Earlier today I started a thread asking about what to do with harissa. Well, I got it in my head to do a lamb stew.
Since my grocer doesn’t carry lamb, I had to go to this Halal place. I don’t know if this is typical of halal places, but lamb is cut to order. So I told the butcher guy 3lbs of lamb.
I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing. When I got home, I find the lamb is in cubed size pieces but they got frick’n bones on them!
So what now? Should I braise the lamb first, then painstakingly go back and cut off all the bones piece by piece? Or should I debone it now? I guess if I stew it long enough the bones would just fall off but then how would I go back and pick them all out?
Personally, I’d cook it bone on. It’s more efficient that way (the meat will slip cleanly off the bone when it’s finished braising) and there is a lot of flavor and gelatin (which improves the consistency/mouthfeel of the stew) to be gained by leaving it on. Then again, I’m somebody who likes bones, although it depends on the type of stew I’m going for.
I agree with pulykamell. Too much of a pain in the arse to remove the bones before cooking, especially considering how easy it is once cooked.
My only hesitation is that if there are only a small number of pieces I would probably remove the bones prior to cooking, just for later convenience. From the OP I assume there are lots of pieces, but I can’t tell. The expression “cubed size pieces” is meaningless, but I’ll assume 1" cubes rather than 6" cubes.
Well, I had to start my stew at 5:30, so I went ahead and went with my instinct and cooked it with the bone on. (I tried to debone a couple of pieces and realized it was too daunting a task.)
I’m glad to see my intincts were correct according to y’alls post. Stew is delicious and spitting the bones out as you go is not at all cumbersome. (It falls right off.) I couldn’t be happier with the dish.
)