How Barbecued Mutton Turned a Kentucky Staple

When individuals speak about American barbecue capitals, Kentucky not often cracks the checklist. The dialog normally jumps straight to Texas brisket, Carolina complete hog, or Kansas Metropolis burnt ends. However tucked into the rolling hills and river cities of the state’s western edge, Owensboro has quietly constructed — and fiercely protected — some of the distinctive barbecue traditions within the nation: slow-smoked mutton. Right here, the scent of hickory smoke can draw you to a church picnic from blocks away, and “burgoo” is as frequent in dialog as pulled pork.

It is a place the place mutton isn’t only a menu merchandise; it’s heritage. “Kentucky has been generally known as the mutton capital of all issues barbecue,” says pitmaster and tv character Danielle Bennett. “It’s like slightly island — it didn’t unfold the best way brisket and pork did. Mutton continues to be very usually solely obtainable on this distinctive pocket.”

From wool to wooden smoke

The roots of Kentucky’s mutton tradition run again to the early 1800s, when Scots Irish and Welsh settlers introduced over sheep primarily for wool. As Valerie Samutin, government director of Kentucky heritage-breed lamb farm Freedom Run Farm, explains, older animals that had outlived their wool-producing years have been too robust for fast cooking.

“Barbecuing emerged as a technique to make this more durable meat palatable,” she says, citing an 1806 wedding ceremony feast for Abraham Lincoln’s mother and father that featured a complete barbecued sheep cooked over wooden coals — a practice of persistence, smoke, and communal celebration that also lingers right now.

Owensboro’s mutton scene additionally owes a shocking debt to Nineteenth-century economics. “It’s all due to textiles, firstly,” says Bennett. She factors to a tariff within the early 1800s that boosted home wool manufacturing: “Kentuckians had the chance to grow to be shepherds, and the prevalence of that meant a glut of older sheep.” These surplus animals discovered their second act within the pit.

Native Catholic parishes turned the need into a possibility, internet hosting large neighborhood barbecues to lift funds. The gatherings turned greater than meals — they have been full-day affairs with smoke curling over parish lawns, tables groaning beneath platters of chopped mutton, and large iron kettles simmering burgoo, a wealthy stew of mutton, corn, beans, and no matter greens the season offered.

“In case you can’t arise your spoon in your burgoo, it’s not adequate,” Bennett laughs, evoking the thick, savory broth that has nourished generations.

Over time, these parish picnics laid the groundwork for a civic custom that’s nonetheless thriving. 

What’s mutton?

Not like lamb, which is harvested younger, mutton comes from sheep over a yr outdated. That age deepens the flavour. “Mutton has a deeper, richer, and extra advanced taste than lamb, with musky undertones and the next fats content material,” says Samutin. That richness is what makes it shine beneath the low and gradual therapy — smoke, warmth, and time coaxing tenderness from the meat.

However that depth could also be why it by no means went nationwide. “It’s obtained a little bit of a gamey taste,” says Bennett. “Some individuals discover it off-putting. And it’s costly for barbecue eating places — plus, a hindquarter can take 18 to 22 hours to cook dinner correctly. That’s an enormous price.”

As Dr. Julia Skinner, a meals historian and author, factors out, this was as soon as an asset: “Barbecuing as a low and gradual type of cooking helps to melt in any other case robust meats. It’s an opportunity to get again to roots of regional availability and low waste — consuming older animals was simply a part of not losing meals.”

The place to style Kentucky’s barbecue unicorn

At the moment, Owensboro is dwelling to 2 legendary spots which have stored the custom alive: Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn and Outdated Hickory Bar-B-Q, which each serve ribs, sliced mutton, and chopped mutton with Kentucky’s signature vinegar-and-pepper dip. 

Owensboro celebrates its heritage every Could on the Worldwide Bar-B-Q Pageant, the place the air fills with the scent of hickory smoke and mutton continues to be the undisputed star. The occasion attracts groups from church buildings, eating places, and yard pits, all competing for bragging rights whereas feeding 1000’s of holiday makers. It’s a residing reminder that this barbecue model was by no means nearly cooking meat — it was, and is, about feeding a neighborhood, honoring native roots, and preserving a singular Kentucky custom alive.

Bennett calls Kentucky mutton “a barbecue unicorn…charming, distinctive, uncommon, and one thing that must be cherished.” She nonetheless remembers visiting a church picnic for her Journey Channel present, BBQ Crawl: “The entire avenue lined with pits, males mopping mutton with five-gallon buckets of dip, burgoo stirring with canoe paddles — it’s barbecue magic.”

The case for cooking mutton at dwelling

In case you’re a house cook dinner, do you have to attempt mutton? “Completely,” says Skinner. “It’s scrumptious, wealthy, and filling, and it’s straightforward to work with. Simply select a recipe that cooks the meat gently, giving it an opportunity to get good and tender.”

Samutin recommends beginning with cuts like shoulder, leg, or ribs, that are fatty sufficient to remain juicy by hours of smoking. She suggests hickory, oak, or mesquite for wooden; daring spice rubs with black pepper, garlic, paprika, and mustard seed; and vinegar- or yogurt-based marinades to tenderize and steadiness the richness. Wrapping in foil or cooking in a coated pan helps hold moisture in.

For sauce, skip the candy stuff. “In Kentucky, I’ve by no means seen anybody put a candy barbecue sauce on mutton,” says Bennett. “The dip is there to raise the meat, not disguise it.”

Outdoors Kentucky, mutton will be elusive. Specialty butchers might carry it on request, and Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn ships nationwide. Freedom Run Farm sells USDA-certified lamb and mutton wholesale to cooks and is increasing into retail — test the farm’s web site for availability.

In case you do get your palms on mutton, know you’re carrying on a practice greater than two centuries outdated. And when it’s finished proper, few issues evaluate, Bennett says. “It may be succulent and scrumptious and stuffed with taste, not like something you’ve ever had earlier than.”