Meat
Hill Mutton
B tier
Hill mutton is mature meat from sheep hefted or extensively grazed on upland hills—blackface, hill Cheviot, Welsh Mountain, and similar systems—rather than lowland arable finish. Growth is slower; flavour is louder, shaped by rough forage and outdoor lives. Classic uses include Scotch broth, hotpot, curries, and long-roast shoulders. Fat can be firm and white; some prefer to render and replace a portion with oil for modern palates. Properly cooked, hill mutton is one of the great traditional red meats of pastoral Britain and Ireland.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Hill farming systems produced most everyday mutton for northern towns.
Railways moved hill mutton to industrial cities as a staple protein.
Shift to lamb reduced named hill-mutton retail presence.
Heritage butchers restocked hill mutton for traditional and ethnic cuisines.