Halal Mutton Bone-in Cuts

Age. Lamb is a young sheep, mutton is the mature animal, and the extra age gives mutton a darker colour, a stronger flavour and a firmer texture. It needs longer, slower cooking than lamb, and rewards it: a mutton curry, nihari or paya has a depth that lamb cannot give. The cuts on this page mirror the lamb bone-in cuts piece for piece, so you can swap one for the other in any recipe and adjust the time.

The shank. Nihari is built on bone-in shank meat cooked for hours until the marrow and collagen have gone into the gravy, and the mutton hind shank is the cut for it, whole at 460-580g or as 50-80g osso buco rounds. Bone-in shoulder diced at 50-60g is the usual choice for a salan or a korma, and the whole neck is the cut to use when you want the richest stock.

Allow roughly twice the time you would give lamb. Diced bone-in mutton wants two to two and a half hours of gentle simmering before it is tender; a shank needs three or more. Chops are the exception: mutton front chops and chump chops are cut from the tender rib and loin end and can be grilled or pan-fried in eight to ten minutes if you keep them thin. Mutton is not done until a fork slides in without resistance.

Yes. The front chops come as a whole 7-rib piece, 3 ribs of 370-385g, 2 ribs of 225-255g, or single ribs of 115-135g, and the chump chops as 125-150g, 225-250g or 450-500g steaks. Every chop is cut when your order is prepared, not in advance, so the thickness you choose on the product page is the thickness you get.

Each cut is vacuum-sealed and packed in a Woolcool insulated box with ice gel packs that hold 0-4C for up to 72 hours. Nationwide orders travel with DPD, which delivers Tuesday to Saturday: dispatched the next working day and delivered the day after. Delivery is 6.99 under 60 pounds and free from 60 pounds, with a 15 pound minimum order. Mutton keeps up to 6 days in the fridge, or up to 12 months frozen if you freeze it on the day it arrives.