Lamb, when you want it tender
Lamb is the young sheep: pale, mild, and the one most Glasgow kitchens mean. Chops for the grill, leg for a roast you can carve, shoulder for karahi and biryani, mince made fresh for seekh and keema, shanks for a long Sunday. A whole or half lamb is the same animal, sold by carcass weight and cut to a list you bring a day or two ahead.
Mutton, when you want it deep
Mutton is the older sheep. Darker, firmer, and happier in a pot that takes 1½ to 2½ hours. A lot of Pakistani and Indian recipes say mutton and mean goat. Ours is sheep, and we label it. If the recipe in your hand is actually goat, that's a different conversation: ask about goat.
Beef and chicken
Beef here is for the slow pot and the mince pan. Diced beef for stew, steak pie, curry and nihari. Beef mince fresh, with about 20% fat if it's going into burgers. A grilling steak, or beef ribs, you ask about. We don't promise either on the day.
Chicken is the weeknight. Whole birds, thighs, fillets, drumsticks and wings, skinned, cut into curry pieces or opened flat while you wait.
The rest of the plate
Meat on its own is a sad shop. Coriander, mint, chillies, onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic are out every day, and the aisle behind you has the basmati, the spices and the chapati flour. Start at the grocery, or go straight to how to get to the shop.
Choosing
What halal meat do you sell?
Lamb, mutton, beef and chicken, cut to order. Whole and half lambs if you ask ahead. Goat only if the butcher says he can get it.
Which cut for a curry for four?
About 1kg of bone-in lamb shoulder, or 700 to 800g boneless. Chicken thigh if you want it quicker and harder to dry out.
Can I buy a small amount?
Yes. Two chops, or 250g of mince, is a normal thing to ask for.
We're at 44 Kilmarnock Road, Shawlands, Glasgow G41 3NH. Opening hours and the map.