Mutton Chops

In what must seem like a quest to try every single recipe in Quick & Easy Thai Cuisine, this week Dan found a recipe for a Lemongrass Pork Chop that looked really great. However, when I got an email from Sea Breeze Farm indicating what they would have a the farmers market on Saturday, pork wasn't on the list.

I'm still learning about the seasonality of meats - lamb in spring, turkey at the end of Autumn - and apparently pork isn't the most springy of meats. But what was on their list for this week was Mutton. When the email said "Be unafraid. You will love mutton and be thrilled at its beefy qualities," I was sold. We decided to adapt the recipe to the grass fed mutton chops, rather than resort to frozen pork chops. Meat-novice that I am, I totally blanked on what animal mutton actually came from, and the mention of "beefy qualities" had me erroneously thinking it was some special type of beef. Dan, being the more educated in the world of vocabulary, was able to correct my mistake and clarify that mutton is sheep. An older sheep, whereas lamb is a term reserved for young (under 1 year old) sheep.

Not only is it sheep, it's really good - and definitely has beefy qualities, as well as lamby qualities. We served it over some saffron jasmine rice, and I totally forgot to garnish it with the tomatoes and peppers called for in the recipe - but enjoyed every morsel I could get off the bones.