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This braising guide has been written for our Whissendine Mutton range.
Proper mutton from well finished ewes is packed with bold, almost ‘beefy’ flavours and, depending on the cut, is rich in buttery fat that becomes similar to bone marrow when slow-cooked. Completely delicious.
Its deep flavour and creamy fat make it ideal for heavily flavoured dishes, so do reach for your favourite spices as well as lots of onions, garlic and other aromatic vegetables. Finished dishes often benefit from a little freshness, sweetness or acidity, so layer in soft herbs, citrus juice or zest, fresh chopped chillies or a spoonful of redcurrant jelly.
Whether you’re opting for chops or diced mutton, a long braise at a low temperature will get the most out of this fantastic meat. Read on for our cook’s tips for slow cooking mutton at home.
Mutton is a fairly dense meat and our extensive recipe testing found that braising in the oven, rather than on the stove, gets the best results. Braising in the oven – at around 140°C to 150°C – gives even heat distribution around the pot, rather than boiling or burning at the bottom and barely bubbling at the top. The oven method will also give much better flavour and caramelisation.
While you definitely want to build up some colour on mutton to release the savoury flavours, fast cooking techniques will cause the muscles to toughen.
We tested various levels of pre-searing the meat, plus quite a few recipes that required no pre-searing, and found that a small amount of searing or no searing at the beginning gave the best end results.
When you slow-braise mutton in the oven, something magical happens; as the fat in the meat renders, it slowly bubbles at the top of the pot, caramelising whatever is on the surface. As long as you haven’t drowned the meat in too much liquid, you’ll get this brilliantly savoury crust which infuses the whole meal with the most wonderful flabour.
Chops and cutlets can benefit from a brief sear in a hot pan before being added to the braise, though this step wasn’t essential – see our Mutton Cutlets in a Tomato Pepper Masala recipe for a method that doesn’t need it.
Diced mutton either doesn’t need searing at all, or benefits from being seared on one side until nicely browned and the rest left pink to go tender in the pot.
If you’re not going to sear the meat before cooking, there’s one important step to be aware of; you must add the meat after caramelising your onions and vegetables, but before any additional liquid. This gives you the chance to seal the meat in the oniony-garlicky oil, rather than placing it directly into liquid where it might just boil.
During testing, we found that the best results were achieved when the dish was allowed to rest in the fridge overnight, before being warmed to serve. This way, the flavours can really get to know one another and the fibres in the meat can relax in the braising liquid. It has the additional benefit of giving you the opportunity to skim off a little fat if you wish – very easy to do once the dish is cold.
Some cuts, such as mutton best end cutlets or our mutton stewing selection, come with ample fat, which is truly superb for cooking with – it is buttery like beef fat, rather than strong like lamb.
If you wish, you can trim a small amount of fat from these cuts to render and use to fry onions and garlic for whatever you’re making. To render your own cooking fat, cut it into cubes, place into a (cold) small pan and place over a low heat. Let the fat slowly melt without colouring. Once the fat is completely melted, remove and discard any solids; your cooking fat is now ready.
