Pulled mutton shoulder - Recipe

Recently, seen that sometime cook Tom Kerridge on the TV with pulled shoulder of Lamb (only joking, he is good value, a lot of man for your money).

Here's my more traditional pulled mutton shoulder, which I think is a much better choice for the very slow cooking methodology required for pulled meat.

An essential requirement for this recipe is a renaissance quality mutton shoulder (only available from proper butcher farm shops or farmers markets). 

The great thing about this recipe is that ewe can do a full mutton shoulder and have it for a few days or use part of the shoulder and this will do just as well.

The classic accompaniment for sheep meat, lamb or mutton is anchovies. As the anchovies are salted that’s the first of the seasoning requirements, the second (and second only to the anchovies) is the garlic then, after those two in importance comes the rosemary.

So here’s the plan;-

1. Get the shoulder or part shoulder fat side down in a very hot cast iron frying pan and brown all of the shoulder that you can to the point of nearly burning, then make deep incisions to insert the anchovies,  garlic and rosemary. 
2. Rub plenty of proper sea salt if necessary brushing the outside lightly with water so the salt will stay put, and grind some fresh black pepper in as well and put it all in a pre-heated oven at about 150-160 Degrees Celsius for just under an hour per lb.
3. It is ok to either sit the shoulder on either a bed of nice veggies, like fennel or parsnips, or (as I like it) to have nothing underneath so you get a fantastic gravy to warm the leftovers in the following day.

Also as an aside, in my mind no sheep meat dish is finished without a little mint sauce.

Mint Mint

Mint grows in my garden like a ruthless weed .....every year it gets cut and turned into the amazing condiment that is mint sauce - white malt vinegar, balsamic vinegar, light brown muscovado sugar and lots and lots of finely chopped dried or partially dried mint. 

At the mo, having a fine leg of Renaissance quality mutton slowly roasted with mature dry salted anchovies and fresh rosemary and thyme. After roasting, added a couple of major glugs of red wine into the roasting tin after removing the roast to rest..... this was all served with a liberal amount of horseradish mash and  roasted vegetables. 

All this is only improved by drinking some of the ten year old Barolo (not sure if this would be what you’d put in the gravy mind), and of course liberal helpings of fantastic mint sauce.