It was probably lamb shank, the lower portion of the lamb leg (the calf rather than the thigh). Very popular in Lebanese cooking and probably through the rest of the Middle East.
mmmm Just had grilled lamb chops for dinner tonight
Marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, rosemary and lime juice.
Got the grill as hot as possible for a flash sear / char on each side while still red inside (Pittsburgh Style)
Delish they were
Here is a recipe for lamb cacciatore that I contributed to the Usenet cookbook many years ago. It’s easy and delicious.
Alton Brown featured leg of lamb on his show about charcoal grills.
Look for your local Greek or Middle Eastern grocery market, if you don’t have a Costco or Trader Joe’s. I can get lamb shoulder or shanks around here for about $2/lb. or so, and leg (meatier, less gristle) in the $3.50 - $4.00/lb. range, which is about what a comparable cut of stewing beef would cost. Even when I was living alone, a 4 lb. boneless leg from Costco would be cut in half; the first half would become stew, or tagine, or get marinated for kebabs, and the other half would go in the freezer. I have yet to cook chops, though; they are a good bit more expensive.
A year ago Christmas, a South African friend’s father invited me for Christmas and served Capetown Lamb. It was fabulous.
When I cook a roast leg of lamb I usually stick a few cloves of garlic and some rosemary twigs into some slits I cut in the meat. It’s really nice.
Lamb shanks are really nice slowcooked or tagined.
Irish stew should really only ever be made with lamb.
Babotje is good with minced (ground) lamb instead of beef, also Moussaka is traditionally made with lamb.
My mum does slow cooked lamb chops with onions and cabbage that is to die for, essentially just softened onions, chops, cabbage and a little water in a big pot over a low heat for a long time. Yummy- best with chops on the bone (some with marrow is especially good), the meat melts off the bone and it’s not fussy to eat at all.
Last week I made paprika lamb chops and lamb fajitas from my Australian Women’s Weekly “Just for Two” cookbook- both were tasty, especially the fajitas.
Actually, the AWW recipes are always fantastic, and they have a lot of good ones for lamb.
Picture a sheep, only smaller. That’s a lamb. <inesrt obligatory Hal Briston joke here>
Seriously, though, Indian and Greek cuisines have some amazing recipes.
I have fond memories of the lamb roast that was prepared in my former workplace (a Hotel Restaurant). It was a classic American style leg of lamb roast, and I suppose, at heart and heritage, an English style preperation. During my time there, they had several chefs and menu changes, but on the original menu and under the best chef they sought to recreate classic American dishes that would appeal to our much older midwest clientele in an upscale fashion. Roast leg of lamb with rosemary gravy was one of these very well done “grayhair classics”, they also did a delicious upscale meatloaf and salmon patties with cream peas that were very popular. I had never really eaten much lamb until I tried their version, and fell in love with it. I tried to snag a bit whenever I could, and I was always one of the first ones to jump on a returned plate of lamb.
If I recall the preperation correctly, the leg of lamb roast was treated very much like a roast beef. The leg was trimmed of excess fat, and rubbed with a drizzle of oil, chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and a bit of chopped rosemary. It was then roasted with a base of roughly chopped mire poix (a few whole garlic cloves, carrots, celery, and onions.) at around 375F for a couple of hours. The roast was removed and kept warm, with portions carved from the joint as orders came back.The drippings and roast mire poix was pureed very finely and made into a classic gravy with flour and half beef stock/half water, a few sprigs of whole rosemary to flavor, and salt and pepper were also added. Very simple, very delicious, and very much like making a pot roast with gravy.
We served the thin roast leg of lamb slices with a bit of the gravy over and a side of mint jelly. Because of the times and clientele the lamb was always prepared just about medium, never medium rare. Never seemed to have any complaints, because not many people wanted pink leg of lamb.
I raise lamb and we eat a lot of it. We have a list of customers who have been buying lamb from us for 25 years, so I think I can say it’s good lamb, and not just because I like it.
The breed of lamb and the diet of the lamb make a difference in the taste. If you can find local lamb you like, get to know the farmer and stick with him. We raise a crossbred, Border Cheviot over North Country Cheviot, little hardy lambs that have the best taste you can imagine. I don’t like lamb fat much, but do not trim it off before cooking.
The recipes given in this thread are all good recipes. One thing we’ve learned is that leftover lamb makes the best Fajitas in the world. If there is any left over, which there seldom is, so I sometimes cook two legs and save one for fajitas the next day.
I cut it into smallish, narrow strips and sort of pan-fry it in fajita seasoning, either my own seasoning mix or store bought. Even though it is already cooked, it does not come out overcooked or weird, but very good.
Right now I have 12 lambs cavorting about with a couple more due. This is a much smaller flock than we’ve had in the past and I won’t have enough for everyone who wants it. 
… in the green meadow. The warm Spring sun shines down upon them as they frolic gayly. There’s grass and tender clover to eat, with warm mother’s milk for the little ones. Little do they know the horrible fate that awaits them…
Little lamb,
Do you know where you am?
In a patch of mint.
I’ll give you a hint:
Scram, lamb.
Ogden Nash wrote that, and I hope I remember it correctly.
Ah, by the time they become lamb chops they will no longer be frolicking in the meadow, cuddling up to Mama, they will be about 6 months old and will have turned into Sheep, the stupidest quadruped on Earth. Still “lamb” as far as eating is concerned, but Sheep as far as smarts go - there are no smarts.
We castrate the ram lambs, they become “wethers” and we keep a couple over winter and butcher them at around a year and a half and I tell you, THAT is good eating. Much better than “lamb”.
We have 2 llamas, Sam and Frodo, as guardians. You want cute? Frodo, lying in a regal posture in the pasture, with 2 lambs standing on his back. I must remember my camera when I go out there.
I had wenslyedale/dorset cross and rambouillet purebreds[i used to spin and weave] and I would say that the W/D cross were very tasty, very delicate [mainly grasses, some hay, and popcorn as a treat]. The rambouillet had a more strong flavor, though really none of the 3 breeds were meat sheep. We just sort of ate them because they would throw twins all the time, and we were very short of money for that 5 year period and they were self producing and feeding meat=). We had to limit the number we had because of lack of space more than anything, though we did sell the occasional rambouillet.
BTW – lamb with mint sauce is a British thing, isn’t it? I’ve never encountered it in any other nation’s cookery. If you order lamb at a Greek restaurant (as I did recently – well, it’s a Western-style steakhouse but the owners are Greek and there are some Greek items on the menu), you’ll probably get it with some kind of tomato sauce. Gyro meat is peppery-spiced and served with cucumber-and-yogurt sauce. Indian food has lots of lamb – in tomato or curry sauces. Only the Brits ever got it right.
I make Morroccan-style lamb now and again and my recipe includes mint, albeit not in a sauce or jelly.
Mr. vison likes mint sauce or jelly with his lamb, I, not so much. I like lots of garlic and rosemary and black pepper.
I don’t make gravy from the drippings, either. Lamb gravy is not my cup of tea. So I save the drippings for an English friend and I suspect that she makes dripping sandwiches out of it!!! The HORROR. lol
I’d always thought it was an American thing. My mom (born in Arkansas and raised in SoCal) made it that way.
I use the drippings to make gravy, which I mix into the shepherd’s pie.
IIRC, they did skim the drippings well of the strong fat to make the rosemary gravy that I mentioned above. It’s a really nice gravy with the beef stock to thin, very flavorful but not at all gamey. The leg was also fairly well trimmed of fat. A little bit of the fat isn’t too bad… it’s just overpowering in large quantities.
Perhaps, but I’m fairly sure mint sauce is a British invention.
N.B.: Mint jelly != mint sauce. Defile not your lamb with mint jelly, it is an Abomination.
MMM, lamb! Lamb chops have been my favorite food since I was a little kid. I just sprinkle a little onion powder and garlic powder on them and broil them, tasty as anything.
I’ve recently come across “lamb breast”, which is a very cheap and quite fatty cut. I’ve had good results on that by covering it with a sauce of fried onion, ketchup and brown sugar, and then roasting it at 350 for about 1.5 hours.
A humbug on your Kiwi, and Canuck lamb. Icelandic lamb is where it’s at. Though considering the price, we only get it around christmas.