How to choose the right lamb?

Lamb is divided into several categories. The key point in the classification of this meat is the age of the animal. The taste qualities of each type also have their own characteristics.

Types of lamb:

• adult lamb (sheep meat is from one to three years old, such lamb has a bright red-burgundy hue, is distinguished by a relatively small amount of fat and rich taste);
• young lamb (sheep meat is from three months to one year old, such lamb has a delicate texture, a small amount of white fat and has a light red color);
• lamb (sheep meat up to three months, such lamb is considered the most tender, there is practically no fat in it, and its color can be from light pink to light red);
• old beef (sheep meat is over three years old, this type of lamb has a rough consistency, yellow fat and is dark red in color).

Which lamb to choose

In its pure form, three types of mutton are eaten. An exception is the meat of old sheep. Due to its hardness, it is difficult to eat it, therefore, most often such meat is used for preparing minced meat.

What kind of lamb should you buy:

• the whiter the fat on the lamb, the younger it is (an additional indicator of the age of the meat is its color, the lighter the lamb, the younger it is);
• the color of the lamb should be as uniform as possible;
• one of the main criteria for good lamb is the elasticity of the meat (you can check this by simply pressing your finger, the meat should return to its shape);
• the smell of lamb should be pleasant and rich (if there are foreign smells in the meat, then, most likely, it was stored improperly or the animal was sick);
• good lamb always has a coarse-grained meat consistency;
• lamb bones should be white (this is a sign of young lamb, in lambs the bones are slightly pinkish);
• there should be a minimum amount of fat on good lamb (veins should be clearly visible on the meat itself);
• the surface of the lamb should be shiny and slightly damp (there should be no bleeding).

You can tell the age of the mutton by the ribs. If you visually compare two pieces of meat with bones, then the greater the distance between the ribs, the older the animal was. In addition, the color of the bone is also an indicator of the quality and age of the lamb.

What kind of lamb is not recommended to buy:

• old lamb is not worth buying (it is almost impossible to bring such meat to a tender consistency, and its taste will be less pronounced compared to young lamb);
• if there are spots on the meat that resemble bruises, then the purchase of such lamb should be abandoned even in the absence of other negative signs;
• if the fat on lamb easily crumbles or breaks, then the meat is frozen (its taste will not be saturated);
• if the bones of lamb are yellow or have a yellowish tint, then you should not buy it (this is the meat of an old animal, in which bones and fat begin to turn yellow with age);
• the smell of lamb should be rich and natural, if there is a smell of rot, dampness or ammonia, you should refuse to buy meat;
• you cannot buy meat, the surface of which has bruises, a sticky film or a slippery consistency (such meat starts to deteriorate).

An experiment to evaluate the quality of lamb can be done with fat. If you set fire to a small amount of a layer of meat, then the smell of smoke should not be pungent. Otherwise, lamb can be meat from an uncastrated or sick animal. If there is no fat on the meat, but the seller claims that it is mutton, then there is a deception. The lack of fat can only be on goat meat, which is often tried to pass off as mutton due to some external resemblance.