Lamb: the other red meat

[baker]

Since I married a Greek-American woman (I stole Gabe's line re: "Spartan Warrior Queen," and she loves it!) we have gone to Greece quite often, and eaten lots of lamb, both here and there.

In Greece, the seasonings appear to be minimal, salt, pepper, and lemon at the end. They use very young Spring lambs, under 25 lbs, cooked on a rotisserie over a wood fire. Simple, but delicious.

For my lamb here, I was able to procure a 35 lb young lamb, USDA inspected, about a week ago. There were time constraints, but here's what I came up with.

First, divide and conquer, because it was too big for my grill or oven.
I rubbed it down with fresh garlic and olive oil.
Then I coated it with Brittany Grey Sea Salt (grey sea salt has more minerals, and better flavor than any white, refined stuff. I like it so much that I imported 1100 lbs from France for my bakery several years ago).
Next, I used a "Greek Spice" that we make at the bakery. It has Spanish smoked paprika ("pimenton"), ground dry lemon, oregano, sea salt, pepper, and oregano, but is a little light on salt.
Then, the grill to sear and give flavor.
A LITTLE rosemary, just before the oven.
Finish in the oven, because I had to fetch the kids from school, and because it really didn't fit on the grill very well.
Voila!

Phone pics:


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[Mr. Anthony]

That looks amazing.

I eat quite a bit of lamb--mostly ground or shoulder chops, but whatever other cuts I get my hands on, also. It's a great meat, and can be prepared simply and still be really delicious.

[Steve Paulson]

Bro....you owe me a new keyboard. My drool has made all the kkkkeys stickkkkk.......

:drooling:

[AlwaysVigilant]

Yummmmmmmmmmm.

[strengverboten]

Tender lamb I've had (love it)...

Lamb that I quartered and grilled myself -that's getting added to my must do list....

[Invisible_Man]

Wow that looks amazing. Question: Why cook all that meat at once? Seems an awful lot to eat even for a day or two.

[baker]

Wow that looks amazing. Question: Why cook all that meat at once? Seems an awful lot to eat even for a day or two.

Well, I really like fresh, as opposed to frozen meat, and we were able to share some with my parents and eat it for several days.

[JOE MACK]

Nope, no way. Raised in the Big Sky cattle country. Too many sheepherders buried in the back 40.:wink: Beef, it's what's good for you.

[Vigilant]

That's awesome, but I thinks I will stick to grilling leg of lamb rather than the whole beast at once. I make my own version of the Gyro with a lightly smoked garlic rubbed leg, grilled to mid rare then shaved on to pita bread with fresh onion tomato and feta cheese. Much better than the Kronos "cones" of lamb/beef mixture.

[baker]

That's awesome, but I thinks I will stick to grilling leg of lamb rather than the whole beast at once. I make my own version of the Gyro with a lightly smoked garlic rubbed leg, grilled to mid rare then shaved on to pita bread with fresh onion tomato and feta cheese. Much better than the Kronos "cones" of lamb/beef mixture.

That sounds like a great idea. We call those cones of gyro meat "Greek hot dogs." The best gyro meat in Greece is from the guys who stack their own meets, rotisserie and slice them.

I make a decent dzadziki sauce with Fage yogurt.

[Pokeguyjai]

Man that looks like a good lamb.

I hear the head is the best part :grin:

[Francisp]

Man that looks like a good lamb.

I hear the head is the best part :grin:
my grandfather from Ireland loves to make stew with a lambs head!

[Froggy]

That looks good!

[NateR]

I've eaten plenty of lamb, but I've never seen a whole lamb dressed before. Thanks for the pics.

N

[doro19]

I'm salivatin' over here!!!

[The rifleman next door]

Man oh man....now I'm gonna have to hit the local kabob house or a couple of lamb shanks and some lamb kabob meat...

[rp1]

I made slow cooker leg of lamb (butcher cut it in half so it would fit). Olive oil rub, garlic powder, garlic cloves, rosemary ground in coffee grinder, salt, pepper, cup of Worcestershire sauce, cup of red wine, chopped onions, one lemon. Six to eight hours later...perfection. Serve over rice.

As a sidebar, I cook all red meats with Worcestershire sauce, Kikoman and some kind of alcohol like wine, beer or whiskey.

[P.D.]

Perfect wine pairing is Pinot Noir or Merlot with Roast leg of lamb or rack of lamb .......... well, any lamb.
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Damn, I just had breakfast and now I'm thinking dinner!

[Vigilant]

I made slow cooker leg of lamb (butcher cut it in half so it would fit). Olive oil rub, garlic powder, garlic cloves, rosemary ground in coffee grinder, salt, pepper, cup of Worcestershire sauce, cup of red wine, chopped onions, one lemon. Six to eight hours later...perfection. Serve over rice.

As a sidebar, I cook all red meats with Worcestershire sauce, Kikoman and some kind of alcohol like wine, beer or whiskey.For good meat, salt, pepper, maybe a little fresh garlic is all you will ever need!

[ss58]

Wow...that looks good!!!!! :drooling:

[CB3]

IMO Lamb is the domesticated meat most close in taste to deer venison. There are many Americans who were raised only on beef and who miss out on all the other flavors of meat. There is a mental adaptation to different tastes. Once that mental block is overcome, then one can enjoy bison, moose, elk, deer, pork, lamb, et cetera.

Add to that list small game such as rabbit, squirrel and certain other mammals with good diets and the list of edible and tasty meats really expands.

My mental meat eating attitude even once allowed me to try porpoise. It is a mammal that swims in the sea. The raw meat looked like it had the texture of beef although it was very very dark red. We cooked it as a standing roast. The first bite was shocking. It chewed like tender beef with a strong fish taste. That was a confusing challenge!

[Dakar]

Don't forget goat, very easy to find.

[KalashMan]

We call those cones of gyro meat "Greek hot dogs."


In the restaurant industry, they're known as "Elephant legs". :cool:

I grew up in a Greek neighborhood in NYC. Walking past lamb carcasses in windows was an everyday thing.

Old guys that still made the gyro meat the old fashioned way. You could smell it for blocks. Souvlaki carts on every corner. Couple that with the Lebanese Christians who opened a restaurant on my block and you can understand why I actually prefer lamb to beef.

Stewed shoulder (Irish, tagine, etc), braised shanks (with a little vanilla and cinnamon) and grilled everything else (salt, pepper, thyme, finish with lemon).

The only meat I prefer to lamb is pork. Mostly because it's more versatile.


Mario

[KalashMan]

Don't forget goat, very easy to find.

And underestimated in the US.

Mario