Says Farmer Tom: ‘Mutton is the meat from a sheep over two years old, though the best comes from a ewe that is at least six. I cooked one of my favourite sheep last week. She was ten years old and was divine. The flavour is deeper than lamb and indeed, if the ewe has had plenty of offspring in her lifetime, this will add a sweetness to the meat.
One shoulder of mutton on the bone (ideally hung for two weeks)
1 big chopped onion
2 handfuls of mushrooms (standard hands)
Tin of prunes in the juice
Two glugs of chili sauce
Two large chopped parsnip
Two large chopped carrots
Four large fresh tomatoes
A quarter of a bottle of wine (drink the rest while you prepare it)
Pint of spring water (but only if you have it flowing past the house, or if you are massively pretentious, otherwise just tap water)
Salt and pepper
Dried or fresh herbs
1. Don’t muck about with this. It should only take the time to drink the wine to prepare. Grab a bowl and crush the tomatoes into it by hand or fork. Glug in the chilli sauce and the wine and the pint of water. Add the prunes and herbs.
2. Find a metal roasting tin big enough to fit the shoulder in. Bonk it on the hob on a steady heat. Add oil. When it is hot (test by sight not finger) place the shoulder in and brown on both sides, twisting salt and pepper to cover the skin. Remove when browned.
4. Simmer over the heat for half an hour while the oven preheats at 150 or gas mark three or, if you have a wood fired Rayburn, two bloody good logs. Place in the oven and cook for twelve hours overnight. Just before you go to bed and first thing in the morning you can turn the shoulder over in the enriching stock. A fork should easily sink into the meat as it falls off the bone, if it doesn’t, then return to the oven until it does. When you are satisfied, remove cover with foil and rest for half an hour before attacking the sheep like a wolf.
1 thought on “Kentishtowner Kitchen: Farmer Tom’s Overnight Mutton Shoulder”
That sheep has a soul