eli5: what is the difference between lamb and mutton?
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Lamb meat is from lambs that have not grown to adult sheep. This reduces the “gamey” taste of the meat. Mutton is meat from adult sheep.
Much like veal vs. beef.
No difference, this is the same animal.
Lamb is the English term for the animal.
Mutton is from “Mouton” in French.
Probably popularized in England after the Normand take over, as many other food terms to designate the meat.
A lamb is a young sheep before it reaches puberty. Mutton is the meat from a lamb, sheep or ram. In the context of a supermarket or restaurant it is implicit that the lamb is slaughtered and only the lamb mutton is being sold to you. But if they just say mutton then it is not specified that it is from a lamb and it can be from a sheep as well.
A fun fact is that just like a lot of English words the term for the livestock comes from Germanic since it was used by Anglo-Saxan farmers but the term for the food comes from French because the Norman nobles spoke French.
[Lamb, hogget, and mutton are the meat of domestic sheep. A sheep in its first year is a lamb, and its meat is also lamb, but the meat from sheep in their second year is hogget and older sheep meat is mutton.](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/wigw47/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_lamb_and/)
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It’s exactly the same as beef and veal: beef comes from an adult bovine, veal comes from a calf. Mutton is the direct equivalent of beef, lamb equates to veal.
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Goats and Sheeps are separate breeds. Goat meat is very lean and infact the most healthiest of all red meat. In Goat the fat stays separate from the muscle, hence they are less fatty, also goat meat has less muscle and more bony.
Sheep meat is similar to beef meat, chunky, but more gamey. Sheep vs Goat, sheep is more gamey.
Young sheep meat is called “Lamb”. There is no confusion.
Goat meat is called “goat” or “mutton” depending on the country / state.
Also old sheep meat is called “mutton” depending on the country / state. This is the cause of major confusion!
In South India, lamb is eaten rarely due to its gamey smell, goat is the favorite. Shops refer goat meat as mutton.
But in North India, Lamb and goat are eaten. Over there mutton refers to adult lamb!
In US, I haven’t seen anywhere serving “mutton”. It is always lamb or goat (rarely). I guess even if the meat is old lamb they still don’t want to call it “mutton”, as lamb meat is highly sought after.
As I was told by a British sailor in 1978, “Mutton is lamb that is old enough to have a drivers license.”
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