Last night, on an insane whim, I picked up a little rack of lamb, found a great allrecipes recipe (seared it, coated it in mustard and a breading with garlic and rosemary, put it in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes) and we tried it with great trepidation. Not having much experience with lamb at all. Himself said “Did you kill a giant cockroach and cook us the legs?”
It was awesome.
Thing is, I don’t even know if you can get the stuff if it isn’t Easter. I’ve tried a pressure cooker recipe with shoulder and we didn’t much care for it (found it pork-like in its uggy greasiness and softness) but we really, really liked these chops. We don’t, however, like hunting for the meat amongst the fat, or fighting our dinners, or the general lamb chop experience.
What other cuts of lamb might we be able to find in Publix year round? Anything like a tenderloin or something we can have without gross fattiness? What’s the best way to cook it? In other words, can we have the parts of the lamb experience we liked without the parts we didn’t?
I like the pre-seasoned leg of lamb at Trader Joe’s. Just thaw it and pop it into the oven for an hour. And there’s always enough left over for shepherd’s pie.
Did you know that you’re surrounded by Trader Joe’s? (Well, sort of… Four in North Carolina and six in Georgia. )
I like making Irish stew with lamb, even chili with lamb – the distinctive lamb flavor still comes through all those spices. The difficulty is finding lamb for stew. Sometimes you can find a package of chunks of boneless meat, clearly labeled “lamb for stew” – but not often, IME. I always pick out a couple of shoulder or shank cuts (stew recipes always recommend those) and ask the butcher to cut them off the bone; they will, at no additional cost, which is important considering how pricey lamb in any form is in the first place.
I’ve never understood why lamb isn’t more popular in the U.S. What’s more, you can’t get mutton at all, anywhere. (I ran a CS thread on that once – I’d link to it if the Search function weren’t down.)
Don’t know if there is a CostCo in your area, but they have excellent racks of lamb available. We love it.
I was talking with a local Lebanese restaurant owner about lamb, and how good his lamb chops were. He said that the lamb raised in New Zealand was the best, but that US raised lamb had that nasty aftertaste that turned so many people off of lamb. His explanation was that uric acid gathers in a fatty area on a sheep’s back and shoulders, but that US ranchers - in an effort to raise “leaner” lamb - had bred that fat out. So the uric acid got dispersed in fat through the rest of the sheep’s body instead. Kiwis are still raising the same sheep varsities they always have. We live in a middle-eastern neighborhood, and lamb is probably the most popular meat around here - and virtually all of it is from New Zealand.
Which reminds me that the first time that I went to the Trader Joe’s that recently opened near me I saw lamb roasts at what I considered a very reasonable price (which I’ve since forgotten) and made a mental note to pick one up later. Maybe next week I’ll do that.
The Gospel According to Biff would be capitalized.
Anyhow, lamb for eat’n is pretty much ideally the way you served it Zsofia-dry cooked or broiled. If you ever see a boneless leg o’lamb at the store you can do it on the BBQ-seared exterior, med-rare interior. Damn! fine eating. The wet cooking-pressure cooking, braises-don’t do it for me since lamb is a young, tender meat it doesn’t need the radical interventions to make it palatable. Had lamb chops from the local Greek place this week…Mmmmmm, drool…
After cooking feasts for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, I took a couple of months off from big meals; so it’s been a while since I’ve bought a leg of lamb. I’m not certain, but I think the lambs for the legs at TJ’s are raised in the U.S., and the racks are from NZ. IIRC the domestic product was more reasonably priced (and had a lot more meat of course).
I’ve been able to get lamb at my local grocery store from now until some time in summer. Here’s how I cook lamb chops. I mix up some olive oil, rosemary, and sage and a squeeze of lemon juice if I have some, coat the lamb chops with them, and pan fry them. Penzeys also does has a lamb seasoning blend, although I haven’t tried it. You might also be able to find lamb at farmers markets. It is yummy! (Excuse me while I contemplate tomorrow’s lamb dinner!)
You need a really, really fatty piece of lamb. Shoulder is good.
You rub it with spices/herbs of your choice. Then you put your oven on the lowest setting possible with a bowl of water in the bottom, close the door on it and then leave it.
It’ll cook and cook and cook and cook and the fat will render out and it will become fork-tender after about 8 hours. The recipe I based it on (Nigella Lawson) says it can safely be left for up to 24 hours, but I haven’t been that confident yet.
Sigh. Lamb. My favorite meat. Used to have rack of lamb about twice a month when I was living in California and could go to the country club for dinner Friday nights.
Leg of lamb very easy to prepare, and not so difficult to eat as rack or crown. A good store will also have other cuts available, though that’s getting harder to find as more and more stores simply bring in pre-cut meats rather than pay a good butcher to be on site.
Reminds me of my favorite poem:
I’m certain it wasn’t a leg of lamb, since it wasn’t that big. Since I live alone, a leg of lamb would definitely be overkill. I haven’t seen lamb chops at any of the grocery stores I normally shop at here.
When I had first lived on my own, the store I regularly shopped at (Butera’s) sold ground lamb patties, two to a package. I used to get those all the time, as they were perfect for a single person.
I was hoping. He’s my newest favorite author thanks to the SDMB.
My in-laws used to fix lamb for Easter. It was the first time I had ever eaten it, to their surprise. It was prepared much like you describe, I believe. I was not impressed. But I am quite glad you enjoyed it.
Oh, I wasn’t disputing what you cooked. Just mentioning that as reasonably-priced as the racks and chops are, the leg is even a better deal.
I live alone too. So I’ll roast the leg of lamb and have a slice or two for dinner. Then another couple of slices the next day. I’ll just slice off what I reckon I’ll eat in the next couple of days. The rest goes through the meat grinder (nice find for $5 at a yard sale) for the pie.
I absolutely love lamb, and order it whenever it is on the menu, whether I’m at a Greek restaurant or P.F. Chang’s. If it wasn’t so expensive and in short supply at the supermarket, I’d buy it and prepare it a lot more often.
Recently I purchased some beautiful lamb loin chops, rubbed them with dijon mustard and coated them with a lavender-infused sea salt blend, and broiled them in the oven until they came out medium-rare. They were delicious, like something you’d get at a restaurant.
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