Lamb

[mickthecactus]

I went right through every every thread but lamb did not appear ( no doubt I will be corrected).

I was watching Celebrity Masterchef this evening and one celeb was Dolly Parton's sister Stella. She had to cook lamb cutlets but said that she had never cooked lamb before. That reminded me that lamb is rarely eaten in America yet is one of the tastiest meats. I would rather have lamb before anything else.
Are there no sheep in the U.S.?

[bixaorellana]

When I was a kid (get it?), we used to have lamb chops sometimes. I think it was always sort of an expensive meat. I remember lots of recipes for lamb shanks in the 60s. It seems to me that in the 70s, much of the lamb to be had in the supermarkets was coming from New Zealand. Then I believe US lamb made sort of a comeback. My husband's family's feast food was lamb roast, which I think is/was common for people of Norwegian background.

All I know about sheep farming in the US comes from western movies showing range wars between the cattlemen and the sheep farmers. Isn't there some move with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani where he is a Catalonian sheep farmer in the American west in the 50s or 60s & she is his second wife, sister of his first one? Possibly not germane to this discussion.

[questa]

Australia has lamb as its national food. Every Sunday was the roast lamb, every barbecue had chops. Winter brought on the stews and casseroles. Sunday's roast led to cold sliced lamb for sandwiches, then the rest was minced and made into 'Shepherds' pie, with veges mixed in and mashed potato on top
Even in the current drought and high prices it still is selling well. Older Aussies have adjusted to lamb kebabs, lamb in Moroccan style or Mongolian or Rendang from Indonesia.

I remember my primary school teacher saying that cattle farmers get tired of eating beef but sheep farmers never tire of eating lamb.
For a roast I actually prefer hogget which is lamb several months older in growth but not yet mutton. It is not as sweet or sticky but has a rich flavour.

A clever advertising campaign linked Australia's national day to eating lamb on that day. In only a few years it has become a "Tradition" to have lamb on January 26th.

Now I feel hungry...

[rikita]

i don't think lamb was very common among other people in my area when i grew up. in my family it was common though, my dad liked it a lot, so he'd sometimes buy a whole lamb from a farmer we knew and then on special occasions we'd eat various parts of it (we only had meat once or twice per week though) ... these days, i don't have lamb that often, mainly when i visit my dad, or for easter ... maybe should have it more often ...

[questa]

Sept 13, 2018 20:28:04 GMT mickthecactus said:

Are there no sheep in the U.S.?

Belatedly I reply...Yes, but they think they are People (present company excluded, of course)

[lagatta]

I guess the lamb would usually be grilled on the 26th of January, which I imagine is one of the hottest periods of the Austral summer?

I suspect that lamb is eaten more here (at least in Québec) do to stronger French and British influences, but probably not as much as in Oz, as it tends to be expensive here, though our local lamb is very good.

There are many people from the Maghreb here now, and the Maghrebi butchers often have the large, or heavy lambs; glad to learn the word hogget. Actual mutton here is usually frozen and I imagine that most of it is imported from Oz or NZ. I don't think the freezing and shipping damages it terribly, as it usually goes into slow-cooked stews and curries, whether South Asian or Caribbean.

[kerouac2]

I just wish that fully adult mutton were available in shops. I find almost all the time that lamb has become tasteless. In a blind taste test, I think I would say that it is beef at least half the time. Naturally, this is not the only food item which has been engineered to lose its flavour in order to reach the lowest common denominator.

[questa]

Lagatta, you are correct. The average home here has an outdoor area, roofed and with big ceiling fans for the 'barbie' (barbecue). This can be a simple gas or electric grill rack with a dome lid or a giant of industrial dimensions, with 6 burners over racks, frying areas. places to keep plates warm and a metal cover which encloses the cookers if you fancy a roast complete with veg.

There are very strict but unwritten rules about barbies.
1) it is only the man that operates the BBQ . All the males stand around him, beer in hand, and swap stories of fantastic BBQs they have cooked. The chef tosses a heap of chops and sausages ("for the kids") onto the heat and keeps turning them until they are cooked or charred depending on whether he has been paying attention or talking about sport.

2) Women must NOT go near the BBQ. They may prepare salads but usually the women guests bring ones they made at home. They shuttle between kitchen and outside table (which has special clips to stop the tablecloth from blowing away)carrying the meals for the kiddies, more beer from the beer fridge, breads, napkins etc.etc.

3) The kids are fed first, fights break out over who got which sausage. The dog is tied up as it keeps eating the toddlers bread-wrapped meal. After a while the youngsters are ushered into the playroom and sat in front of some Disney video.

Then the adults sit down to eat, congratulating the cook and his machine and oo-ing after the salads. they may have a bottle or so of wine which the men bring. After a while the women take the remainders back to the fridge and check the kids aren't wrecking the room.

The men sit around talking about cars, the women wash the dishes and talk about world problems and school fees.

Then fights break out over who broke the DVD, the forgotten dog starts howling and 2 dog-loving girls rush to free it, arguing who the dog loves most.

The guests pile into their cars, the women drive home "I think you might be over the limit, Dear"
The hosts stare at the mess and he says to leave it til morning. She agrees and puts the kids to bed.He says," Aren't you lucky to have me to do the heavy work when we have a barbie?" She gives him "The Look"

The dog has found a plate of raw sausages in the warmer. Scoffs the lot. Will throw up on the carpet about 2am.

[kerouac2]

I'm afraid that Australian culture needs to change.

(I know that your post was tongue-in-cheek but I'm sure you know that it was also a bit too accurate.)

[questa]

Sept 30, 2018 15:27:16 GMT kerouac2 said:

I'm afraid that Australian culture needs to change.

It is changing, Mick. People are getting adventurous and mixing with the opposite gender and discussing politics, the economy and the latest in computers. My son grills swordfish steaks or slow cooked lamb knuckles. The older kids are taught how to BBQ safely and the younger kids sit at their own little table to eat. Everyone helps with the clean-up. There is more variety in foods, conversation and ideas as the 'typical' Ozzie BBQ morphs into a trans-cultural style.

We still love the lamb-on-the-barbie though.

[lagatta]

Well, southern Europeans, such as Italians, Greeks and (former)Yugoslavian, all love lamb, as do some Southeast Asians, in particular those of Muslim backgrounds, who refrain from pork. As do Lebanese, of course (just thinking of some of the "diverse" cultures that have migrated to Oz.

I think that in many if not most places, semi sex-segregation at gatherings has been the rule until fairly recently.

[tod2]

The days of roast lamb in my kitchen are fast coming to an end with spring temperature going through the roof already. So, when I know we have wet drizzly cool weather, out comes the lamb roast.
I'm not a fan of leg of lamb. Much prefer a shoulder or what I am preparing today, the lamb shank. These are two big ones but with hot weather at any time, we enjoy cold roasted meats to eat with pickles and salads. So although one is plenty for the two of us, I'm roasting an extra one for another day.

My shanks defrosting and getting ready for the oven.

[kerouac2]

I used to like lamb but it has been engineered over the last 20 years or so to remove as much of the mutton taste as possible. I just wish it were possible to buy real mutton now, but I will continue to eat lamb as a pale alternative.

[lagatta]

The hogget my (good) Moroccan butcher's sell isn't bad at all. Supermarket lamb here is hopeless. As i said, the fully-mature mutton I can find at certain "ethnic" places has a full flavour but can be a bit "woolly". But it, like the similar goat stew, goes into long-cooked stews, curries and Island dishes.

[bixaorellana]

Okay, this post will probably get me banned from the forum, or at least from this thread, but ........

Last night I want to finish off the enhanced skillet potatoes (fried potatoes with carrots and sauteed onions & peppers added) left from a previous meal, but didn't want to have them with eggs again. A rummage through the pantry produced tvp and my jealously hoarded mutton cubes. I soaked the tvp in mutton bouillon, then fried the reconstituted ground-meat-textured stuff in olive oil with chopped onions sauteed until gold. A dash of this and a dash of that to up the flavor, & it was a quite respectable bit of lambishness to make a supper with the potatoes.

[tod2]

With cooler weather I am encouraged to go near my oven again. Lamb was going at a special price last week: R130-00 per kg which is about 7.53 euros kg. I picked out a huge leg and then a smaller one for just the two of us. The little one weighed 1,7kgs and at the price cost R221-00 or 12.80 euros.
Here it is languishing in two cans of beer, garlic, salt and pepper and herbs from my garden. I'm cooking it in my paella pan just to accommodate more potatoes and sort of following Rick Stein's lamb discovery high up in the mountains of Majorca.
The old woman cooked her lamb in water and beer, salt and pepper. Lets see if I can rave about mine like Rick did about hers. Here it is getting ready:

[bixaorellana]

Are those Hebrew letters stamped on it? Is that the sacrificial lamb?!

[tod2]

Gosh you're right, they do look like Hebrew symbols! But no, not Israeli lamb - the meat label says "Product of Namibia". Thats a first for me unless I have eaten it unknowingly. I don't scrutinize every label on meat.
To haul the lambs all this way either alive or already processed it is still a long long distance from here in PMB. I will ask the nice butcher man why are we getting lamb from Namibia at a cheaper price than local.
Stay tuned.

[bixaorellana]

Tod, back in the 70s US supermarkets had lots of New Zealand lamb at great prices. It was frozen, unsurprisingly, but hey -- cheap lamb! I'm assuming from your last comment that your lovely cut of lamb was fresh, not frozen.

[tod2]

Yes definitely fresh. It was a one day only offer. My fried bought a much smaller piece of leg at a SPAR supermarket and paid R165 per kg. I think that is the normal going price for lamb.

[kerouac2]

I used to make leg of lamb relatively often (I suppose that mean about twice a year because I didn't have too many opportunities to serve it to guests) but I don't think I have made one for at least 5 years now, although I eat other forms of lamb. However, I have been craving it recently because I love sticking garlic slivers into it and making big pink slices when it comes out of the oven. And I have a bigger freezer now, so it would be easier to save more of it for a later date.

I have always bought frozen New Zealand lamb which I find to be excellent. But since fresh French and Irish lamb cost double the price, I might never find out if those are twice as good as long as I am paying.

[mickthecactus]

We had butterflied leg of lamb over Easter but it was best sliced cold and served with hot roast vegetables and an onion and chive mash topped with cheese and baked in the oven.

[tod2]

Don't quite understand the sliced cold bit Mick. How can you serve cold meat with hot veg? And do you then put it all bake in the oven to heat up? Do Tell.

[tod2]

The Namibian lamb was top notch. When I say that I am comparing it to the ultimate lamb anyone in this world can eat.....and that is at a famous restaurant in Paris specializing in lamb roasts, namely- Sebillon, Neuilly-sur-Seine . It is to die for.
My lamb came very close so I must thank the beer, the Majorcan mountains and Rick Stein.

[bjd]

Lamb being traditional in France for Easter, we had some on Saturday (a day early so we could get home before lockdown). I had tried making lamb a few times but nobody in the family liked it -- perhaps the smell? Anyway, my son-in-law roasted the leg of lamb after sticking garlic into slits made in the meat. It was delicious. We also had fresh local asparagus and french fries with it.

[tod2]

Excellent bjd - another good way is to plug the lamb with anchovy fillets instead of or in conjunction with garlic slithers.

[mickthecactus]

Cold meat with hot veg isn't that unusual, not to me anyway.

We had it hot the day before as normal roast lamb with gravy but thought the taste even better sliced cold.

Try it!

[tod2]

Oh ok then. Just a cold cut the next day but with veggies hot. We love cold lamb but I think I'll stick to a nice salad.

[lugg]

Envious of those who have eaten lamb recently. I love lamb and have always eaten it at Easter in years gone by. Now not so much ... my daughter will not touch it and never has done from being very small . My favourite recipe is slow cooked lamb shoulder with camomile and honey but it is just too much for one person and I really don't like cold lamb but wish I did.

Anyway here is the recipe for my fave lamb dish www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roastshoulderoflambw_89776

[kerouac2]

There's nothing wrong with slices of cold lamb if they have the proper condiment. That is basically mustard for me, but horseradish also works.