Path: swen.emba.uvm.edu!banzai!news-out.internetmci.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.erols.net!newspump.sol.net!ddsw1!news.mcs.net!in-news.erinet.com!bug.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!mack.rt66.com!mack.rt66.com!not-for-mail From: "G. FRIED" Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes Subject: Lamb Suggestions Followup-To: rec.food.cooking Date: 4 Dec 1996 05:03:22 -0700 Organization: New Mexcio State Univ Lines: 63 Sender: phill@mack.rt66.com Approved: phill@rt66.com Message-ID: Reply-To: "G. FRIED" NNTP-Posting-Host: mack.rt66.com Lamb Suggestions I grew up on a sheep farm where we ate lamb several times a week. How you season and cook it depends a lot on what cut of meat you use and what seasons you like. Here are some of our favorite means of cooking lamb: Grilling: We used to put a leg on the rotisserie and season with lots of black pepper, some thyme, minced garlic, and juice of one lemon in one cup of water and we would baste the leg frequently with the mixture. This is my personal favorite. Roasting: You can use the same mixture as for grilling. You can also pierce the leg in several spots and poke cloves of garlic into the leg. I usually sprinkle with black pepper and either thyme or basil or oregano. (Thyme is really my favorite seasoning for lamb because it doesn't overpower the lamb). Broiling: This is really only for chops and steaks. I usually put a small amount of margarine or olive oil on the top and sprinkle with black pepper and thyme. Some other ideas: Lamb makes good stir fry with lots of green onions and veggies (Mongolian style) Cut off most of the fat because that is where you will find the strongest flavors coming from and depending on the age of the sheep and how it was raised and fed the fat can be disgusting. Leftover lamb is really good in Shepherd's Pie: Cut up lamb and saute with onion, garlic, mixed veggies, celery, carrots, etc. Aussies and NZed folk tend to add parsnips and other things also. The veggies don't need to get cooked, just mixed in with the lamb and onion. Season to your liking with pepper, thyme, etc. Make a fairly thick gravy to go on top. Transfer to a casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes (dumplings or biscuits will also do). Bake until done. Sometimes the fat had such a strong flavor from my lamb that I didn't want to use its juice for gravy so I've used canned beef broth also. Ground lamb is great for making gyros. I season with crushed cumin, oregano, black pepper, onion, minced garlic. When the meat is nearly browned, squeeze lemon juice over it. Serve on a warm pita with cheese, tomato, lettuce, olives, cucumber-mint-yogurt dressing (or I usually add chopped cucumber and my own yogurt ranch dressing). Ground lamb is also good for making burgers (we would also season to make sausage patties and have it for breakfast with eggs, etc.). I hope this helps. Melody :) gfried@nmsu.edu ~~~ Rec.food.recipes is moderated; only recipes and recipe requests are accepted for posting. Please read the "Posting Guidelines" article. Recipes/requests go to recipes@rt66.com; questions/comments to tfdpress@acpub.duke.edu. Please allow several days for your submission to appear.