Sheep meat

[blissful]

I have a story about some gamey venison, white tail deer. In Wisconsin there are a lot of hunters for deer. They wreak havoc on the cars on the road in the fall, like right now, running into cars, in front of cars, between cars, and they eat our gardens.
Anyways, I grew up in a family of hunters, and we gals helped with the butchering and freezing. We ate a lot of it.
So back when I was dating a guy (not a hunter), our friend Larry (a hunter) made venison on skewers over a campfire, but the atmosphere, a beautiful fall night, light wind, beautiful fire, eating it hot off the fire, we really didn't notice the gaminess as much as usual.
On another occasion (beer was involved) Larry got all full of himself and while his wife was gone and he made a venison stew. Larry was not a cook and rarely cooked. Now this gamey deer was so gamey he had to season it really highly. He and my guy tried to eat it and it wasn't edible. They thought they'd bring me a quart of it to burn out my gut as a joke. Well, it was very spicy, so I added a little sour cream and the spiciness wasn't nearly as bad, I rather loved it. So much for the little joke, it was good. They couldn't believe it.

 

[boom]

I'd argue meat is supposed to taste gamey. but modern palettes forced farmers to raise animals for white fat, and less gameiness on the plate.

I love building a small fire next to a downed animal, elk or deer and cooking a quick tenderloin snack. it tastes great. no salt even.

 

[Katie H]

When I was growing up in western Kentucky there were a number of mom-and-pop barbecue places all over our region.

One of our favorites was "Woody's," which produced some of the best hickory-cooked beast, piggy and chicken.

However...my very most favorite was his barbecued mutton. Heaven on a plate! Can't get it anymore largely because Woody is long gone and our area farmers are loathe to sell their lamb.

Guess I'll have to enjoy it in my memories

 

[dragnlaw]

boom, I'd argue that it isn't just modern palettes but throw in a decadent society that could afford the more expensive stuff straight from the farmers yard. They had to charge top price to replace their potential breeders (and family). Then only societies' chaff had to endure the gaminess if they had time to go out into the further reaches to find their own supplies. So as populations exploded so did husbandry have to grow in order to feed them. This supply came at a cost. No free roaming over hill and dale. Pasture only which certainly helped to 'clean' up the flavours of the meats.

And sorry, I have to insert this.... it is all "sheep meat"... mutton, lamb, is all from a sheep, ram or ewe. Lamb is a 'tender' young'un and mutton is an older 'tougher' one.

 

[boom]

kinda agree. I grew up around feed lots. the last step of cattle going to slaughter. the feed is to turn the fat white, is what I was told. grains and stuff. messed up their guts, because they're grass eaters.

the rest of the world embraces goat meat. I love the stuff.

 

[Jade Emperor]

Down here, the (fastly disappearing) local butchers love to cultivate a relationship with their customers, being aware of personal tastes, preferences and offering advice and guidance for their products.
Amongst the humorous banter, my butcher is quite happy and often excitedly challenged when I ask him if he can source something odd.
So, ask your butcher if you are interested in buying mutton or hogget. It might be a special order but your butcher should be able to find a product you want.
As an aside, you might be surprised to learn that hogget is found in lots of prepared foods, often mislabeled as lamb. Pies, sausages Yiros meat - lots of minced lamb products are mixed with hogget to make it go further. You will absolutely have eaten sheep that is older than lamb at some point.

 

[Jade Emperor]

ETA:
Just in case anyone is curious, lamb is the youngest meat, hogget is older but before fully grown and mutton is a mature animal

 

[dragnlaw]

yup, had to look it up as I'd never heard the term before.

quote from Salter and King, UK
Hogget is the word used to describe a lamb in its second spring or summer – so aged between one and two years. While still tender, a hogget's extra time on pasture allows it to develop a flavour that is richer and fuller than lamb's but not as pronounced as older mutton's.

 

[Jade Emperor]

In Australia, many years ago now, my executive chef came from a family, multi generational farming background.
We were doing a lamb roast dish as part of our Christmas package, lamb being a traditional Christmas offering here.
As we were developing our lamb roast dish, each chef was given some lamb and free rein on our final idea for the dish.
As we each presented our dishes to the “panel”, the executive chef became more and more agitated.
Later he called us all together and swore up and down that we had unwittingly served hogget, not lamb. He went to town on our supplier, who finally caved in and admitted that he had found a source who would supply them with “just barely” beyond lamb and into hogget territory. But our farmboy chef could taste the difference. Hogget is much cheaper than lamb and there are plenty of unscrupulous vendors who will substitute.
Hogget is a bit darker and gamier than lamb but it’s often not identified by the casual consumer. Swapping hogget for lamb is more common than you might expect, at least down here.

 

[dragnlaw]

How fascinating!

 

[taxlady]

How fascinating!

Yes, really.