Of our reared meats, lamb is the only one that really retains a marked seasonal element (although see pannage pork in September). Customarily first eaten in the spring and particularly at Easter, it’s a pale, extremely tender meat. It also has a very subtle flavour, so don’t be tempted to do anything too adventurous with it this early in the year.
A lamb is usually defined as any sheep up to a year old, but most spring lamb is between four and six months old and the very earliest will usually become available in February or March. Those that avoid the chop in spring will graze throughout the summer, taking on a layer of fat and increasing depth of flavour. So, bring it back to the menu in the autumn when it will take well to a range of spices and bolder accompaniments.
There is, however, an obvious ethical footnote to this timing. Most British-born ‘spring lambs’ are not reared in the warming sun of April but the cold nights of the preceding winter, their ewes having been scientifically induced to early breeding. If it happens to be a late spring, the earliest lambs don’t have any opportunity to live or feed outdoors and are reared entirely on indoor bedding and artificial feeds.
Personally, I don’t forgo spring lamb altogether but I do like to wait until a little later in the season when the animals will undoubtedly have lived a more natural life, giving both better flavour to the meat and some salve to my conscience.
If your sense of culinary decency leads you to shun lamb, either in whole or in part, try asking your butcher for hogget (a sheep between one and two years old) or mutton (perhaps surprisingly, anything over two years old). Both will have lived at least one season outdoors, resulting in a darker-coloured meat and even more flavour, with the added advantage of a non-premium price.
Traditionally mutton came from a wether (a castrated ram) but more recently it has come to mean ewes that have reached the end of their breeding life. Either way, it makes good use of surplus animals, and whilst it’s true that it can be slightly tougher than lamb, slower cooking can turn it into an exquisite dish.
In 2004, in the aftermath of the foot-and-mouth crisis, the Prince of Wales launched the Mutton Renaissance campaign, with a view to providing vital extra income for sheep farmers. Although we are still a long way off the historic high point for mutton sales, the campaign has undoubtedly been a success, leading to a renewal of interest in this once-common meat.
Try: Warm salad of new season’s spring lamb (p. 99)