How you can influence the taste of your lamb!

Get in touch to share sheeping stories or questions anytime!Who knew we could influence our lamb taste so much! Research for this podcast includes:Foods | Free Full-Text | Odd- and Branched-Chain Fatty Acids in Lamb Meat as Potential Indicators of Fattening Diet Characteristics (mdpi.com)What does lamb taste like? - Chef's Pencil (chefspencil.com)This episode was inspired by this great article written by Bill Williams. His original article is below:Six factors that influence the flavour of lamb before the chef starts work (which you will never know if you buy your lamb from a supermarket!) 1. The breed of the sheep. What are you actually eating? Merino, Corriedale, Border Leicester, Suffolk, Dorset, Ryeland, Southdown, Romney? I guess I must mention Dorper and Damara. LIke different grape varieties, sheep varieties produce different tasting and textured meat. I produce Wiltshire because that's the breed that yields the dining experience I personally like best. They may not be the fastest to reach a marketable weight, but the wait's worth it! Another example of slow food.2. The age of the sheep. When was the last time you saw "old ewe" or even mutton labelled at the supermarket? Not that mutton can't be delicious if prepared correctly, but seriously, if you go to a saleyard more than half the sheep sold usually aren't lambs or even hoggets. Where do they go? My theory is that most of them turn into "lamb" when they leave the abattoir.3. Diet. Are they feedlot finished? Or perhaps they've been raised on improved pasture made up of just one or 2 grass varieties in high rainfall or irrigated grazing areas where the native grasses have been wiped out by broad acre round up applications? In my experience lambs raised on a wide variety of native grasses and shrubs like saltbush taste much sweeter with a less fatty taste. Of course what they have been eating also effects how fat they are, too.4. Water. Water quality and availability are extremely important to sheep health. Consider the difference between sheep that have to walk a long way to a muddy dam compared to sheep grazed in close proximity to a flowing stream of fresh clean water. Good water access also enables sheep to browse and digest roughage more easily.5. Animal husbandry. Have the sheep been dogged? Consider the journey from the paddock to the abattoir.....especially for sheep sold through saleyards. Many supermarket lambs end up affected by adrenaline and fear. I don't like to road transport sheep in summer....it's just too hot most days.6.How long have the carcasses been dry aged before being cut up into kitchen ready cuts? If the carcass is given at least a few days to "set", the muscles relax and the meat matures. Dry aged lamb is much more tender and flavoursome than freshly butchered lamb.What do you think? We would greatly appreciate any comments about which factors you consider most important in determining lamb quality.Support the showThank you for supporting our pod! Sign up via our sheep supporters tab !https://www.buzzsprout.com/954910/supporters/new