Cooking With Lamb

We all know and have read about the health benefits of eating a varied diet, consisting of a selection of one product out of the 5 main food groups. (Fruit & Vegetables, Meat & Fish, Dairy Products and Milk, Bread cereal and potatoes, and fatty and sugary foods) When it comes to choosing a meat product Lamb is one of the most flavorsome of all the meats. With lamb you have a varied choice of cuts i.e. Breast, Leg, Shank, Shoulder, Loin, Chump Fillet Scrag and of course Minced Lamb. When people think of a joint of lamb they tend to think of roast lamb and mint sauce, whilst this is truly delicious there are so many other recipes that you can choose using different cuts of Lamb.

If you have the opportunity to buy a whole lamb from a local farmer so much the better, the flavor of the meat and the tenderness is so much better than the lamb that we tend to get in the supermarkets. You also have the benefit of knowing that the Lamb has been reared on a local farm and hopefully has been well looked after. If you do have to buy lamb from the supermarket then make sure that you but the leanest cuts with firm creamy-white fat.

A lot of recipes that we tend to use beef mince for are in fact so much better if you use lamb, how can you make Moussaka with beef, and all curries are so much better made with lamb try it for yourself and you will see the difference. Because lambs are young when they go to slaughter the meat is always tender, ever heard of a tough bit of lamb, I very much doubt it. If you can get it the neck fillet is one of my favorite cuts and you can do absolutely anything with it that you like.

Cut it into large chunks and roll in some spices and fry quickly in a frying pan and it's meltingly soft and so full of flavor. Mince it up and make Moussaka or Shepherds pie I bet you notice the difference from beef. Cube it for all your curries. All the joints can be roasted, make some slits in the skin with a sharp knife and place some slivers of Garlic in each slice with some thyme or rosemary it gives the meat a most wonderful smell. There are so many things that can be done with such a succulent piece of meat. If you are stuck for ideas or have never cooked lamb before try looking for some recipes online, or try cooking it on its own and when your confidence grows start to add things to the meat.

Vicki Churchill writes for a site that specializes in Recipes ,simple cooking ideas, ways to serve up stunning dishes with minimum effort & cooking tips and ideas.