ASK half a dozen people “in the know” their definition of mutton and you’ll often get six different answers. You’ll hear it’s to do with the teeth or how old the animals are or whether they’ve had two or more lots of lambs. A lack of a clear definition’s a definite barrier to increasing mutton’s popularity.

And, unfortunately, many people believe that it is a tough fatty meat. There’s no doubting this can be true but it can also be completely wong The most tender meat usually comes from the youngest animals because meat is muscle and young animals haven’t worked that hard. And while meat with more flavour comes from muscle that’s been well-used – just compare the little-worked beef fillet with the slightly harder-worked rump – it stands to reason that the older the animal, the more it’s used its muscles and the tougher the meat.

However, a two year-old sheep, properly fed and reared, can have a much better taste than the commonly-available six month-old lamb and the meat can be just as tender. It depends, among other things, on the breed of sheep and the cooking.

Older meat can really deliver superb flavour; particularly when cooked long and slow. Irish stew is a dish that makes use of the traditionally tougher and less popular cuts of meat, such as neck end, which while giving a great flavour, can lack a little sparkle in the visual department.

However in the following recipe we use mutton from two year-old sheep and we finish the dish off with quickly-seared mutton cutlets or chops which provide a whole new dimension to this traditional dish.

This will work with any age of lamb but is better with mutton if you can get it. If well-sourced, it can be one of the best dishes you’ve ever tasted so it almost goes without saying: it pays to get the best meat you can afford.

Ingredients: 

Serves Four to Six

One mutton or lamb neck

A handful of pearl barley

Three carrots cut into large chunks

Two potatoes – peeled and cut into chunks

Two onions – peeled and diced

½ a swede – peeled and cut into chunks

½ Savoy cabbage – shredded

Three sticks of celery – cut into chunks

A sprig each of thyme and rosemary

A bay leaf Ten white peppercorns

Salt and freshly-ground white pepper

Two mutton chops per portion.

Method:

First, take the neck and simply cover with cold water in a suitable pot. Add the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary sprigs and peppercorns and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for around two hours until the meat can be easily picked from the bone, making sure to skim any fat or impurities from the surface of the liquid. Once cooked, remove the meat from the pan and allow to cool on a plate.

Pass the stock through a fine sieve, return to the pan, add all the other ingredients apart from the chops and cook for a further 30 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, pick the cooked meat from the bone and reserve. When the vegetables in the pot are tender, simply stir the picked meat back in and adjust the seasoning as necessary with salt and white pepper.

To serve, grill or fry the chops to your liking, preferably a bit pink, and place alongside the stew and eat with some crusty bread.