Today I went to a local Middle Eastern market that was opened by some Syrian refugees. Despite some problems (their first location was sold out from under them) they are doing a good business. As well as a good selection of mid-eastern specialties they have a halal butcher. They buy locally grown beef, lamb, and chicken, and prepare it their way. Today I bought a lamb leg.
A bit small and had a lot of flank and backbone attached, but whatever. After about 20 minutes of knife work I had it cut up as I wanted.
A "topside" roast for tonight's dinner, some additional meat to cut up for curry or stew, a shank, a nice piece of flank for the bbq, and bones and trimmings for the stock pot.
The roast I just brushed with oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, heated some olive oil in a skillet, browned the lamb on both sides, threw in some garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs, and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Served with garlicky, lemony, Greek-style roast potatoes, salad, and a decent Tuscan plonk. Yum. Many smooches from SWMBO!
A bit small and had a lot of flank and backbone attached, but whatever. After about 20 minutes of knife work I had it cut up as I wanted.
A "topside" roast for tonight's dinner, some additional meat to cut up for curry or stew, a shank, a nice piece of flank for the bbq, and bones and trimmings for the stock pot.
The roast I just brushed with oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, heated some olive oil in a skillet, browned the lamb on both sides, threw in some garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs, and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Served with garlicky, lemony, Greek-style roast potatoes, salad, and a decent Tuscan plonk. Yum. Many smooches from SWMBO!
Nice find! I have a buddy whose father used to raise lambs in archipelago of Gothenburg, and he'd sell great meat to us for nothing. Then they said he couldn't slaughter the animals themself, and had to put them on a trailer and have them slaughtered some 200 km away at some state sanctioned facility. He couldn't bare to do that to his animals and induce all that stress and fear, so he quit. Haven't had lamb near as good since...
Same here with our chickens, in fact our story is identical in every detail. Our lamb farmer has also retired (I think due to COVID). The COSTCO B to B in FL sells whole Halal lamb and goat (the Halal duck was good).
Last edited:
When we used to slaughter a steer ,
my Grandpa would very calmly feed
it a nice piece of alfalfa and my Uncle
would do a clean head shot .
The idea being to keep the meat free
of any adrenalin .
( As mentioned ) was kinder also .
( Though kindness to animals was
the last thing on their minds ) : )
my Grandpa would very calmly feed
it a nice piece of alfalfa and my Uncle
would do a clean head shot .
The idea being to keep the meat free
of any adrenalin .
( As mentioned ) was kinder also .
( Though kindness to animals was
the last thing on their minds ) : )
Missed this post. Glad you reaped from what you sowed. Smooches make it all worth while.
Mr Ed, as you know, it's how the master deals with the cards he is dealt. I have not had anything other than frozen lamb in more than a decade and my door is always open to those who wish to join. No one has rebuked a return visit. You, being the foodie you are no doubt dazzle them with your skills and not the initial offering.
Pray tell, it sounds like it would be delicious.
Last edited:
I like when you can take this and turn it into that without the bother with a long process.
I too get smooches.
This was seasoned using those little packets you get from restaurants and the like. You know, the ones that build up in a special little container you think you will take camping or on picnics but never do?
There is salt, pepper, sugar, brown sugar, Maggi seasoning, instant noodle seasoning, recycled chili flake and maybe others I am forgetting. The meat sat on the counter for an hour and then into the dehydrator. 18 hours later it came out surprisingly well.
Someone I know moved away and gave us the stuff in their freezer, including those mystery items at the bottom. One of them was a large untrimmed eye of round. Took quite a bit of shaving to make use of it, hence my lack of excitement in the seasoning dept. but now we have beef chew for a couple weeks.
I too get smooches.
This was seasoned using those little packets you get from restaurants and the like. You know, the ones that build up in a special little container you think you will take camping or on picnics but never do?
There is salt, pepper, sugar, brown sugar, Maggi seasoning, instant noodle seasoning, recycled chili flake and maybe others I am forgetting. The meat sat on the counter for an hour and then into the dehydrator. 18 hours later it came out surprisingly well.
Someone I know moved away and gave us the stuff in their freezer, including those mystery items at the bottom. One of them was a large untrimmed eye of round. Took quite a bit of shaving to make use of it, hence my lack of excitement in the seasoning dept. but now we have beef chew for a couple weeks.
Attachments
Last edited:
With respect to General Tso's Cauliflower
We've had it in Ohio a couple of times, it's decadent.
A sauce made with garlic, ginger, orange zest, salt and pepper, pepper flakes (or ymmv). Cal -- you already know how to do that!
Cauliflower is dipped in whisked egg and thn sprinkled w corn starch. (Just make enough for one dinner.) The cauliflower is deep fried for about six minutes until just tender. In fact 6 minutes is exactly correct.
Combine, upon serving more orange zest.
Leftovers not welcome.
We've had it in Ohio a couple of times, it's decadent.
A sauce made with garlic, ginger, orange zest, salt and pepper, pepper flakes (or ymmv). Cal -- you already know how to do that!
Cauliflower is dipped in whisked egg and thn sprinkled w corn starch. (Just make enough for one dinner.) The cauliflower is deep fried for about six minutes until just tender. In fact 6 minutes is exactly correct.
Combine, upon serving more orange zest.
Leftovers not welcome.
Nezbleu,
Your leg of lamb didn't have near enough fat on it for me for gigot d'agneau. After roasting it, I collect the fat to freeze and use it for 'bubble and squeak'. Also roast potatoes are the only way to have potatoes with a Roast joint. To get really good crispy roast potatoes, par boil for 5-6 minutes, shake them in the pan - gives a fluffy finish, put them on the roasting dish/tray and use the frozen fat to coat them, gives them a delicious flavour and a crispy finish. I only use the Rose garlic grown in the Tarn where I live. Cut into wedges and then inserted into the meat. I use lots of garlic in my cooking - what would we do without it.
As an aside if you don't like putting money into the pockets of big pharma, you can use garlic as a disinfectant sterilising agent , big pharma doesn't want you to know that. In WW1 when the Amercian soldiers brought the Asian flu over with them, the Italians and French suffered far fewer deaths than the Brits and Americans because they were eating cloves of garlic every day.
Some years ago we discovered a shop catering for people from North Africa where we buy herbs and spices in 1K quantities. We tried their lamb,chicken and beef stock cubes, a revelation after the salt loaded European types - yuk.
To make a sauce or gravy I learned from a chef years ago to save all veg peelings and with a decent amount to add water, bring to the boil for 5 minutes - this gives an excellent and nutritious stock for sauces and gravies. Add i lamb cube, 2 bay leaves, from the roasting pan and after cutting tranches of lamb add the juices. The French have known for a long time that a good sauce/gravy is the making of the meal. Small roasted onions are a must with the lamb.
Of course during cooking the chef should imbibe a full bodied red wine - another punt for St.Chinian, leaving some to have with the meal.
Having tasted Scots/Welsh/French/Galician/Australian and New Zealand lamb - the Kiwi is simply the best tasting.
A leg of lamb works out very cheap - after the roast there is cold lamb and B&S, braised lamb, lamb sandwiches and probably my favourite soup - lamb soup, all the marrow from the bones. onions and at the death potato slices, something I learned from a German guy. In the bad old days this was all a lot of Irish and German working people had to eat. North western Germany had a big area of land that was known as 'potatoland'. Strangely the only people to make lamb soup as part of their cuisine are the Morroccans.
Your leg of lamb didn't have near enough fat on it for me for gigot d'agneau. After roasting it, I collect the fat to freeze and use it for 'bubble and squeak'. Also roast potatoes are the only way to have potatoes with a Roast joint. To get really good crispy roast potatoes, par boil for 5-6 minutes, shake them in the pan - gives a fluffy finish, put them on the roasting dish/tray and use the frozen fat to coat them, gives them a delicious flavour and a crispy finish. I only use the Rose garlic grown in the Tarn where I live. Cut into wedges and then inserted into the meat. I use lots of garlic in my cooking - what would we do without it.
As an aside if you don't like putting money into the pockets of big pharma, you can use garlic as a disinfectant sterilising agent , big pharma doesn't want you to know that. In WW1 when the Amercian soldiers brought the Asian flu over with them, the Italians and French suffered far fewer deaths than the Brits and Americans because they were eating cloves of garlic every day.
Some years ago we discovered a shop catering for people from North Africa where we buy herbs and spices in 1K quantities. We tried their lamb,chicken and beef stock cubes, a revelation after the salt loaded European types - yuk.
To make a sauce or gravy I learned from a chef years ago to save all veg peelings and with a decent amount to add water, bring to the boil for 5 minutes - this gives an excellent and nutritious stock for sauces and gravies. Add i lamb cube, 2 bay leaves, from the roasting pan and after cutting tranches of lamb add the juices. The French have known for a long time that a good sauce/gravy is the making of the meal. Small roasted onions are a must with the lamb.
Of course during cooking the chef should imbibe a full bodied red wine - another punt for St.Chinian, leaving some to have with the meal.
Having tasted Scots/Welsh/French/Galician/Australian and New Zealand lamb - the Kiwi is simply the best tasting.
A leg of lamb works out very cheap - after the roast there is cold lamb and B&S, braised lamb, lamb sandwiches and probably my favourite soup - lamb soup, all the marrow from the bones. onions and at the death potato slices, something I learned from a German guy. In the bad old days this was all a lot of Irish and German working people had to eat. North western Germany had a big area of land that was known as 'potatoland'. Strangely the only people to make lamb soup as part of their cuisine are the Morroccans.
Any suggestion for a domain ? That's an appellation that always left me underwhelmed but I probably didn't try the right ones.
The lamb from Iceland has a unique taste, an interesting comparison if you get a chance. For me I wish there was a consistent source of mutton which I like on some occasions.
Thanks but I don't buy meat online. I realize you can buy basically anything on line especially now (for enough $$$). The farm in Ruff Creek Pennsylvania looks interesting but the prices are somewhat staggering, they do list the usual celebrity chefs as customers (no mutton though). I'll have to stick with COSTCO for now. A note of interest I went into our local COSTCO and talked with the butcher (note for Ed "meat cutter") there and he said I can buy anything with a SKU so I asked for a whole box of six unbroken down lamb full loin/rib sections at a huge discount. BTW only the first link had mutton listed since they deal with the Muslim community which makes me think I might find something here, though our closest Pakistani store is a little too scary in the meat section.
Last edited: