[Jukes Mum]

Yesterday we finally decided that we had procrastinated for long enough and one of last years boy lambs had to go.  The purpose of us having sheep was just to put 'happy' meat on the table for ourselves, and while I had no particular affection for this boy (actually I did dislike him at times!), I was surprised how upset I was. Anyway the deed has been done and it is now hanging in the next door farm's walk-in fridge. How long would anyone recommend hanging hogget for?

[Foobar]

7-10 days.  The more fat on it the longer you can hang it (I think).

[SallyintNorth]

7-10 days.  The more fat on it the longer you can hang it (I think).

Yes, 7-10 days.  The thing about fat and hanging time is that as it hangs it dries out; if it's very lean, the outer surface of the meat may start to discolour and need more trimming.  That's more work for the butcher and less meat for you . 

[Jukes Mum]

There did not seem to be much fat so I think I'll stick to 7 days then.
We'll be butchering it ourselves so less work for us I hope! 

[twizzel]

This post reminded me of something I saw in Tesco a couple of weeks ago. They had vac packed legs of lamb and on the packaging was the kill and cut dates- this batch of lambs had hung for 3 weeks  which made me think they might not have been lamb in the first place? and maybe hogget or even cull ewes...?

[Jukes Mum]

Really-I've never noticed that- next time I'm in Tesco I'll have a nosey! I don't think we'll be buying any lamb any time soon though!

[Foobar]

This post reminded me of something I saw in Tesco a couple of weeks ago. They had vac packed legs of lamb and on the packaging was the kill and cut dates- this batch of lambs had hung for 3 weeks  which made me think they might not have been lamb in the first place? and maybe hogget or even cull ewes...?

Might just have been stored super-chilled for longer for distribution/stocking reasons?  I don't think  the flavour improves any further after 2 weeks.

[Jukes Mum]

Good news for me! My brother is a chef and is going to come up on Monday and help us butcher it. We might actually end up with some recognisable cuts this way! Monday will be 8 day so 
We are then going to have a rather lovely din-dins I suspect!!