# Christmas Dinner ?



## oldman 80

(Wave)

I'm eyeing up a bit of old rancid meat - Canadian Mutton - I believe.
Would it be best if I DID IT very very slowly, or Fast ?
(Eat)


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## spongebob

Quote "Would it be best if I DID IT very very slowly, or Fast ?
(Eat)What on earth do you intend doing to it?
A Canadian sheep, mutton dressed as lamb,I didn't know they bred them.

Bob


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## oldman 80

spongebob said:


> Quote "Would it be best if I DID IT very very slowly, or Fast ?
> (Eat)What on earth do you intend doing to it?
> A Canadian sheep, mutton dressed as lamb,I didn't know they bred them.
> 
> Bob


Well of course - I would have to "cook it" - first of all - that is !!!
(Pint)


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## Dickyboy

Cook it slowly, and eat it fast.


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## Keltic Star

My first question is; why would you buy Canadian mutton when you have such an abundance of good Australian lamb available locally? My second question is; why would you feed rancid meat to your family or friends?

To the best of my knowledge we don't export many lamb products as we have a very limited supply of spring lamb for local and US consumption. Mutton is not sold in supermarkets but is unloaded to the ethnic stores for those of the halal persuasion so if you have come across some in Oz watch out!

I rarely buy Canadan lamb because it's twice the price of frozen cryovac Australian lamb from Opal Vallet Farms. Frozen New Zealand lamb is the biggest seller here but I cannot fathom why it is more expensive than Australian when the NZ dollar is so depressed.


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## TOM ALEXANDER

Aus. or Kiwi lamb sometimes, but we get excellent fresh local lamb in season - like when lambs are lambs and running around in the fields. Slow roasted on the BBQ. - Can't beat that for flavour, texture and tenderness. Then either home made mint sauce with fresh mint from the garden, or the imported stuff from the U.K. New potatoes, carrots, parsnips and metric cabbage (brussel sprouts). Gravy! Veg all cooked in an old foil pie plate with a very little water and a couple of dabs of butter, covered with foil and also done in the BBQ. The real benefit is that there is very little in the way of dished when done.


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## trotterdotpom

oldman 80 said:


> (Wave)
> 
> I'm eyeing up a bit of old rancid meat - Canadian Mutton - I believe.
> Would it be best if I DID IT very very slowly, or Fast ?
> (Eat)


Did you bring it home in your suitcase OM? I've never seen Canadian meat of any sort Downunder. Are you sure it's not Moose?

John T


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## John Dryden

Oldman 80 was only at the eyeing up stage.Personally I,d leave it alone unless that particular cut had a nice personality!!


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## sparkie2182

"Are you sure it's not Moose?"

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm????????????


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## oldman 80

sparkie2182 said:


> "Are you sure it's not Moose?"
> 
> mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm????????????


Sorry guys - perhaps I didn't explain the situation clearly enough with #1
The rancid piece of old meat is not in OZ.
It is in Continental Europe - and has a distinctive Canadian Stamp on it.
(*))


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## trotterdotpom

The Aussie flag was a red herring!
Anyway, I take it back, I just remembered I have seen some Canadian meat but it was ages ago.

John


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## John Rogers

oldman 80 said:


> (Wave)
> 
> I'm eyeing up a bit of old rancid meat - Canadian Mutton - I believe.
> Would it be best if I DID IT very very slowly, or Fast ?
> (Eat)


Throw it out the door.[=D]


I have an old saying about old food, If in doubt throw it out. Then you wont spend Xmas aand New Year on the throne.


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## cueball44

Give her (i mean it) a good rub down, then spit roast.


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## Mad Landsman

sparkie2182 said:


> "Are you sure it's not Moose?"
> 
> mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm????????????


Would that be Chris Moose?


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## the brit

Send it back to Canada and try for a refund.


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## Gulpers

Mad Landsman said:


> Would that be Chris Moose?


Groan!!! (Applause)


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## oldman 80

Mad Landsman said:


> Would that be Chris Moose?


OH MY GOD !!!!!

Groan groan groan.!!!!!!!!!!

(*))


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## barrinoz

Two _*lamb-bastings *_for the one joke. OK, OK, I'll insert my own GROANNN!!
barrinoz.


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## tsell

Interestingly, a month ago I asked a butcher friend to get me a large leg of mutton for Christmas, to share with a few mates who lament the lack of slow cooked mutton on today's tables.
He laughed at me and said that if he was able to get hold of some, which was unlikely, it would cost me more than double the price of spring lamb!

Taff


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## oldman 80

tsell said:


> Interestingly, a month ago I asked a butcher friend to get me a large leg of mutton for Christmas, to share with a few mates who lament the lack of slow cooked mutton on today's tables.
> He laughed at me and said that if he was able to get hold of some, which was unlikely, it would cost me more than double the price of spring lamb!
> 
> Taff



_Well at least with lamb & mutton, you don't have to pluck it, or stuff it, nor indeed, anything like it, for that matter.
BUT one can do, if one wants to, CAN one not ?_


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## trotterdotpom

oldman 80 said:


> _Well at least with lamb & mutton, you don't have to pluck it, or stuff it ...._


That's a moot point if we're back on to NZ lamb!

I suppose most Lambs don't live long enough to become mutton these days .... thank God.

John T


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## Pilot mac

No idea how you should prepare rancid mutton, I would just wander down aft and give it to the bandary to sort out ! 

Seriously though, I would probably give it to the dog, there is still time to pop out and buy some fresh local lamb.

regards
Dave


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## the brit

tsell said:


> Interestingly, a month ago I asked a butcher friend to get me a large leg of mutton for Christmas, to share with a few mates who lament the lack of slow cooked mutton on today's tables.
> He laughed at me and said that if he was able to get hold of some, which was unlikely, it would cost me more than double the price of spring lamb!
> 
> Taff


sort of off subject but a few months ago i wanted to buy some oxtail here in Quebec, i had to call a butchers shop in A****er Market and he would have to order and if he could get it would be nearly $22 dollars Canadian a kilo about 14 pound Stirling. couldn't believe it.


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## oldman 80

the brit said:


> sort of off subject but a few months ago i wanted to buy some oxtail here in Quebec, i had to call a butchers shop in A****er Market and he would have to order and if he could get it would be nearly $22 dollars Canadian a kilo about 14 pound Stirling. couldn't believe it.


That post is surely worth thinking about - is it not ?
as indeed is trotterdotpoms post of 24th December, 
Quote:- "I suppose most Lambs don't live long enough to become mutton these days" Unquote. 
Times are changing, & not necessarily for the best.


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## Ian Harrod

If you really do have to cook mutton (and I, like all the others, wonder why!) then do it on a Webber. Low heat (beads or charcoal) over about 4 hours. Throw some fresh rosemary (straight off a bush) onto the coals every 40 minutes or so. You won't believe it is mutton when you finish.


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## TOM ALEXANDER

Ian Harrod said:


> If you really do have to cook mutton (and I, like all the others, wonder why!) then do it on a Webber. Low heat (beads or charcoal) over about 4 hours. Throw some fresh rosemary (straight off a bush) onto the coals every 40 minutes or so. You won't believe it is mutton when you finish.


I think I'd rather stick with the moose. Even if it's been run before being dropped and is "gamey" it can be marinated in tomato juice and onions overnight, and then slow roasted in a BBQ, until medium (slight hint of pink in the middle). Oh! Oh! You lot in the antipodes don't have moose --- so mutton it is then!(Fly)


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## spongebob

While we are on the subject of stuffing sheep this was in fact a common practice down under in Australia and NZ in the early colonial days when homesick settlers turned to boning a leg of mutton and stuffing the cavity with breadcrumbs, sage, and all the spices that went to make a good stuffing before roasting it.
The infusion of the meat with the stuffing flavours made it taste reminiscent of stuffed and roasted goose from home times and the joint became known as “colonial goose”.
Mutton, which is older sheep meat, lamb being under a year old, hogget was the one to two year old beast with stronger flavours but still tender, tended to have a stronger flavour that was an acquired taste and one that did not appeal to all.
For the lesser off, another dish, called mutton flap, filled the bill. This was the flap that formed the sheep’s belly skin and was laid out flat, thickly plastered with the above-mentioned stuffing, and then rolled up into a large sausage form before tying with string and securing with meat skewers as was down with a rolled sirloin of beef.

During WW2 when exports of sheep meat to Britain were maxed, we could only buy a leg of lamb from a butcher at Christmas and for the rest of the year it was hogget or Mutton.
We often we had the treat of the colonial goose form or the mutton flap that doubled as an excellent cold cut albeit a bit fatty.
I remember the big legs of mutton roasting deep in fat surrounded by spuds, carrots parsnips, and pumpkin that was all served as the Sunday midday dinner. It was then served as a cold cut for Monday and Tuesday’s evening meal before the joint was stripped of all its remaining meat to be put through the mincer and turned into Shepherd’s pie for Wednesday night.
With no refrigeration and an ethic of waste not, want not it was only the dog that got the bare bone.

Bob


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## spongebob

Quote; Oh! Oh! You lot in the antipodes don't have moose --- so mutton it is then!(Fly)

Tom, you are wrong there, we do have Wapiti or Elk of North American origin and introduced during the late 1800's and early 1900's the latter times seeing large herds breed in the South Island Fiordland areas where they still exist and are hunted in season. 
We also have introduced Red Deer and Fallow Deer and one or two other types that are now commercially farmed mainly for German and Russian markets while many still exist in the wild as feral nuisances.

Bob


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## trotterdotpom

Bob, post #27 ... "stuffing", "boning", "goose", "flap" .... all sounds like porn movie terminology, what's going on over there?

The pundits all reckon that "Hogget" is the way to go if you want to eat sheep, but where would you get it these days if you weren't in the know?

I never heard of anyone having lamb/mutton for Christmas Dinner - how did it get on to this thread. As a kid, and I'm sure many of us will remember this, we always had Chicken and it was a once a year treat, before the introduction of battery farming. Probably the chooks wouldn't mind if we went back to that.

John T


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## oldman 80

Hmm - thanks for the tip.
I'd like to use a Webber for sure, but I don't think the "meat" was worth the expense of one of those.

Edit :- Refer #25 x Ian Harrod.


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## oldman 80

spongebob said:


> While we are on the subject of stuffing sheep this was in fact a common practice down under in Australia and NZ in the early colonial days when homesick settlers turned to boning a leg of mutton and stuffing the cavity with breadcrumbs, sage, and all the spices that went to make a good stuffing before roasting it.
> The infusion of the meat with the stuffing flavours made it taste reminiscent of stuffed and roasted goose from home times and the joint became known as “colonial goose”.
> Mutton, which is older sheep meat, lamb being under a year old, hogget was the one to two year old beast with stronger flavours but still tender, tended to have a stronger flavour that was an acquired taste and one that did not appeal to all.
> For the lesser off, another dish, called mutton flap, filled the bill. This was the flap that formed the sheep’s belly skin and was laid out flat, thickly plastered with the above-mentioned stuffing, and then rolled up into a large sausage form before tying with string and securing with meat skewers as was down with a rolled sirloin of beef.
> 
> During WW2 when exports of sheep meat to Britain were maxed, we could only buy a leg of lamb from a butcher at Christmas and for the rest of the year it was hogget or Mutton.
> We often we had the treat of the colonial goose form or the mutton flap that doubled as an excellent cold cut albeit a bit fatty.
> I remember the big legs of mutton roasting deep in fat surrounded by spuds, carrots parsnips, and pumpkin that was all served as the Sunday midday dinner. It was then served as a cold cut for Monday and Tuesday’s evening meal before the joint was stripped of all its remaining meat to be put through the mincer and turned into Shepherd’s pie for Wednesday night.
> With no refrigeration and an ethic of waste not, want not it was only the dog that got the bare bone.
> 
> Bob


All of the foregoing is appealing in this particular case. (*))


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## oldman 80

trotterdotpom said:


> Bob, post #27 ... "stuffing", "boning", "goose", "flap" .... all sounds like porn movie terminology, what's going on over there?
> 
> The pundits all reckon that "Hogget" is the way to go if you want to eat sheep, but where would you get it these days if you weren't in the know?
> 
> I never heard of anyone having lamb/mutton for Christmas Dinner - how did it get on to this thread. As a kid, and I'm sure many of us will remember this, we always had Chicken and it was a once a year treat, before the introduction of battery farming. Probably the chooks wouldn't mind if we went back to that.
> 
> John T


Well Actually it might seem somewhat absurd, but you are not completely off track
(Eat)


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## spongebob

Quote “we always had Chicken and it was a once a year treat”

John, My mother kept laying fowl that were retired to the oven at old age after expending all their eggs. They were tough old table birds that were usually ruled out as Christmas fare unless they happened to be a young cockerel who earned the chop shortly after his first early morning crow.

Thinking back, we had all sorts of roasts for Christmas over the years including chicken, roast pork with crackling, lamb, turkey, and once a goose. A beef sirloin was always Dad’s first choice but it was the Christmas pudding that was my favourite, mainly because it had money in it.

Bob


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## ninabaker

oldman 80 said:


> Sorry guys - perhaps I didn't explain the situation clearly enough with #1
> The rancid piece of old meat is not in OZ.
> It is in Continental Europe - and has a distinctive Canadian Stamp on it.
> (*))


It must be that Little Moose with Clogs on going clipclipertyclop on the stairs.......


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## Mad Landsman

ninabaker said:


> It must be that Little Moose with Clogs on going clipclipertyclop on the stairs.......


A Dutch moose - nee vast niet!

That's worse than my joke....


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## spongebob

Bob, post #27 ... "stuffing", "boning", "goose", "flap" .... all sounds like porn movie terminology, what's going on over there?

John, I do admit to having had two cousins named Basil but that was where the sheep association ends. One cousin, of my own age, I first met in 1998 when I visited South Wales and he was one of the last pitmen who was enjoying early retirement courtesy of the British Coal Board. The other came to NZ with his grandmother in the late 1920’s as a 12 year old and three years later when the old lady elected to return to Wales and was taking the lad with her, he ‘went bush’ the day before departure and showed up a week later after the ship had sailed. He told me many years later that it was the fear of a job down the pit that made him abscond to stay in NZ.

The only other sheep story in the family came about when both my father and brother had quarter acre sections or building lots that needed grazing. Early born orphan lambs were the answer and after bottle-feeding then weaning, they munched their way toward Christmas when they were destined for the chop. My father even boosted his planting of fresh peas and a plot of mint for the sauce.
As the fateful day approached both men admitted that they had formed affection for their beasts, in a most platonic way of course, what with gleeful recognition by the lambs whenever they visited the plot etc and both expressed a lack of appetite for killing or eating their animals.
A brother-in-law came up with the solution of each man sending the other’s lamb to the home kill butcher and taking delivery of a ‘foreign’ carcase for the big dinners and freezer.
That year I had Christmas dinner as we rounded North Cape on the Kaitoa so I could not be named as an accessory to the fact.

Bob


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## kevin morgan

I remember a storekeeper would never eat lamb , because he said they was babies ?


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## ALAN TYLER

trotterdotpom said:


> Bob, post #27 ... "stuffing", "boning", "goose", "flap" .... all sounds like porn movie terminology, what's going on over there?
> 
> John T


I boned, rolled, stuffed and tied up the turkey this xmas and it was very tasty!!


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