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mutton


 
N

Nicolas

TVWBB Member
i'm really wanting to do some kentucky style bbq mutton. i got my hands on the moonlite inn cookbook and i'm just looking for anyone that has done the same cook. the recipe in the book says to get a mutton "hindquarter". When i call the butcher to order this piece of meat what exactly am i asking for? shoulder? And, for those that have done this, how often were you painting on the "cooking dip" while it was cooking? i'm assuming it's going to take a real long time like a pork butt and as i'm not going to put a rub on it i want to make sure i'm basting it often enough. can i just mop it on and go to sleep and then a few more times in the morning or do i really need to stay on it throughout the whole cook?
 
The hindquarter is the leg. You can use it or use shoulder (by far my preference).

You can baste every 30-60 minutes - in which case simply cook during the day - or you can just wait and baste during the last two hours of cooking, sbout every 20 min.
 
awesome. i'm going to have them get me a shoulder then. and i think i'll start it in the morning and baste throughout the day. what temp did you cook it at? and what's up with these dips? there is so much water in them. i love thin vinegarry sauces but i've never added water to a sauce like this before. it all worked out for you?
 
225-235.

It's just the style. Yes, quite thin. You can always serve with something thicker if you wish.
 
it turns out that getting some mutton in the bay area is a lot harder than i expected. 1. does anyone know of a reputable online source and 2. what about just using lamb instead?
 
Try a halal butcher or retailer. You won't find it at typical retailers. You can find it at the farms sometimes, in Marin or Sonoma. Or just use lamb.
 
how does using lamb, rather than mutton, change things? i'm assuming the shoulder won't be as fatty so does it need to be cooked to the same relative internal temperature? (yes i know internal temp is not always the best indicator of doneness)
 
It's not a good indicator at all.

Cooking lamb rather than mutton doesn't really change anything appreciably.
 
finally did it yesterday. i had a 9lb lamb shoulder. took it home and trimmed a bunch of fat off the top of it. rubbed it with salt, pepper, garlic and a little rosemary. most sources that i read talked about cooking for 12 hours and internal temperatures as low as 145. i put it on around 6:30AM with some hickory and cherry wood. cooked between 225 and 250 for 12 hours basting with the moonlite inn cooking dip every hour. internal temperature was about 160 when i took it off. i figured that this was fine based on what i had read.

(before you go on about how internal temperature is not a good measure of "doneness". i know. i know. but as this was my first time with lamb i needed some kind of measuring stick as i had no idea what done looked or felt like.)

anyway, after letting it rest i tried to "pull" it and it was nowhere near tender enough for that. so i figured, fine i guess that's why they call it "chopped mutton". so i started cutting the meat off the bones. The flavor was actually very good; good smoke flavor, the rub was a little too salty but it still had great flavor. BUT the amount of fat was a huge turn off. we ate it after spending a ton of time trying to get as much fat out as we could, but i have never seen anything like it.

my question now is; is this just how lamb is? extremely fatty? or is it just because i didn't cook it long enough to render more of the fat? like, if i pulled a pork butt off at such a low temperature would it be as fatty or not?
 
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