africa tells me how she and her husband miss cooking with mutton, which they find more flavorful and satisfying than lamb. What happens to the mutton-aged sheep here?” Just to clarify: lamb is far more common in South Africa than mutton (aged sheep) and most people don't differentiate between the two. Maybe it's the flavour of the lamb that they're referring to that differs between the countries. The term mutton is overloaded: in South Asia, I believe it refers goat.
- objektif 3y agoHold on mutton is goat isn't it? Why does the article say it is just older lamb?
- sitharus 3y agoMutton is adult sheep, older than hogget which is older than lamb. Goat is goat.
- dieselgate 3y agoInteresting article, wasn't familiar with the history of Spaniards bringing the animals over to the americas. I grew up eating lamb on special occasions and it makes more sense as my grandma is from Madrid. Have always found lamb to be "gamey" and have raised sheep as well which were particularly so. I would previously prefer to eat goat whenever possible but don't have any good reason for it - it does have a more neutral flavor. I think many Americans are probably robbed of food breadth and just default to "boneless skinless".
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago> What happens to the mutton-aged sheep here? I thought that was a good question that unfortunately the article didn't appear to answer. Similarly to how leather is essentially a byproduct of the beef industry, I'd expect that at least the reverse would be true with sheep, that mutton would be a byproduct of the wool industry. So what happens with older sheep once their shearing days are over?
- GlenTheMachine 3y agoDogfood, mostly. And other products where you need protein but taste either doesn't matter, or can be completely overwhelmed by spices. There isn't very much of a wool industry in the United States. Australia and New Zealand have such large economies of scale that in the US, you literally lose money just by paying someone to shear your sheep. The wool is worth less than the shearer's per-fleece fee. So the problem of "where do all the old sheep go" isn't a very big one. I expect that either they eat quite a lot of mutton in Australia, or they sell that mutton on markets where it is desirable. But I don't have any data or experience to back that up.
- dboreham 3y agoAmerican lamb tastes like mutton.
- x_juisnka 3y ago>>The right balance is slaughtered at around 90 to 150 days old Will we as an enlightened species ever realize that killing and eating a tender young life of another species is a morally reprehensible act! Just because we happened to be chanced into an evolutionary advantage over other species does not mean we can exalt and relish in our cruel and inhumane attitude towards the defenseless Downvotes welcome!
- vidanay 3y ago> Downvotes welcome! Happy to oblige!
- mardef 3y agoHow long must the animal live in captivity until you would deem its slaughter morally acceptable?
- hombre_fatal 3y agoAnd what's your answer to that question for a child you've bred for organ harvest? You're assuming anyone would grant the priors of your scenario. You just wouldn't breed and farm the animal into existence in the first place.
- hackernewds 3y agoDownvoted! I do presume eating a young carrot possesses the same moral reprehensions?
- Clamchop 3y agoI don't have any qualm with eating animals but that was still stupid to read.
- 22289d 3y agoYou're not wrong but it's worth considering that life wouldn't exist otherwise. The choices are not kill or let live, the choices are kill or do not breed at all. They breed these animals specifically to kill them.
- embit 3y agoIn India, mutton is older goat not a sheep. So word mutton means older sheep or goat depending on which country one is taking about.
- hackernewds 3y agoMutton always means goat. However, lamb is often substituted for mutton.
- pleb_nz 3y agoMutton in NZ and Oz is older sheep, hoggart is sheep between lamb and mutton in age and lamb is well, the youngest and called lamb. https://www.handsourced.com.au/behind-the-scenes/whats-difference-lamb-hogget-mutton/ https://www.handsourced.com.au/behind-the-scenes/whats-diffe...
- baseline-shift 3y agoit's horrible, that's why. [New Zealander, raised on mutton]
- _sys49152 3y agomy favorite food, spiedies, were originally marinade for lamb. remember reading years ago about how it was invented to dummy up meat that was going bad back in the day, but cant seem to find anything...ive never tried the lamb version. think they have that at lupos. ive only ever gone to ribpit for the chicken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiedie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiedie
- replwoacause 3y agoI’ve been a meat eater most of my life, but since I met my wife, who objects to eating lamb and other young animals, I too have grown to find it objectionable. No judgement to those who enjoy it, but something about it doesn’t sit well with me any longer.
- bufordtwain 3y agoLoved the picture of a housewife over a stove with the caption "This woman does not want to cook mutton."
- NeuroCoder 3y agoThey eat it in the Navajo Nation so it there are some places in America that its a predominant meat
- n8henrie 3y agoCame here to post this. My local grocery store has a whole mutton freezer, probably more mutton than beef, chicken, or pork.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bane 3y agoHere is a fun experiment that seems to perpetually blow people's minds no matter the country they live in. Which latitude (in terms of km) is New York City closer to? London or Algiers? The answer is Algiers -- take a look on Google Earth with Gridline turned on [1]. Second, while most of the U.S. is on the level of North Africa, the East Coast, where most people are, is significantly wetter. In the South East, where it's humid and hot (at least in the absolutely miserable summers) and where cotton grows well, there's no point in trying to grow wool and wool adjacent animals. Cotton grew so well it was a secondary cash crop for plantations that used enslaved people to pick giving rise to several regrettable idioms. Third, when you get into parts of the U.S. where mutton makes more sense, it's definitely eaten quite a bit. I spent a little bit of time on the Navajo nation for example, and mutton stew is probably the second or third most common dish -- because of the wool and wool adjacent industries in the Navajo nation (and surrounding nations). Finally, back on the East Coast, where I'm from, the population is highly diverse. Everything from lamb chops, goat stew, and mutton kabobs are honestly very common and available. The local Costco sells whole hallal lamb and sheep it's so common. 1 - https://earth.google.com https://earth.google.com
- olliej 3y agoHuh, I literally cannot find mutton in the Bay Area, only lamb - hilariously almost always from my homeland of NZ which doesn't export mutton because it's a cheap meat that isn't worth enough for anyone to want to import.
- nologic01 3y agoI guess what is left unspoken is that the bovine oriented culinary monoculture is the worst from an energy and sustainability perspective and there is a strong incentive to make more rational choices around meet consumption. I am afraid, though, that people are trapped in identity and habbits. Can you imagine somebody waking up 5am and standing for hours in a queue to try mutton? It will take generations for matters of taste to evolve. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-efficiency-of-meat-and-dairy-production https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-efficiency-of-meat...
- pxeger1 3y agoI remember reading a study that said lamb was actually slightly worse for the environment (on a kgCO2e/kg basis)
- bigbacaloa 3y agoWhy don't Spaniards eat mutton? Spain has very good lamb. But impossible to find mutton anywhere.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jiofj 3y agoHave you tried asking a butcher? Even if he doesn't have mutton there I'm sure he can arrange something..
- dingi 3y agoSomething to consider, In some Asian countries, Goat meat is called as Mutton. In western context, Mutton means meat of an adult Sheep. So you might be eating Goat meat instead of Mutton.
- robocat 3y agoNew Zealander here: Mutton has a very strong flavour (much much stronger than lamb) and can often be very fatty, and few people eat it here: although I do have friends between 50 and 70 that like it, but they don't get it easily and maybe wouldn't buy it. I remember eating mutton last century as a child - because it was a very cheap meat. Now it isn't sold in supermarkets in NZ - and I don't recall seeing it in any butchers lately. It is very uncommon. I absolutely loved mutton ham - but that is a very uncommon specialty item. I have a mutton roast and mutton chops in the freezer - but they were from a local farmer. The only regular mutton I can think of you might see is in the South Island - Jimmy's mutton pies (Roxburgh). Or maybe at a Hangi. I saw a 20kg bucket of some very fatty meat at pak'n'save aimed at polynesians a year ago - but search came up with nothing so might not have been mutton. A quick search of mad butcher showed zero results for mutton. My guess is that the processing costs are higher than what people would buy it for so it is uneconomical. Lamb is often reasonably cheap here in NZ.
- Rapzid 3y agoYeah I was about to say, even in NZ not much mutton is being eaten. Kiwis find other uses for sheep though, amirite? BTW, I suspect the airlines are actually serving mutton instead of lamb.
- mro_name 3y agomaybe because Northern America was a bovine continent when the europeans took it.
- prmoustache 3y agoOn the subject of meat uncommon to some countries, I personnally don't understand why it is so hard to find horse meat in Spain, Argentina, Mexico and english speaking countries while they export so much of it to other countries.
- d--b 3y agoCause they don’t like it? They don’t eat rabbits either, for what it’s worth. That said, it’s not that easy to find peanut butter in Europe.
- Lastodon 3y agoIt's the name, IMO/IME. Mutton as a name is unappetising. "Mutt" brings dogs to mind, and the "un" sound at the end makes it sound lumpy and gross. A lot of people don't even know that mutton is sheep, they'll say stuff like "I thought Lamb was sheep!" Etc And before you dismiss this idea I would like to draw your attention to the multibillion dollar market that is marketing.
- tr888 3y agoIt's not "easy" to find mutton in the UK either. My definition of easy (as for the vast majority of the population) is "is it in the supermarket". I don't think I've _ever_ seen mutton in a major UK supermarket. It's somewhat of a catch-22, but the supermarkets don't stock it because there is no demand (modern palates prefer less "gamey" flavours), and there's no demand because it isn't stocked.
- achow 3y agoI was very puzzled on reading "mutton-aged sheep" in the article. I thought mutton and sheep are two different animals. Then I discovered: In West 'mutton' is the flesh of fully grown sheep used as food. But, in South Asian or Caribbean cuisine, mutton refers to the meat of goats. In India however, we often refer to both sheep and goat meat as mutton. https://www.licious.in/blog/food-for-thought/goat-meat#:~:text=In%20South%20Asian%20or%20Caribbean,and%20goat%20meat%20as%20mutton https://www.licious.in/blog/food-for-thought/goat-meat#:~:te....
- rldjbpin 3y agoreading posts saying how cheap mutton is in their area makes me lowkey jealous. growing up, it used to be ~3x the cost of chicken and it meant relegating it for only special ocaissions. i am not competent enough to cook lamb well but it can be made accessible by slow cooking over a long time. texture wise, it is more chewy in specific bits for sure and can put off most people. but personally it is the only red meat i'd ever like to eat.
- pkrotich 3y agoAm I the only one who went “wtf is mutton?” ;) Love goat stew - but you have to know how to season and cook it right tho.
- DevAntoine 3y agoThey are not the same animals. I'll let you read wikipedia for the differences because I'll have a hard time explaining that in english.
- pfdietz 3y agoWhen I have tried mutton I've found I can't force myself to eat it. The flavor is just too much.
- denton-scratch 3y agoBrit here. My father used to deplore the absence of mutton from butchers, and its replacement with lamb. He used to eat mutton as a child. For myself, I don't believe I've ever eaten mutton. My father was born in 1914, and died 5 years ago. For me to have never eaten it, it must have disappeared from the UK at least 50 years ago. It's not just Americans that don't eat mutton.
- xwolfi 3y agoHave you ever tried sheep ?
- denton-scratch 3y agoSure, I have a wooly jumper. And I've been known to count them. For eating, I prefer pre-butchered meat.
- wheels 3y agoI've heard it explained a different way: Americans stopped eating mutton when plastic became widespread. Mutton was largely a side effect of wool production, and with the invention of nylon, far less wool was produced.
- spaintech 3y agoI’m of Cuban/American descent. Consequently, I grew up primarily on a diet of BBQ and roasted pig. However, after moving to Spain, I developed a penchant for the tender piglets from Segovia. Initially, mutton and other lamb dishes were a challenging taste for me due to their robust flavor. However, with time, I’ve come to appreciate and even relish it. Currently, we own a small flock of sheep, which we mainly keep to graze on our property’s grass. This not only ensures a well-maintained lawn but also provides us with financial benefits. We offset the cost of their upkeep by selling the yearlings. Moreover, a local resident benefits from their milk in exchange for assisting in their care. Having said that, over the years, lamb has grown on me significantly. Now, whenever I host a BBQ, mutton is the star of the show. Guests never stop singing praises and eagerly anticipate the next gathering. However, one aspect of cooking mutton that I find challenging is the lingering smell. It necessitates thorough personal hygiene measures, especially for my children and dogs. Cleaning the BBQ after use is essential to prevent the overpowering aroma from lingering. For those with beards, the scent of mutton can stick around for days. My solution? I opt for a clean shave post-event.
- masteruvpuppetz 3y agoThe best mutton (Pakistani) is Salatin Mutton Karhai, Hyderabad, Pakistan :)
- physicsguy 3y agoIt's not very common in the UK to be honest even though it's mentioned as a country where it's eaten. You'd likely have to go to a butcher here too, I don't think I've seen it in supermarkets apart from maybe upmarket ones and perhaps the odd regional chain.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- TomMasz 3y agoMy uncle was a Marine in the Pacific in WWII and he was one of those subjected to the canned mutton mentioned in the article. I've had it when in Ireland and a couple of places in the US and it was fine. I'm sure if I'd had the same mutton my uncle had my opinion would be different.
- eNV25 3y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_meat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat_meat Pointing out that in some parts of the world, mutton may refer to goat meat or sheep meat. I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes.
- clan 3y agoWith all the comments and complicated insights I am surprised that no-one has mentioned the simple: - price - availability - ease Around here the price order is pork, chicken, beef, lamb, venison. Actual mutton and goat are hard to come by. The lamb in the supermarket is usually frozen from NZ. It is easy to find locally sourced lamb at the butchers but at even higher cost. Nothing really beats a crown roast of lamb but many/most would consider a cheaper ribeye first. Habits, picky eaters, non-adventurous, lack of exposure etc. I love pork but would not use it for a curry. It is much better braised. But many curries works very well with chicken or beef. So even though we eat much more internationally the local market segmentation still has an origin.
- masukomi 3y agoThis entire article is based on a false understanding of US labeling > "It’s true that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find mutton" This is false. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find something LABELED as mutton. However, US labeling allows "lamb" to actually be mostly mutton. > With respect to the Code of Federal Regulations published Standard of Identity, USDA-FSIS does not have a specific definition for lamb, nor explicitly identify boundaries for age of animal in product labeling originating from ovine species. The only age-specific labeling claim includes the term “spring lamb” or “genuine spring lamb,” applicable only to carcasses of new-crop lambs slaughtered during the period of March and the first week of October. - https://www.sheepusa.org/blog/newsmedia-sheepindustrynews-pastissues-2018-january2018-defininglamb https://www.sheepusa.org/blog/newsmedia-sheepindustrynews-pa... and unsurprisingly it's more cost effective to let the animal get bigger before slaughtering it.
- reissbaker 3y agoYup! As I was reading the article, I was pretty surprised as it continued to not mention the vastly different labeling laws in the U.S. vs the rest of the Anglophone world. In the U.K., for example, meat labeled "lamb" legally must come from a sheep that is less than a year old. Meanwhile, U.S. "lamb" is typically 12-14 months old [1], since the U.S. has no standards on sheep meat labeling, and permits all sheep meat to be labeled as lamb. Much of the sheep meat sold in the U.S. wouldn't be legally considered "lamb" in the U.K., Australia, or New Zealand. Meanwhile India has its own, wildly different meaning for mutton: it means goat meat. If you get an Indian "mutton curry," it'll taste really different from U.S. "lamb," but that's not because of the age of the animal — it's an entirely different species! 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_and_mutton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_and_mutton
- shellfishgene 3y agoFrom the article: '“Mutton is not an accessible protein option in the US,” says Megan Wortman, executive director of the American Lamb Board, an industry group aimed at expanding the market for domestic sheep products.' You would think she would know it actual mutton is widely available, no? Maybe it's legal to label mutton as lamb, but not done often, so finding actual mutton, labeled however, is still hard?
- arcade79 3y agoMutton is more and more rare in Norway too. Everyone wants lamb. Mutton is really good though. More taste. But the one meat I really miss being more widely available is horse meat. Used to be able to buy it easily 20 years ago. Now it's rare to find. :(
- Tangurena2 3y agoTo me, mutton tastes wrong. It tastes like spoiled/rotten beef. Goat & horse also tastes spoiled to me.
- VeejayRampay 3y agojerry seinfeld singlehandedly killed that meat
- cainxinth 3y agoMutton is the signature dish at Keens, one of the oldest, priciest, and best steakhouses in NYC.
- sproketboy 3y ago[dead]
- mywittyname 3y agoLamb is one of those industries that the USA "sacrifices" in trade negotiations in order to keep tariffs on other agriculture products low, such as beef. As a result, most of the lamb you're likely to find is imported, and so is quite expensive compared to beef. If lamb/mutton were cheaper and more widely available, I think Americans would eat it more. I like lamb and mutton, but I generally don't cook with it because the price is high. There was a time during covid where we switched to ground lamb because it was cheaper than beef per pound. There are lots of flavorful cuts of meat that become popular when they are cheap, only to turn into luxury cuts over time. Think brisket. Mutton could go the same way, but it needs to be cheap first, and I don't see that ever happening in the USA due to tariffs/beef industry protectionism.
- ainiriand 3y agoIsn't a bit anachronistic to eat these kind of small animals? Surely we can find better protein sources...
- pcvarmint 3y agoMutton is either adult sheep, or, in Indian cuisine, it sometimes means goat meat. I have cooked and eaten lamb, mutton and goat South Indian-style. They are all good. I don't know why more Americans don't eat lamb, mutton and goat, but they are definitely tastier than beef.