A 2 tooth is the day that the 2 front lambs teeth fall out, which might or might not be the day that the adult teeth show. Individual sheep like individual humans cut their teeth at different ages.
A hogget is a very imprecise measure and is more-or-less what YOU want it to be. Our freezing works don't use the term at all. Our accountants call a lamb between weaning and 2 tooth a "hogget" but the works call them "lambs".
We call anything that is older than a lamb, but hasn't yet lambed, a hogget. Sign up for my monthly newsletter! Get all the latest news along with practical tips and expert advice. Calculators Vet talks Expert advice Ebooks Fun stuff. Log in Login. Log in. Remember Me Forgot your password? Password Reset. Please enter the email address for your account. A verification code will be sent to you.
Once you have received the verification code, you will be able to choose a new password for your account. Remember me. Lamb was rarely eaten in the UK until the middle of the 20th century; before then it was considered immature and mutton was the preferred sheep meat. The meat is sweet and tender, and will have a decent level of fat. What I call hogget is what some refer to as yearling sheep, that is animals that are between one and two years of age.
It will have been kept over winter and into its second spring, so has had a chance to age and grow. Hogget produces a bigger carcase than the equivalent breed of lamb — by dint of having had longer to grow - and the rigours of winter means it will have used up some of its fat reserves, resulting in a larger but leaner carcase.
It will also have had the chance to flourish on spring grass before being taken to slaughter. The more mature meat will be slightly richer in flavour than lamb, but in no sense gamey or strong. For those who love eating lamb but find the finish of fat on the lips a little off-putting, hogget is the answer. I have my hogget butchered just the same as lamb and cook it in exactly the same way — it gives you more substantial cuts, has fine rather than chunky layers of fat, and simply has the most marvellous taste.
Take your larger lambs off to the butcher by September and keep back the smaller lambs and give them a chance to grow through to the following May or later. You can choose to give them hard feed to supplement their diet, but we rear our lambs and hogget entirely on grass and hay, opting for a smaller carcase but one of infinitely better quality.
This suits the weather conditions in Devon but may not suit smallholders or their hoggets in the far North of the country. And for those smallholders keeping the excellent smaller sheep breeds such as the late maturing Hebridean, Balwen, Shetland or Manx Loaghtan, you may not want to take any of your young lambs to slaughter, and instead wait until they are of a size that warrants the cost of butchery, at 18 months.
Though they will never make large carcases, they should be delicious. I have yet to see hogget for sale in the supermarkets, but television chefs and cookery writers regularly refer to it and every namecheck creates a flurry of enquiries here, so if you sell your surplus meat and are on the hunt for new customers, do think about adding hogget to your for sale list. Mutton is sheep meat from animals over two years old, but may be from much older sheep.
The trouble is that mutton has earned itself such a bad name that it can be hard to find. So it is literally worth experimenting…. You could also try some smoked mutton from Capreolus — you might even be able to taste the heather from the Dorset pastures the sheep graze on. Where can you buy mutton? Warrenfielf Farm warrenfieldfarm hotmail. Want it cooked for you? Go to Brassica , 4 The Square, Beaminster, Dorset, where they serve an excellent braised hoggett stew. Or there is the Black Swan , mentioned above.
Rebanks himself is an interesting author.
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