Is mutton back on supermarket shelves

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A.� Mutton is indeed making a comeback on Britain's supermarket shelves.� It disappeared from our shelves about 15 years ago, but has been introduced recently to Tesco.

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Q.� What exactly is mutton

A. Mutton is the meat from sheep�that are over a year old and used for breeding. In the past, mutton was highly prized for its leanness and flavour, but has lost out to lamb in the past 20 years. Bringing the meat back into the supermaket will help crisis-hit sheep farmers whose older ewes, originally bred for wool, are practically worthless.

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Q.� What flavour does it have

A.� It has a richer flavour than lamb and is a darker meat. It's more mature, and with proper cooking, should be very tender meat. Mutton can be cooked slowly and gently and is particularly good in stews and casseroles�such as Irish stew. Roast mutton was traditionally eaten with onion sauce and a good, thick gravy. It's also a natural�dish of the Middle East and works well with couscous, coriander and other strong Moroccan herbs.

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Stuffed Shoulder of Mutton (from Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking, Grub Street, �25).

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1 large shoulder of mutton, boned

225g/ 8oz lean de-rinded bacon rashers, chopped

3 tbsp chopped parsley

2 tbsp chopped chives

115g/ 4oz soft breadcrumbs

50g/ 2oz suet

2 eggs

�salt and pepper

For the roasting, 50g/ 2oz dripping

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Preheat the oven to 180c/350F/ Gas mark 4/ 170c with a fan oven. Open out the mutton to make a deep pocket for the stuffing. Cook the bacon until crisp and mix with other stuffing ingredients. Inset the stuffing into the meat and tie with a thin string to make a neat joint. Weigh the joint to assess cooking time and place in a roasting tin. Spread the dripping over the joint.

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Mutton is better roasted less rapdily, so allow 35 minutes per 450g/1b and 35 minutes over. Baste with hot fat from the tin once or twice during cooking.

Serve with thickened gravy, redcurrant jelly, roast potatoes, creamed young turnips and spinach.

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By Katharine MacColl