Lamb, how does it compare to other meats?
- Thread starter DavidD
- Start date
Lamb is veeeery tasty. You'll agree when you choose to go to a Greek restaurant. The Greeks have always specialized in lamb.
If prepared wrong, the lamb (or mutton) dish can be very greasy and lamb grease tastes and weighs much heavier on the stomach than grease derived from beef and chicken.
Oregano and rosemary are the principle spices used in most lamb dishes.
If prepared wrong, the lamb (or mutton) dish can be very greasy and lamb grease tastes and weighs much heavier on the stomach than grease derived from beef and chicken.
Oregano and rosemary are the principle spices used in most lamb dishes.
I absolutely love lamb. The rack is probably my favorite grilled medium rare. Make sure to wrap the little bones in foil so they don't burn and make the whole thing bitter. Some people like mint jelly. In my opinion nothing goes better with lamb than peanut sauce, pretty easy to make by mixing peanut butter, chili powder and/or cayanne pepper, and some teriyaki sauce.
C
Chris
Guest
Lamb is a lovely meat, juicy, tender, and cooked to perfection fall off the bone flavorful.
Shoulder of Lamb is very fatty, and works well cooked low and slow, Leg of lamb is less fatty and can be cooked a little hotter, as can sadde of lamb or rack of lamb.
Rub the inside and the outside with either EVO oil or with a flavored EVO.
Garlic and rosemary and thyme go well with lamb as flavors to cook from start to finish.
Onion, garlic, and vinegary mint sauce complement it afterwards, I stay away from mint jelly, (you can use it if you like it), but I find the vinegary mint sauce is a pleasant surprise to most folks who try it.
If you want to try whole lamb, make sure it is wired onto the spit well, and build your fire like a whole hog fire, under the shoulders and hips, but with lamb allow a little more under the shoulders. If you make an outdoor hole in the ground simple pit, and feed it with lit charcoal every hour, a lamb can be spit roasted in 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours. if you keep the heat in with sheet steel sides and a sheet steel lid.
Feed the coals under the shoulders and hips for the first 2 - 3 hours, leave a thin layer under the belly. When you refuel after 3 hours, make it a more even layer front to back.
When the skin and meat cracks over the knees and the front legs below the shoulder section, the rest of the lamb will be about 120 -125 internal, (Rare), it will neeed to rest for 30 minutes, in a foil tent to allow the juices to return, if doing whole lamb, I like to take it just a little further, up to 135 ish, I find if you let it hit the 140 as recommended, it will be a little dry for my taste.
Shoulder of Lamb is very fatty, and works well cooked low and slow, Leg of lamb is less fatty and can be cooked a little hotter, as can sadde of lamb or rack of lamb.
Rub the inside and the outside with either EVO oil or with a flavored EVO.
Garlic and rosemary and thyme go well with lamb as flavors to cook from start to finish.
Onion, garlic, and vinegary mint sauce complement it afterwards, I stay away from mint jelly, (you can use it if you like it), but I find the vinegary mint sauce is a pleasant surprise to most folks who try it.
If you want to try whole lamb, make sure it is wired onto the spit well, and build your fire like a whole hog fire, under the shoulders and hips, but with lamb allow a little more under the shoulders. If you make an outdoor hole in the ground simple pit, and feed it with lit charcoal every hour, a lamb can be spit roasted in 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours. if you keep the heat in with sheet steel sides and a sheet steel lid.
Feed the coals under the shoulders and hips for the first 2 - 3 hours, leave a thin layer under the belly. When you refuel after 3 hours, make it a more even layer front to back.
When the skin and meat cracks over the knees and the front legs below the shoulder section, the rest of the lamb will be about 120 -125 internal, (Rare), it will neeed to rest for 30 minutes, in a foil tent to allow the juices to return, if doing whole lamb, I like to take it just a little further, up to 135 ish, I find if you let it hit the 140 as recommended, it will be a little dry for my taste.
Paul Kastner
TVWBB Hall of Fame
Lamb the other red meat. I like a boned leg of lamb butterflyed. I grill it like sirloin steak. Garlic, Pepper, Oregano.
Lamb chops double cut and grilled same way. Very good. I purchase my lamb at Sams. Good price and lots of choices.
Lamb chops double cut and grilled same way. Very good. I purchase my lamb at Sams. Good price and lots of choices.
Phil Hartcher
TVWBB All-Star
It is amazing the differences in culture and cuisine between Australia and America.
Lamb in Australia is a staple and is eaten at least twice a week by the average family, more often in the older generation. it is cooked in so many variations from BBQ'd, grilled, fried, roasted, minced, curried to name some.
Most people (including myself) believe that lamb should be cooked between medium rare and medium. When roasting or grilling I always remove the bone, that way when I carve, I can cut all the way through so each slice has the range of doneness.
My two favourite lamb dishes on the Weber Q or kettle are Butterflied Lamb with Honey and Soy and Butterflied Lamb with Lemon Rosemary and Garlic, though I have done it with a Basil and Peppercorn paste recently which was a big hit.
I love nothing better than a lamb casserole made with lamb necks, that GLW (good lady wife) makes on a winter's evening.
Regards
Lamb in Australia is a staple and is eaten at least twice a week by the average family, more often in the older generation. it is cooked in so many variations from BBQ'd, grilled, fried, roasted, minced, curried to name some.
Most people (including myself) believe that lamb should be cooked between medium rare and medium. When roasting or grilling I always remove the bone, that way when I carve, I can cut all the way through so each slice has the range of doneness.
My two favourite lamb dishes on the Weber Q or kettle are Butterflied Lamb with Honey and Soy and Butterflied Lamb with Lemon Rosemary and Garlic, though I have done it with a Basil and Peppercorn paste recently which was a big hit.
I love nothing better than a lamb casserole made with lamb necks, that GLW (good lady wife) makes on a winter's evening.
Regards
K Kruger
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
For me, too, it was a standard growing up. It isn't for most Americans. Many shy away from it because they are unfamiliar with it and because it has a reputation for being 'strong' or 'gamey'. Mutton can be both but mutton is very hard to come by here commercially as most lamb is butchered quite young and so is much milder.
Trimming all surface fat and silverskin is worth doing especially if you are new to lamb. Though I also like it rare, med-rare or med, depending on the cut, in most cultures where lamb is a staple this is not the norm; it is usually cooked well done, which is fine for leg and shoulder if that is your preference, but not so fine for rib or loin chops as these cuts are really too lean for a well done finish, imo.
The most common flavorings for lamb among various cuisines are lemon, garlic, onion, oregano, thyme, mint, rosemary and parsley. Honey and the sweet-fruitiness of dried apricots and dates are not uncommon though a bit less so than the aforementioned flavors. None of this means that other flavors won't or don't work as well--they might just be less common or less tried. E.g., a typical Italian treatment for lamb shanks is braising with tomatoes and white wine with marjoram, garlic and onion.
Trimming all surface fat and silverskin is worth doing especially if you are new to lamb. Though I also like it rare, med-rare or med, depending on the cut, in most cultures where lamb is a staple this is not the norm; it is usually cooked well done, which is fine for leg and shoulder if that is your preference, but not so fine for rib or loin chops as these cuts are really too lean for a well done finish, imo.
The most common flavorings for lamb among various cuisines are lemon, garlic, onion, oregano, thyme, mint, rosemary and parsley. Honey and the sweet-fruitiness of dried apricots and dates are not uncommon though a bit less so than the aforementioned flavors. None of this means that other flavors won't or don't work as well--they might just be less common or less tried. E.g., a typical Italian treatment for lamb shanks is braising with tomatoes and white wine with marjoram, garlic and onion.
C
Chris
Guest
I was in my local grocery store just before Xmas, and they had more lamb than I have seen in there in the last couple of years, including a whole leg of lamb, and it is lamb not mutton, color, size and smell hold up on that one, it was marked up at $49.00 and change.
Today I was in again, and pushed to the back of the chiller cabinet was the same sad leg of lamb, for $24.00 and change. So I asked the meat manager if he would take off another 20%, and have it walk out of the store with me today.
He looked at me and said, "you know it is half off the price it was last week?" I said, "Sure I know, I saw it here then and I think if I don't buy it today it will be here when it runs out of date!"
He looked at me smiled and took it behind the counter and repriced it for me 20% lower, so I brought it home.
Half will go in the smoker (the big half) and half in the oven for a friend (the little half).
The real dificulty in America IMO is that lamb is overpriced 90% of the time, so folks buy the better priced pork or beef.
Today I was in again, and pushed to the back of the chiller cabinet was the same sad leg of lamb, for $24.00 and change. So I asked the meat manager if he would take off another 20%, and have it walk out of the store with me today.
He looked at me and said, "you know it is half off the price it was last week?" I said, "Sure I know, I saw it here then and I think if I don't buy it today it will be here when it runs out of date!"
He looked at me smiled and took it behind the counter and repriced it for me 20% lower, so I brought it home.
Half will go in the smoker (the big half) and half in the oven for a friend (the little half).
The real dificulty in America IMO is that lamb is overpriced 90% of the time, so folks buy the better priced pork or beef.
Most of the lamb I have seen here is So Cal is cryo-vac imported from Australia. Costco carries some nice high quality lamb for reasonable prices. When I was younger I lived in Indonesia for a while. That is where I really got the taste for lamb as most of the red meat there is imported from Australia as well. I've had it a lot of ways but must reiterate that if you haven't had it with peanut sauce you haven't really let it be all it can be.
Rich Langer
TVWBB Guru
As a kid, Mother fed us lamb chops - which I loved and still love - for Xmas a year or two ago, I cooked LEG OF LAMB with SPINACH, PINE NUT AND ROQUEFORT CHEESE - a Raichlen recipe.
Now those folks think I am a great cook. Should I tell them otherwise?
Now those folks think I am a great cook. Should I tell them otherwise?
M D Baldwin
TVWBB Super Fan
Davidd,
Lamb is our fav red meat, and we eat a lot of red meat. If you have a good source nothing can compare to lamb. It does not matter if you get a chop, rack, loin or what ever, it is all good. Just remember this it a tender meat, so be carefull.
Lamb is best done med-rare to med at the most. Lamb likes garlic, Rosemary, onion and Worchestershire. Be good it it and it will be good to you. This weekend we have a nice 3 lb. rack-yummy!
Lamb is our fav red meat, and we eat a lot of red meat. If you have a good source nothing can compare to lamb. It does not matter if you get a chop, rack, loin or what ever, it is all good. Just remember this it a tender meat, so be carefull.
Lamb is best done med-rare to med at the most. Lamb likes garlic, Rosemary, onion and Worchestershire. Be good it it and it will be good to you. This weekend we have a nice 3 lb. rack-yummy!
Mike Marlow
TVWBB Fan
The first time I tried mutton (in this case) I didn't get any advice and took the internal temp to 190F to try to pull it. Never again. The taste was OK but came out tough and not enjoyable. Since then have followed advice and done to med/rare to med. Been great since which I am very happy about has it is one of our favorite meats.