I Now Have a Source for Lamb - Help and Suggestions Please

Cafe Society
1

One thing about living in Indiana is that you find yourself with the Meat Trinity - pork, beef, and chicken. And that’s it. >sigh< Neither the spouse nor I care much for pork (we’ll eat it if we’re visiting folks and it’s served, but it’s not something we buy for ourselves). That leaves beef and chicken. Thank Og we also like beans. Anyhow, we do get lamb at the local Mediterranean eatery and I’ve been thinking of adding it to my repertoire.

Oh, wait, I live in Indiana…

It’s VERY difficult to find anything but beef, pork and chicken around here. Hell, I’ve had more venison these past few years than lamb (because I have friends who are deer hunters, and they’re decent shots). Let’s see - local butcher doesn’t sell lamb (?!), this grocery store doesn’t, that grocery store doesn’t, this other grocery stores sells ALLIGATOR (!!!) but not lamb…

Alright, I found one store that sells ground lamb and lamb chops for $8.99 a pound. OK… and this one sells ground lamb for $6.99 and lamb shoulder for “only” $5.99 BUT you have to purchase the whole damn shoulder and that was like $20-30 bucks (lambs coming in different sizes, of course).

Didn’t lamb used to be a cheap meat?

Anyhow, went back to the local Mediterranean/Arab eatery which also has an ethnic grocery store attached. I was sort of expecting their prices to be through the roof due to small size and being hallal (which makes no difference to me, but ethnic markets are often more costly) and low and behold: lamb for $4.39 a pound, which isn’t bargain basement but competitive with decent cuts of beef and seafood around here. OK, they want you to buy the whole shoulder or whole leg, but what the hell, if I have good recipes we’ll just have leftovers to munch so it’s all good, right?

How the hell do I cook a lamb shoulder or leg of lamb?

I’m interested in making lamb stew and ground lamb, but that’s not such an issue as I have a meat grinder (which I will have to dust off and clean, but I have one), sharp knives, and even a saw if necessary for bones. Mmm! Homemade stock!

I also have a small jar of Penzey’s lamb seasoning, and also a Greek seasoning which should also work nicely.

So, have at it, Dopers - suggestions, tips, tricks, recipes. My only request is that we stick to tomato-free options (which means no tomato sauce, no ketchup, etc.) as I’m sort of deathly allergic to them.

2

Simple things. Saw it into two or three portions for roast leg of lamb. A very straight forward and yummy dish. Just cook like any other roast. Lamb burgers with feta cheese. Eggplant stuffed with ground lamb and rice. Lamb and okra stew (I usually use tomatoes too but easy enough to sub other things). A one pot with layers of thinly sliced potatoes, onions, garlic and lamb (I use shoulder chops, the original version was from “The Sixty Minute Gourmet”). It’s a long list …

3

Lamb has never been cheap (mutton is cheap, but its hard to find in the U.S.). I like lamb chops just grilled up with mint sauce.

(A hallal market is a good source of cheaper lamb - and sometimes goat and camel if you are getting really bored of beef and chicken).

4

I like braised lamb shank. Street vendors sold them in New Zealand for a reasonable price.

5

For ground lamb, make a divine Shepherd’s Pie.

My recipe:

Shepherd’s Pie

1 lb ground lamb
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped parsnip
1 cup chopped turnip
1 cup red wine
chicken or beef broth
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
salt, pepper to taste
6 cups mashed potatoes

butter or olive oil as needed

Saute the onion in a small amount of olive oil or butter.
When soft, remove from pan and set aside.

Crumble the ground lamb into the saute pan. Cook until really well browned. REALLY WELL browned. Develops fantastic flavor. Deglaze pan with red wine, scarping up all the lively brown bits that are stuck to the pan. When the wine is reduced by about half, add the onions, carrot, parsnip and turnip to the pan. Add enough broth to just cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until vegetables are tender. The broth should be reduced by at least 75% by now. Thicken the broth with a little flour if desired. Remove the bay leaf.

Add to a casserole dish, top with mashed potatoes, bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until filling is bubbling and mashed potato topping is browned.

6

Lamb Shank Stifado

I’ve shared this recipe with a few people and they all loooove it.

7

If you can de-bone the leg of lamb, it’s a great cut to work with!

Fill the inside, roll & tie, and roast it off. Some filling ideas:

  • Yogurt, mint, cucumber, garlic
  • Mustard, rosemary, garlic, olive oil
  • etc

Or you can butterfly it out, and grill it that way. Gets all nice and crispy on the outside, keep it med-rare on the inside. Slice & serve! Similar coatings work for this treatment too - just less of it. Lamb loves rosemary, lamb loves garlic, lamb loves yogurt, lamb loves mint, lamb loves mustard.

8

Ooh, adding this to my Epicurious recipe box! I have lamb shanks in the freezer!

Broomstick, you can cut nice steaks from a leg of lamb, too.

9

Don’t breathe too deeply while you’re doing the vinegar step. Coughing fit will ensue, but it’s sooooo worth it.

10

Tom Scud made a yummy lamb stew the other night, basically the way one might make a beef stew; season and flour the meat, then brown it with onions, veggies (in this case turnips), salt, pepper, red wine, and rosemary. And tomato if one is so inclined.

Another common one we do involves lamb shanks in the Crock-Pot with lots of onions, some carrots, and some pomegranate juice or pomegranate molasses (which the Middle Eastern grocery is also quite likely to sell). It works fine with hunks of lamb shoulder, too, though shoulder is fattier. Also good with chunks of slow-cooked eggplant.

If you like to grill, my fave is marinating lamb leg or loin chops with pomegranate juice, black pepper, crushed garlic, and mint for like 2 days, then grill. Brush with the reduced marinade while grilling. Those Azerbaijanis know what to do with a lamb!

If you have bones for stock, one of my favorite soups ever involves lamb stock, yellow split peas (or red lentils if you have those handy instead, and I imagine chickpeas would work too, but would take much longer to break down), lots of onions, celery, cardamom, and lemon juice at the very end. Just a few ingredients, but lots of bang for the amount of work.

P.S. Also, the halal butcher around here wants you to buy the whole leg or shoulder, but they are happy to cut it up to order for you - it might save some work, and it couldn’t hurt to ask!

11

My shepherd’s pie recipe is a little different, but I did have a go at it tonight. Spouse’s verdict was it was OK, but needed more gravy. Admittedly, my gravy/sauce technique needs some work. Next time I might chicken out and use beef or mushroom gravy from a jar or packet. Hey, I was happy just to manage edible lamb gravy!

Sounds intriguing, but it calls for 28-32 ounces of tomato product – what the heck can I substitute for that?

This is why I’m afraid to eat at other peoples’ houses – I say I’m deathly allergic to tomatoes and someone suggests something with a quart of tomato in it! (Yes, that happened once to me in real life, except the ditz said “but I didn’t use tomato – I used ketchup! Uh, right, thanks for the trip to ER.) Seriously – I keep seeing recipes like this one, WHAT can I use in place of those tomatoes? Otherwise it sounds wonderful.

Of course, I realize other people might well enjoy that recipe, I just wish I could, too!

I seem to recall something being said about cutting the leg or shoulder up. They’ll also de-bone the leg but not the shoulder.

12

For a whole (or partial) leg of lamb, bone in or boned:

Take a thin pointed knife and poke about 20 holes in the lamb, approx 3/4" deep, all around the roast. Poke your finger in each hole to widen it, and insert a clove of garlic, the white end of a scallion (root removed), and the tip of a small pepper or strip of larger pepper. Slice off whatever sticks out with knife flush to the surface of the meat. I use mild Italian peppers, but take your choice. You can return the lamb to the fridge to let it sit for a many hours, or just let the roast sit to come up to room temperature. When ready to roast, smear a light layer of olive oil over the surface of the roast, lightly salt, and put on a rack in 400F oven. Immediatly lower the heat to 325F. Use a meat thermometer to test for doneness, about 130F for medium. A whole leg of lamb would take from 1 1/2 to 2 hours. When the meat hits 130F, remove from oven and turn off oven. Put lamb on a platter in oven to stay hot. Put the original roasting pan on a stove top burned to keep it hot and deglaze with wine. Add green herbs, parsley, thyme, savory, etc. to taste.

Serve lamb straight from the oven. Don’t slice down into the meat. Slice thin layers off the top and sides parallel to the meat.

13

I’m a little confused on what other kinds of meat you want to find here in Indiana. Turkey is common, lamb isn’t that tough to find (the Marsh store a half mile away carries it), and what else…? If I try I can fairly easily find alligator, kangaroo, and ostrich. I’m not sure what else other places have… maybe raccoon, squirrel, or opossum? I suppose you can get those along the road or with a shotgun ;). You said you had venison, but I don’t think it is common in any grocery store anywhere. We hunt deer here in Indiana just like anywhere else. I can get an Elk or Bison burger within a 5 minute drive of my house.

Seriously, what other meats do you consider common and lacking here?

You can dis Indiana all you want, but lacking of meat it isn’t.

14

Crap - I completely missed the tomato-free requirement. Apologies!!

I will think about what could be used to substitute, or I will look for another stifado recipe I used once to see if it had tomatoes.

Again, I apologize. I’m usually pretty good at reading comprehension.

15

As a peace offering, since I accidentally tried to kill you, here is a recipe I have used for both beef short ribs and lamb/pork shanks. IMO you don’t need nearly as much oil as the recipe calls for, for browning the meat.

http://www.bostonshowcase.com/BraisedShortRibs.aspx

Braised Short Ribs
Serves 4-6

courtesy of Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse.
http://www.davios.com/
Ingredients

8 LB. Beef Short Ribs (with bone)
3 C. All purpose Flour
1 Large Carrot, finely diced
1 Large Spanish onion, Finely diced
2 Stalks Celery, Finely diced
1 oz Fresh Rosemary, Finely chopped
½ Bottle Red Wine (not sweet)
2 C. Balsamic Vinegar
½ LB. Brown Sugar
2 Qts Veal and/or beef stock
1 Hot Chili Pepper (fresh or dried) whole
Canola Oil
Salt & black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F
In a sauce pan heat stock to a slow boil.

Pat dry short ribs with paper towels and season with salt & pepper
Add flour to large bowl. Add ribs and toss until the ribs are lightly coated in flour.
Heat ½ inch canola oil in large skillet until hot.
Carefully add a few ribs at a time to the hot oil. Brown ribs on all sides. Transfer browned ribs to a large roasting pan.
Repeat until all ribs are browned and in the roasting pan.
Discard excess oil from skillet. Return skillet to stove over medium-low heat and add carrot, onion and celery. Lightly caramelize vegetables and transfer to roasting pan with ribs.
Add red wine to skillet. Reduce by half, stirring to deglaze the pan.
Add vinegar and brown sugar to red wine. Dissolve sugar completely
Stir rosemary into wine mixture then pour into roasting pan with ribs.
Pour hot stock into roasting pan submerging the ribs.
Cover roasting pan and bake for 2.5 hours, until meat is tender and easily falls away from the bone.

To Serve:
Serve with your favorite mashed potatoes and a sautéed green vegetable.
Gently remove ribs from braising liquid and place onto serving plate*
Add potato and green vegetable. Ladle some of the braising sauce over the ribs, garnish with fresh rosemary sprig and serve.

*use a shallow bowl or plate with a raised rim.

16

I roasted a leg of lamb for Christmas Eve, and it came out fantastically. Now, I’m a decent cook, but totally lazy. I marinated it for 24 hours and that’s as fancy as I get. I also don’t follow recipes much, so I don’t really have amounts for you, but here’s what I did:

Couple cups white wine
half as much orange juice
a few tablespoons herbs de provence
a bunch of peppercorns
some sea salt

Put one oven rack in the center of the oven, and one directly below it with a baking sheet. Pre-heat oven to 450. Rinse after marinating, (or start here if not marinating!) pat dry with paper towels. Rub with small amount of olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Place directly on center oven rack, the sheet below it will catch drippings (you can add a bunch of water to the baking sheet if drippings might get smoky). 20 minutes at 450, then drop to 325 for a couple more hours. Check with meat thermometer for desired doneness, varying by how well you want it and how much it weighs. Mine was 7 pounds and done to probably “medium” after around 3 hours total, I think.

It came out really good, nice crust on the outside and tender everywhere else, and I can’t think of a lazier way to do it.

17

Must be my location - the only time I find turkey “common” is around Thanksgiving and Christmas, unless you’re talking deli meat type turkey, which is readily available all year round.

Seriously, though, lamb is NOT common in my area. Most groceries and butchers don’t carry it at all, I know because I’ve asked. We do have a store selling alligator, but at $14.99 a pound and my spouse’s lack of enthusiasm about it we’re not buying any.

I’ve happily eaten buffalo, beefalo, rabbit and ostrich and wouldn’t mind any of the above if I could get it affordably (we are on a food budget, after all). I’d try goat, camel, or kangaroo if, again, it was available and within my price range. Heck, I’d even try horse if I thought I could do so without the neighbors lynching me for it.

Squirrel and other small game? Sure, I’d try it.

And hey, Indiana isn’t bad at all, I mean, I’ve lived here 14 years now so it can’t be THAT bad… but before that I lived in Chicago with all of it’s wonderful and weird ethnic foods so I got a little spoiled in regards to variety.

18

Lava Lake Lamb Recipes - I’ve gotten great recipes off this - I especially like the Laura’s Lamb Marinade for grilling chops, kabobs or ribs (ribs are a PITA to deal with but totally worth it). Also, the Greek meatballs are outstanding but do have tomatoes :(.

I find that shoulder makes the best kabob type grill and I have gotten to where I even prefer shoulder chops to leg. If you can get a hold of any neck meat, it makes outstanding stew.

19

It must be the location, and it really surprises me. I’m in central Indiana and I can go to any number of stores close by and get a whole turkey, turkey breast, or boneless turkey breast at any time of the year. And since there are 2,000 sheep farmers in the state I also find it surprising that you can’t find lamb locally… again, I have four places close to me that I can get at least lamb chops. There is also an ethnic grocery where I can get goat.

I’ll admit that this isn’t so common, but there is a local butcher shop and the owner will be more than happy to get me pretty much any meat from any animal I may want with a little notice. Duck, Goose, and Rabbit I know can all be had with a one day notice.

Maybe it is your concern with the price… all meat has gone up quite a bit recently.

20

ugh Just crawled out of bed, and haven’t had coffee. I can’t bring myself to read the whole thread yet. So anyway…

Same at the butcher where I buy mine. I use it to make cassoulet. I only need like half a pound, so I have the butcher slice the rest into steaks that I fry up in a cast-iron skillet. He sells half-shoulders, and I buy the big end.

So since I’m on the subject, you can use the lamb shoulder to make cassoulet. I use the linked recipe, but it doesn’t have lamb in it. So I add the lamb. Lamb, confit duck wings, bacon, d’Avignon garlic sausages, and the rest. Be warned that if you follow that recipe you’ll have enough to feed an army. I had to use two pans. Last time I made it I cut the recipe more-or-less in half so it would fit into my largest pan and it still lasted quite a while.

For ground lamb I like to make Chefguy’s Balls. Actually, that’s what I call them. When he described making them (elsewhere) I misunderstood how he was shaping them; so the first time I made them I made them into nuggets. When the weather is nice, I shape them into kebabs on skewers and grill them over charcoal. The SO hadn’t had lamb before I made it for her. She’s decided she doesn’t really like it – except for these. (And the cassoulet. I think she just doesn’t like roasted lamb.) We have this recipe with couscous.

Lamb shoulder makes good steaks. Cook them in a cast-iron skillet, or grill them over the coals. A neighbour at the apartment where I used to live was from Fiji. He’d grill thin lamb steaks (less than 1/2" thick) and serve them with a Fijian hot sauce. I just use Sriracha (Rooster) sauce when I do it that way. But a regular-style steak is just as good as a beef steak.

Roasted leg of lamb is easy. Get a boned butt-end (if the butcher insists on selling you the bone, use it for stock) and rub it with olive oil, crushed garlic, and rosemary. Roast in the usual way until the middle is rare to medium-rare. Be sure to make gravy from the drippings.

Shepherd’s pie. That’s what you make with the leftover Legolam. Slice the roast up and run it through your meat grinder. (I love the cast-iron one I got at a yard sale for a fin.) Mix in a bag of frozen (I’m lazy) mixed vegetables (peas and carrots, and you can add minced onions if you want) and the leftover lamb gravy. Put it into a casserole dish and top with the leftover mashed potatoes or colcannon from your previous night’s roast. Bake in the oven until heated through and the potatoes are browned. You can make it with the store-bought ground lamb of course, but I like to keep in the spirit of the dish and use leftovers. (Besides, I like the ground lamb for Chefguy’s kebabs.)

I haven’t attempted a stew yet, nor used the stock for lentil soup.