Lamb

LAMB

Lamb, mutton, and hogget are the meat of domestic sheep. The meat of a sheep in its first year is lamb; that of a juvenile sheep older than 1 year is hogget; and the meat of an adult sheep is mutton.
Distinct from the meat, a lamb or lambs also describes live juvenile sheep , which may or may not be used for meat. In Australia, the term prime lamb is often used to refer to lambs raisedfor meat.
Classifications
The definitions for lamb, hogget and mutton vary considerably between countries. In for example, they are defined as follows:
* Lamb — a young sheep under 12 months of age which does not have any permanent incisor teeth in wear
* Hogget — a sheep of either sex having no more than two permanent incisors in wearMutton — a female or castrated male sheep havingmore than two permanent incisors in wear.
the definitions are extended to include ewes and rams, as well as being stricter on the definition for lamb which is:
* Lamb — 0 permanent incisors; female or castrate entire male ovine 0–12 months
Under current United States federal regulations, only the term 'lamb' is used:
* Lamb — ovine animals of any age, including ewes and rams
* Youngerlambs are smaller and more tender. Mutton is meat from a sheep over two years old, and has a less tender flesh. In general, the darker the colour, the older the animal. Baby lamb meat will be pale pink, while regular lamb is pinkish-red.
Other definitions include:
* Lamb — a young sheep that is less than one year old
* Young lamb — a milk-fed lamb between six and eight weeks old
*Spring lamb — a milk-fed lamb, usually three to five months old, born in late winter or early spring and sold usually before July 1
* Yearling lamb — a young sheep between 12 and 24 months old.
* Milk-fed lamb — meat from an unweaned lamb, typically 4 to 6 weeks old and weighing 5.5 to 8 kg; this is almost unavailable in countries such as the USA and the UK, where it is considereduneconomic. The flavour and texture of milk-fed lamb when grilled or roasted or is generally thought to be finer than that of older lamb. The areas in northern Spain where this can be found include, and Milk-fed lambs are especially prized for Easter in Greece, when they are roasted on a spit.
* Sucker lambs includes young milk-fed lambs as well as slightly older lambs up to about 7 months of age whichare also still dependent on their mothers for milk. Carcases from these lambs usually weigh between 14 and 30 kg. Older weaned lambs which have not yet matured to become mutton are known as old-season lambs.
* Saltbush mutton - a term used in Australia for the meat of mature Merinos which have been allowed to graze on plants.
* Salt marsh lamb the meat of sheep which graze on salt marshin coastal estuaries that are washed by the tides and support a range of salt-tolerant grasses and herbs such as samphire, sparta grass, sorrel and sea lavender. Depending on where in the world the salt marsh is located, the nature of the plants may be subtly different. Salt marsh lamb has long been appreciated in France and is growing in popularity in the United Kingdom. Places where salt marshlamb are reared in the UK include Harlech and the Gower Peninsula in Wales, the Somerset Levels and Morecambe Bay. In many Eastern countries including the Indian sub-continent, Malaysia and Singapore, the term mutton refers to goats' meat and usually not to sheep's meat. Often, the mutton curries of the Indian cuisine use goat meat when cooked at home.
Butchery and cookery
The meat of a lamb istaken from the animal between one month and one year old, with a carcase weight of between 12 and 65 lbs. This meat generally is more tender than that from older sheep and appears more often on tables in some Western countries. Hogget and mutton have a stronger flavour than lamb because they contain a higher concentration of species-characteristic fatty acids and are preferred by some. Mutton and...