The lamb was killed the day before and hung. You can't eat an animal right away because of rigor mortis, the stiffening that sets in after death.
Remove the head right before the first vertebrae from the top of where the neck starts. The higher up you go, the more neck meat you'll have. And neck meat is good.
Cut the skin around the legs and pull down, easing it with a knife. Find the white film on the under side of the skin and cut with it.
Use the opening you created when removing the head to cut under the skin and open this until you reach the plexus solaris.
Once you've gone past the plexus solaris, you'll need to make a slit down to its groin. Be careful not to puncture the flesh or the stomach or you'll contaminate the meat.
Once skin is removed, make a very shallow cut in plexus solaris and cut along the ribs gently. Place a bucket underneath the sheep and slowly open the belly to let the organs slip out and into the bucket. They will be attached to the spinal cord. This will smell.
Whiskey helps with the smell.
Cut the legs to size.
The skin is currently on our balcony under a tonne of salt. More on that when I know more.
Clean the belly. If it's a male don't be surprised if you find testicles.
Open chest cavity to remove lungs, heart, windpipe. You'll have encountered the liver and kidneys, too. Make friends that also like organ meat.
A heart.
Count to the sixth rib and cut. Everything below is considered to be cutlets, everything above, neck.
If you ask the butcher for a whole lamb, this is what you'll get. Read about how to deal with this in another blog post.
