Corned mutton

Not bad. A tad disappointing in form, though.

I was at the LeeLee (giant Asian/world supermarket over on Dobson and Warner in Chandler) the other day getting a honk o' eye round to make chili, and I spotted a big yellow can marked "corned mutton" in a couple of languages.

It's made in Australia.

And, well, you know me, you make corned mutton in Australia and ship it to the Arizona desert and it just makes my challenge radar go off.

It sat on the counter since then, as I hadn't found a reason to want to eat it yet (other stuff to go through, see), but this evening curiosity made me reach for the can opener.

The good news is, the can was chock-full of it. A little jelly, but only that which had come from the meat. No watery or empty space at all. The bad news is, it wasn't a whole piece, or even chunky. It's pretty much Spam. Only with a more elegant sort of high-end cat-food flavor, and a lot less fat and salt.

Nothing magical about the taste. Potted meat is potted meat. But I can see spreading this on a crusty roll and topping it with dijon and lettuce and tomato and enjoying it well enough.

So it was worth the look, but it's probably not going to find its way into the budget again.

--Blair