On Easter Sunday we thought we'd vary the usual lamb dish and go for mutton. We'd spotted some the day before at the excellent Snape Maltings Farmers' Market. Mutton is basically older lamb, ie sheep, and so has more flavour though is less tender. It is technically at least 2 years old, lamb being under 1 and hogget in between the two. The advice from the farmer was to roast it at a lower temperature and a little longer than for lamb.
The cut we bought was from the top of the leg. I put it in a roasting pan and laid some anchovy fillets underneath and used the olive oil from the jar to smear over the meat. I poured a bottle of red wine into the bottom of the pan and roasted the joint in a fan assisted oven for a couple of hours at about 150'C.
After allowing the joint to rest with the oven switched off the meat turned out to be really succulent and tasty without being too high and sheepy. I boiled down the remaining wine in the pan to make a thin sauce having added some thyme and rosemary from the garden. The anchovies added some umami body and richness to this sauce but absolutely no hint of fishiness. I served the mutton with flageolet beans, the traditional accompaniment to lamb in France. Mashed potatoes would have been more British I guess. And capers too.
As I wasn't sure how sheepy the mutton was going to be I'd prepared two different wines, one stronger and gamier than the other.
In the end we had the Rioja Imperial Reserva, rather than the Lebanese chateau Musar, which is my usual wild game wine; it was perfect, its tannins and acidity cutting through the richness and its marked oaky flavour echoing the herbs (and perhaps fancifully, the bottle of Rioja that went into the sauce). It was more than a match for the mutton. Young lamb is the traditional accompaniment to ancient old Rioja in northern Spain (and to claret, especially Pauillac, in Aquitaine). Whilst young lamb is an excellent foil for these wines, allowing them to show at their best, I think that a vigorous, younger wine like this 2001 is best partnered with the stronger taste of mutton.
That, as Gregg Wallace would say, is right up my strada. Lovely stuff. Musar '98 is pretty special. What did you end up saving it for?
ReplyDeleteThanks James. The Musar we drank with some cold mutton next day. And a wedge of 2 year old Montgomery. I used to buy Musar every year and serve it with well-hung roast pheasant. Have you read Waugh on Wine (by Auberon Waugh)? He devotes a chapter to Musar and indeed had a cellar full of the stuff. I think it's one of the world's great, unique wines and tasted blind is instantly recognisable. It seems to last for ever too.
ReplyDeleteThe mutton sounds like a delicious roast. I tend to prefer the stronger flavour for a slow roast or casserole, where as I love younger lamb for their chops. Good idea to pair with the beans too - a good match without too much of the heaviness associated with mash.
ReplyDeleteMutton is good in a curry too though not sure the Rioja (or even the Musar) would cope with that!
ReplyDeleteLooks tremendous Patrick - I do like mutton as a roast - I like your use of beans too ! BTW I have an excellent mutton curry recipe on my site!
ReplyDeletePaul, I shall look out for your mutton curry recipe. I have an Indian friend I want to impress!
ReplyDeleteJoyeux Anniversaire, en retard, je sais, c'est mieux que l'an dernier, n'est-ce pas?
ReplyDeleteBises
Claire, effectivement, tu es bien en retard! C'était le 20 février. Mais merci quand même. Tu me fais penser que 'mutton' évidemment est dérivé du français, 'mouton'. Et en Ecosse, 'leg of lamb' s'appelle 'gigot'. Mais, ça m'étonnerait qu'une Française accompagne son gigot d'agneau de sauce à la menthe, ou bien son gigot de mouton de câpres....
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