Jos, oh yes, shoulder of lamb. I will not buy leg of lamb. Years ago, our butcher, with whom I'd cultivated a brilliant relationship (it helped that he was a bird and butterfly aficionado, as indeed am I, along with my penchant for wild flowers), bought his pork, free range, from Mrs Quicke MBE, her of Quicke's cheddar cheese in Newton St Cyres in Devon. She's a lovely lady is Mrs Quicke, which I can attest to from buying cheese from her in person from her lovely farm shop. A large part of Mrs Quicke's pigs' diet was the whey from her cheese making. I've never tasted pork that good before or since. Unfortunately, Mrs Quicke stopped keeping pigs, but our butcher tracked down another excellent source of pork. I never found out where he sourced his lamb (though here in Cornwall butchers nearly always source local), but it was amazingly good. Since he retired, I've been getting my lamb from a local man who farms his own sheep. His lamb is absolutely superb.

It has to be whole shoulder and it has to weigh in at at least six or seven pounds, or more. If you buy shoulder you absolutely must ensure that it's whole shoulder and that the fillet has been left in. I once bought a supermarket allegedly whole shoulder, only to find that that the fillet had been removed, presumably to be resold at a higher price.