When the clocks go back and the mercury drops like a stone, thoughts turn to hearty stews and soups. If you’re making a hot pot or braise, I would always recommend using English hogget or mutton as the flavour of this meat is much richer. Years ago, I was a member of the mutton renaissance campaign which HRH Prince Charles headed up. The aim was to encourage eating more mutton which was a hard thing to promote and encourage the younger generation to consume.
However, thanks to local farmers, butchers and farm shops, hogget (an animal between 11 – 24 months) and mutton (between two to three years) seems to be back on the menu. I originally created this hot pot recipe to showcase the mutton and hogget from Durslade Farm Shop in Bruton, Somerset. Ask your local butcher or farm shop about sourcing Dorset hogget or mutton, it is much easier to get hold of these days. You may recall me mentioning Jo Stover’s Portland hogget from Lower Brimley Coombe Farm in this column.
This recipe is basically a Lancashire hotpot incorporating turnips. You can of course use lamb, but hogget or mutton gives an almost gamey flavour, which benefits from slow cooking. I also like to add kidneys and heart, resulting in lovely richness. Up North a traditional accompaniment to this would be pickled red cabbage.
Hogget and turnip hotpot
Serves 4–6
1-1.5kg mutton neck chops
salt and freshly ground black pepper
plain flour for dusting
6 lamb's kidneys, halved and trimmed (optional)
4–5tbsp vegetable oil
450–500g onions, peeled and thinly sliced
60g unsalted butter, plus extra, melted, for brushing
800ml lamb or beef stock
1tsp chopped rosemary leaves
500g large potatoes
500g large turnips
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Season the mutton chops with salt and pepper then dust with flour. Do the same with the kidneys. Heat a heavy-based frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Fry the chops, a few at a time, over a high heat until coloured, then remove. If using kidneys, fry them briefly to colour; drain and set aside.
Wipe out the pan, add another 2 tablespoons of oil. Fry the onions over a high heat until they begin to colour. Add the butter, continue to cook for a few minutes until softened. Dust the onions with a tablespoon of flour, stir well, then gradually add the stock, stirring to avoid lumps. Sprinkle in chopped rosemary. Bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Peel the potatoes and turnips and cut into 3mm slices.
To assemble: take a deep casserole dish with a lid. Cover the bottom with a layer of potatoes and turnips followed by a layer of meat moistened with a little sauce, then another layer of potatoes and turnips. Continue in this way until the meat and most of the sauce have been used, ending with turnips and finally an overlapping layer of potato slices. Brush the top with a little of the sauce.
Cover and cook in a hot oven for about 30 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 140°C/gas mark 1 and cook the hot pot slowly for a further two hours or until the meat is tender. Remove the lid and turn the oven back up to 220°C/gas mark 7. Brush the top with melted butter and return to the oven for 15 minutes or so to allow the potatoes to brown. Then take the hot pot to the table and serve.
