Sir, – In response to Pavel Marianski's query about "spring lamb" (October 17th), I suggest he buys his meat, not from a supermarket, but from his local butcher, who will no doubt explain that spring lamb is lamb which is born in the spring and is called "spring lamb" until the end of the year in which it was born. – Yours, etc,
GABRIELLE HYLAND,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 11 .
Sir, – A trip though the Irish countryside will show many thousands of older sheep in our fields that should be sold as mutton or hogget rather than lamb, yet meat described as mutton and hogget is completely absent from our shops.
An internet search for the history of the expression "mutton dressed as lamb" finds that it is an Irish phenomenon that first appeared in 1811 in a publication entitled An Irish Beauty of the Regency, written by a Mrs Frances Calvert.
It appears to be an especially Irish trait to deny the ravages of the ageing process in both humans and sheep. – Yours, etc,
SEAN FOX,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – When is a lamb not a lamb? After the first year it becomes a hogget. One wonders will it ever become mutton. Chops spring eternal. – Yours, etc,
KENBUGGY,
Ballyduff Upper,
Co Waterford.
Sir, – Pavel Marianski asks how we can have spring lamb in October. The answer is simple. We live in Tír na nÓg. If he doubts this, he only has to look at the photos of our politicians on election posters to see that our politicians, like our sheep, magically appear younger as they grow older. – Yours, etc,
FINBAR KEARNS,
Piercestown,
Co Wexford.