A small conversation about lamb

I recently got an email from one of my good customers. She has bought chicken, veggies and beef and is planning on pork. She wrote:

I would also like some lamb. What would be the best for me to try? We don't eat lamb.

The answer depends on your cooking style and experience, eating tastes, and number of people at the table. It might be a good idea for you to have meal with guests who do eat lamb (and you feel are good cooks) and make them work for their dinner!

I have to say, I have long been tempted to do an in-house demonstration meal for a dinner party someday - sort of a 'Galloping Gourmet meets New Hampshire Farmer'.

If your taste in pork is chops, in beef is steaks, then your first lamb should be chops. Loin chops are the most pricey, smallest, most prized and delicate. shoulder chops are more flavorful, tend to be a little chewier, but I think the flavor is worth the work. They are not delicate. Another choice, that we do make available, is leg steaks, which are the same cut as ham steaks.

If you prefer roasts, a half leg is a good starter choice, and ours tend to be small - 2 to 4 pounds. Another possibility is the rack, a group of unseparated chops - it is priced the same as loin chops, and is a delicate. I think it is better than loin chops because I tend towards roasts myself. There are other roasts - shoulder and sirloin - which are not as popular, partly because they are hard to carve. You need an anatomy lesson to know where the hidden bones are. The challenge with lamb is that, since it is smaller than beef, you will tend to see cuts that comprise a larger portion of the animal.

Stews are not considered 'high class' but many lamb stew recipes are lightly flavored, allowing you to taste the lamb, which is especially important to me, and to you, since you are deciding if you like lamb! There are also braising recipes, such as lamb shanks in French, Algerian and other styles. This is my personal favorite cut and recipe but if you do not braise a lot (Pot Au'Feu, Braised Chicken, Veal Breast, Osso Buco), I cannot recommend this as a first taste. If you didn't like it, you might not know exactly why. But, for instance, lamb neck slices make a very interesting 'lamb Osso Buco'.

A lot of folks don't like lamb. With the choices available in the supermarket, I am not surprised. To me, supermarket lamb tastes old, spoiled, 'lamby' or worse. We won't eat it and you shouldn't either. Good farm-raised, fresh lamb is delicate, sweet and wonderful. You should try some before you give up on lamb.