Clun Forest: Meat

Meat from the Clun Forest Sheep is generally lean, dark and flavoursome. It has always been known for its quality and has excellent cutting qualities and low wastage.

A Clun ewe mated to any of the Continental rams produce early maturing lambs with excellent weight for age results.

Lamb: The pure Clun lamb has a carcass weight of 16/20kg from 12/17 weeks and up to 29kg under a year old and will finish straight off grass.

Hogget: At a year old the Clun Forest sheep matures to a large, full size lean carcass of around 50kg. The meat is of excellent quality and milder flavour than some other breeds.

Mutton: Clun Forest sheep may offer a great option for the renaissance in mutton. The Clun offers a superbly frame that can reach 60kg or more. As with all mutton, it is best hung for a couple of weeks to bring leave a meat that is tender, rich, and mild enough in flavour to please the most cynical of palettes.

Flocks that sell butchered Clun meat from the door:

Brynglas Flock of Sue Scrivens
Foxglove Flock of Kathe Davies
Garboldisham Flock of Georgie Hollis
Hayton Flock of Steph Thackery
Windybottom Flock of Torz Brown
Wollerton Flock of Sandra Edwards


For full contact details look on the Breeders Page. If you want your name added to the list then just drop us an email.

Torz Brown of the Windybottom Flock
​shares her experience of Clun Meat and some great recipes for Clun Mutton.

So in 2010, we were given our first 3 Pepperharrow Clun Forest ewes by Andrew Smith (son of George Smith) when he was working here on my husband's family farm. Such a lot has happened in the last 7 years! The first year we registered our own pedigree name and decided on the 'Windybottom' flock. Despite what you might think, the name arises from the fact that we live at the bottom of a very windy hillside in West Berkshire. It feels like so suddenly, the flock has reached 30 breeding ewes, who are soon to lamb. We've still got last year's ewe lambs growing on in the field and later this year we'll begin to make some decisions on the exact number of breeding ewes we want to keep so that we can select out the best ones.

The reason I was asked to write this article though, was to talk about the delicious meat we get from these huge, stubborn, wiley, intelligent beasts of sheep. (There are occasions when we wonder how or why we started our shepherding with sheep that have such massive attitudes.....and shearing the rams is as good as any comedy sketch!) A couple of weeks ago we sent off the first 4 of of last year's ram lambs to slaughter and I delivered beautifully butchered whole and half lambs to customers who had pre-ordered. As per usual, we didn't end up with any for ourselves! We're still eating up mutton from the freezers, and to be honest, we've decided that mutton is just as good if not better for such a variety of recipes.

Last summer, I took a few packs of mince and diced mutton to our local pub to try out. They were sold on the flavour of pedigree Clun Forest meat and put it on as a special for British Food Fortnight. The closest village to our little hamlet is called Peasemore, and last year they had a curry night. What better to be the star of the curry show than mutton bred and raised less than a mile away! It went down a storm, and this was just more funds to feed back into flock management costs.

We're still very much early days in setting up our small meat business, but we're beginning to develop relationships with more and more people who really do care about the provenance of their food and therefore come back again and again. We've found that a very important part of selling meat direct to customers is helping them understand the back story. We're not selling
direct into the commercial chain, so people expect more. A major hurdle we've just managed to overcome is finding a butcher who is willing to do 'private kill' work and who will take the time to work through specific requirements. (We've learned through mistakes, one butcher who did 3 pigs for us promised the world, then simply did not deliver). Now we've found a lovely, forward thinking butcher locally – Cook and Butcher in Thatcham – who has made a wonderful job of our recent lamb and beef. Everything is vacuum packed, weighed, labelled and presented beautifully.

So what makes Clun Forest meat so good? If I am honest, I am not totally sure why it is, but know it is from using it so much in Windybottom Kitchen!! I think it may be to do with the slower growth of the breed. They're no longer a commercial breed and on the scale of finished lambs, they're not that quick. They take their time, but they don't need huge amounts of food to thrive. The meat is rich and flavoursome, without being too 'strong'. The winter just  gone, we decided to put all the sheep on some forage rape cover crops – this was a classic 'win-win' decision. Arable land was improved, and the sheep were fed over the winter for very little financial input.  So since we've sold pretty much all the lamb we've ever slaughtered, I don't have very many of my own recipes for lamb. In fact, I think most of our own lamb we've eaten has been cooked by my Dad! Butterfly leg of lamb is his 'last meal' choice. He's also cooked us a beautiful rack of lamb on a sunny
spring day before now. While thinking about it as I write, the most simple and enjoyable lamb I've eaten for a while was the little 'patty' burgers I made for our lunch on Saturday. I took a pack of home grown lamb mince, mixed in salt and pepper, then rolled into golf ball sizes, flattened down in the palm of my hand and fried like a burger. We ate it with ketchup and garlic bread. Absolutely divine!
Now, I do have several mutton recipes I'd like to share with you. Through these recipes, I have converted a number of people who said the didn't like mutton (and probably had never tried it before!). One of those people is a friend who is my guru on all things sheep and cattle management. Lucy is wonderful and has helped us no end in so many panic situations.......thanks Lucy!! So here goes, some of my very own Clun Forest recipes for you to try out. 

Clun Mutton Chilli
​3 onions, 3 sticks of celery, 2 carrots finely chopped – gently soften in vegetable oil.
Add 6 cloves of crushed garlic.
Stir in 750g of minced mutton and brown very slightly.
Add 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes and 1 x 400g pack or passata
Bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer
​
Chop a red/orange and green pepper and finely chop a couple of mild green chillies – add to your pot.
Chop 200g chestnut mushrooms into chunks and add to your pot.
Add spices:
1 large tsp ground cumin
1 large tsp ground coriander
1 large tsp smoked paprika
Chilli powder to taste (I like a large tsp of hot chilli powder)
A handful of chopped fresh oregano (or lrg tsp of dried)
Chilli powder to taste (I like a large tsp of hot chilli powder)
A handful of chopped fresh oregano (or lrg tsp of dried)
Salt and pepper to taste
Stir through a large tsp of Bovril
Simmer away for a couple of hours. 
​
You may need to add a little water every now.
I prefer to then let the chilli cool and scoop off excess fat. Then add a tin of kidney beans (or 2 if you like!) and re-heat fully. 

Enjoy with either boiled rice, nachos, a baked potato or simply some chunks of crusty bread. Perhaps serve with cheese sprinkled on the top and soured cream and guacamole on the side.

Rich and Sweet, slow cooked Clun Mutton Steak Stew
Vegetable oil
2 medium onions – finely chopped
2 carrots – finely diced
2 sticks celery – finely diced
Approx 800g mutton steak – diced
1tbsp plain flour
Salt/pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
2 dessert spoons  redcurrant jelly
2 tbsp Bouillon
1 tbsp tomato purée
Frozen petits pois

TURN ON YOUR SLOW COOKER so it is hot when you add the ingredients!
Sauté off the onion, carrot, celery until soft – approx 5-10mins
Add mutton and gently cook off the outside (don't brown too much as you'll seal the meat and not allow other flavours in!) - approx 5 minutes
Sprinkle in plain flour and cook through
Add enough hot/boiling water to cover the meat
Chuck in your bay leaves
Stir in redcurrant jelly, bouillon and tomato purée
Add salt and pepper to taste
Bring to the boil.
Pour the mixture into your hot slow cooker and leave for up to 6 hours
​Add peas when you would like to eat – if you put them in too early they lose their freshness.  
Serve with lots of creamy mashed potato and green veg.

Clun Mutton Korma-ish Curry
300g pot full fat natural yoghurt - mix in a large bowl with:
3tsp cumin
3tsp coriander
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp ginger
1tsp turmeric
8 cardamom
Into your yoghurt spice mix, add:
750g diced Clun mutton.
While this is marinating, purée 4 onions and 5 large garlic cloves and gently cook in vegetable oil in a large pot.
Once you are satisfied your meat is marinated for long enough (half an hour did it for me but could be overnight if you wish) add the Clun meat/spice mixture to your onions and start cooking through on a medium heat. 
Add a 160ml can of coconut cream and approx 50g ground almonds to your pot.
Add salt and pepper to taste. I also added a little sprinkle of cayenne pepper and juice of half a lemon just to give a bit of zing.
Leave simmering away on the stove for a good long while.
Serve with homemade pilau rice and dahl. 

Clun Mutton Meatballs with Spaghetti
Pre-heat oven to 220oC
1kg mutton mince, room temperature to it is easier to work with (rather than cold from the fridge)
To your mince – add:
6 big cloves of garlic, chopped very finely
Big bunch of fresh oregano chopped finely (or a couple of tsp of dried oregano)
Tsp of dried onion (or half a fresh onion chopped very finely)
3 slices of bread – made into breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix thoroughly with your hands. 
Lightly oil a couple of deep baking trays.
Roll your mutton into golf ball sized meatballs and place on your baking trays. (1kg should make approx 36 meatballs – give or take!).
Bake your meatballs for 15-20mins until golden brown. When cooked, remove immediately from baking trays and cool on kitchen towel to let excess fat drain off. 
Serve with a really simple tomato sauce (can be bought or homemade) and spaghetti.

My tomato sauce
Couple of cloves of garlic, small onion – puréed or chopped finely and cooked gently through in a little olive oil
400g passata
Chicken stock (real is best, but a stock cube will do)
1tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar
Splash of marsala or sherry to make it extra special!
Bubble away until the sauce reaches your preferred consistency.

This is a staple I feed to my kids and their friends, as well as grown ups. It hasn't been rejected yet!
The meatballs and sauce freeze really well so you are great for batch cooking and bringing out as ready meals when you have unexpected guests or are in a rush.

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