[Sca-cooks] Any favorite lamb recipes?

[Saint Phlip]

Stefan, whatever you do, don't overcook it. Lamb is at its best rare to
medium rare, and overcooking it makes it tough and gamy tasting.

For some reason, American cookbooks have people cooking it to well done-
all I can think is some ignoramus confused it with pork, which had been
cooked to well done because of the trichinosis problem.

Breast of lamb is not my favorite cut, because it is best cooked slow and
wet. Leg of lamb is a lot easier to deal with- I cooked one over the
campfire for one of our open fire classes. Al I did was bone it, lay it out
flat, brown it on one side, flip it and brown it on the other side, then
put it on a platter covered with foil while the rest of the meal cooked,
carve and serve.

Your wife probably won't try it because it tastes very different from beef,
although it looks a lot like it.

Lamb is a strongly flavored meat, so it goes well with strongly flavored
spices, notably garlic and rosemary, but it also is beautiful in a curry
like this one which follows, that is close enough to the one I make, that I
simply modified it for you, to save typing.

And, pitch the mint jelly- mint goes well with lamb, but I have NO idea
where that insipid apple juice jelly with a dash of mint flavor came from,
but as far as I'm concerned, it should be reserved for your morning toast.

Here's my favorite lamb recipe, for things like breast:

Curried lamb breast baked with onions (serves 4):

2 lb lamb breast

3 onions, sliced

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon chili powder

6 curry leaves


   1. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and sear the lamb on each
   side. Put to one side while you fry the onions gently.
   2.  Chop the garlic and ginger together into a chunky paste. When the
   onions have softened add the garlic / ginger mix. Fry for a minute and then
   add all the spices, frying for another minute.
   3. Add half the onion mix to the pot, pop the lamb on top then add the
   remaining onions. Add a cup of water and pop the lid on for about 2-3
   hours, on low simmer until the lamb can be pushed apart with a spoon.
   4. Remove the lamb to the side for one minute so you can remove any
   bones or gummy bits of skin 'n' stuff that lamb breast can have. Pop a
   sieve on a saucepan and put the onions into the sieve. Put the lamb and
   drained onions with a sprinkle of salt back into the pot while you work on
   the reserved liquid.
   5. Simmer the liquid until reduced by half, add a dash of white wine
   vinegar. Dish up the lamb and onions, spoon over the sauce and
serve with *Basmati
   rice.*








On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 12:38 AM, Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at gmail.com>wrote:

> I got a lamb breast/side at my local grocery this past Sunday, for
> $2-3/pound. They also had chunks of leg of lamb for $5/pound. Since even
> the ground lamb is often 8 or more dollars/pound here, I ended up buying
> the breast. Basically ribs with a slab of attached meat on the package I
> bought, where the ribs were getting smaller and smaller.
>
> Maybe I should have bought the leg, since it was still less than much of
> the beef currently?
>
> The lamb breast is US, but the lamb leg chunks were products of New
> Zealand.
>
> Any suggestions on how best to cook it? Either modern or period recipes.
> As I said, I seldom see lamb here, much less at a reasonable price.
>
> I still have to look at my own Florilegium file lamb-mutton-msg, but I'm
> interested in what others day here as well. Unlike game meat, it seems to
> have a fair amount of fat. But have rib sections, does that mean it's going
> to bit a bit tough and needs to be slow cooked for a while?  Should I go
> light on the seasoning?
>
> I don't know if my wife will even try it, but we'll see. At least it is a
> chance for me to try some lamb. (technically probably young mutton, but the
> store labels it as lamb.)
>
> Thanks,
>    Stefan
> --------
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at gmail.com
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>



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