After declining heydays within the mid to late 1900s, lamb and mutton have slowly reclaimed their spots in America’s residence kitchens — albeit with much less frequency than poultry or beef. However there is a cause it held huge acclaim in early America and sometimes starred in vacation spreads and celebrations: It is a comparatively lean meat with loads of protein, and it occurs to be tremendous tasty. That’s, if you know the way to arrange it. 

Although mutton and lamb are the identical animal (a sheep in numerous levels of life), one of the best cooking strategies can range significantly. That is why we reached out to an professional on the subject, Wissam Baki, government chef at Amal Miami. Baki’s fashionable Lebanese menu at Amal Miami leans closely into lamb somewhat than mutton, that includes lamb chops in addition to minced lamb within the restaurant’s kefta wraps and the favored kefta and pistachio kababs. 

Lamb is the younger sheep, sometimes as much as one yr outdated, whereas mutton is often aged two to 3 years earlier than consumption. That age distinction leads to differing tastes and texture, which decide the cooking strategies, in accordance in Baki. “When cooking mutton, which comes from older sheep, you may have to account for its stronger, gamier taste and more durable texture, usually requiring longer, slower cooking to tenderize,” he explains. “Lamb, from youthful sheep, is usually extra tender and milder in taste, permitting for faster cooking strategies and fewer want for intensive marinating or braising.”

Lamb is a popular meals in Lebanon and different Center Japanese and Mediterranean international locations, giving rise to a plethora of tasty mutton and lamb recipes. Nonetheless, lamb specifically additionally seems in lots of European and British dishes, together with shepherd’s pie in England and Eire, the place the lamb is floor or minced. In France, the same dish goes by the identify of hachis parmentier, which may be made with both lamb or beef. African cooking usually facilities on mutton and lamb as properly.

Suffice it to say that sheep has many incarnations by the point it reaches worldwide plates and tables. Which means you’ve got a lot of lamb recipes to experiment with, beginning with a easy shepherd’s pie, much like cottage pie however with minced lamb as an alternative of floor beef. Lamb may be cooked in some ways, however savory pies and kababs, similar to chef Baki’s at Amal Miami, name for minced lamb somewhat than entire cuts, making them simple methods to earn your lamb-cooking stripes with much less stress and precision.

Mutton is great for stewing, braising, Dutch ovens, and gradual cooker recipes, lots of which may be retrofitted to incorporate mutton. Whatever the pot or recipe, low and gradual is the superb cooking technique for extremely tender mutton. Since mutton is usually more durable and gamier, the slow-cooking technique softens the extra mature collagen tissue. This tenderizes the mutton whereas tempering the gamey style with contemporary, fragrant herbs and spices.