At my supermarket my choices of lamb are leg, chops, or ground. I’d love more variety.
Lamb chops and rack of lamb were once more popular here in the US, easier to make a small meal from those cuts. I’ve seen lamb shoulder roasts and steaks available at times, don’t recall preparing anything from those cuts myself though. It’s popularity here has dwindled over time. Prices are often higher than beef.
It must be an acquired taste. I didn’t grow up eating it. I probably wouldn’t like lamb unless it’s heavily spiced like in a Gyro.
Yep. Mutton is even worse. BBQing it doesn’t help, either.
When I tried lamb I could not get the taste out of my mouth for hours. No amount of mint jelly or alcoholic beverages could ever induce me to try it again. I consider it to be vile.
Except no one has it. [Answering expected pedantic corrections: Yes, it’s available, but you 1) Need to know where; and 2) Need to go out of your way to get it.] Around here you can get those tiny lamb legs or small rib racks from TJ’s. Lamb chops and lamb steaks are a rarity in the supermarkets. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lamb shoulder at a supermarket.
But the talk about shoulders reminded me of this vintage Sparkletts commercial. In it, the Sparkletts Water delivery guy makes friends with an old lady’s dog.
The lady is pleasant and seems real nice
Leon don’t. He tried to bite me twice
So now I bring 'em water and two big juicy bones
(Lamb shoulder)
I guess lamb shoulders were more readily available in the '70s.
My mom occasionally made lamb burgers (from ground lamb) when I was a kid, and I hated them. It got to be that just the smell of them cooking made me want to hurl. I didn’t eat lamb again until I was either in my late 20s or early 30s when a bf made lamb chops, and they were delicious. I’ve since had leg of lamb in a Middle Eastern restaurant, and it was fine. But I don’t see it often on menus, and I don’t cook a lot of meat at home, so I barely eat it anymore.
heres one reason
That reminds me: I have a pound of ground lamb in the freezer. I should get some keto buns and mix up some curry aioli. (There’s a red onion in the fridge that needs to be used up.)
I once tried making shepherd’s pie with ground lamb, seeing as how lamb is the traditional meat for shepherd’s pie and all, and I did not care for it.
Then last summer I went to this restaurant when I was in Ireland. Many of the Yelp reviews absolutely raved about the roast lamb shank, which is apparently the house specialty. I debated ordering it, given my past experiences with lamb, but I decided to be adventurous and try it. It was amazing. (And no, it didn’t require any mint jelly or heavy spices). I commented that it didn’t really taste very “lamby”, which sounds funny, but what I really meant was that it didn’t have the strong gamey flavor of the lamb I’d eaten in America.
So I’m going to be that guy who says “maybe you just didn’t have it prepared properly” to those who don’t like it. I think I’ve heard that the amino acids that give lamb its distinct flavor are found in the fat, so if you trim off the fat before cooking you can remove a lot “gamey” flavor. I suspect that’s why @carrps and I didn’t like ground lamb; it’s pretty much impossible to remove the fat from ground meat.
I use the cooked lamb roast, running it through the meat grinder.
For me: Salt, black pepper, and rosemary. I detest mint jelly.
Poor Iamb. I think he’s a cliché now. These days nobody talks about anything but trochees, spondees, and anapests.
I’d heard that, too, and that when mutton was more popular in the US, it was pretty fatty. I suspect your suspicion is correct.
Snort.
Lamb goes nicely with gravy or mustard sauce. Traditional heavily-sugared green sauces are useless on anything, and are much worse than ketchup, which at least pairs well with things like meatloaf and fries. But it is definitely more expensive than pork or beef here in Canada.
Apart from steak sauce or gravy, traditional English chefs should perhaps not be in charge of the sauce.
To me, there is a huge difference in flavor between Australian/New Zealand lamb and American lamb, which has a decidedly gamey flavor. It must be what they’re fed. As for scarceness, not so much these days. It used to be you couldn’t find it unless Easter was near. Nowadays you can buy really nice lamb chops at Costco at any time. I’ve had mutton precisely once: never again.
When I was a kid in the late '50s and early '60s, we had lamb chops all the time. My parents did not tend to buy expensive cuts. I suspect the price is a lot of it. I live lamb myself, so does my wife. But now it is too expensive to be part of our regular meal rotation.
We won half a lamb, cut up, at a charity auction once. It was amazing.
And also, wool shrinks if you wash it too vigorously or dry it with high heat. Your new sweater is now a Barbie sweater and your blanket is a felt potholder.
I had meningitis when I was an infant. While recovering, the doctor said I should eat lamb chops. I recall nothing of it, but my older sister told me once that she was jealous.
I wonder if that was at least part of the difference with the lamb I ate in Ireland as well. I assume it was probably raised in Ireland or the UK, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they fed them a different diet there, too.
I’m willing to bet that their lambs are grass fed, as opposed to corn fed American ones.