Is There A Secret To Buying Good Lamb Consistently?
Our Easter butterflied leg yesterday was average-tasting at best, whereas the prior one last October was excellent. Reviewing my grilling notes, that variation has been the rule much more than, say, with beef, despite using Meathead's method in all cases. As it can't possibly be the chef, I'm wondering if there's a best time of the year to buy lamb or a source and/or strain that's considered the best.
Chicken to brisket you can get an "off" animal. We've had it happen with the same brands, it just can happen. Did a rotisserie chicken a while back, same brand as always and you could hardly chew through it. I'm sure you did nothing wrong.
This forum is replete with posts about the “off” brisket that doesn’t cook right or taste right or slice right, etc. The chief explanation is always the same. Sometimes you get a bad piece of meat.
If everyone cooked leg of lamb as much as brisket, you would find the same posts about lamb. It’s nothing you did. Blame the animal.
Like others have said you can always get an off animal, I used to buy a whole lamb which I got through a friendly farmer where a percentage of his stock were either too small or too big to fit the abattoir requirements and for which he got paid a pittance. Hence he flogged them off at mates rates, however I stopped doing it as the quality varied too much given they were B grade carcasses.
For me fresh new season spring lamb is the best, those that have had a chance to run free in mild weather and you know the source and know the supplier. Even a run of poor weather can alter the feeding impacting on taste but you can reduce the odds in your favour.
Also different breeds have different flavours, one local to where I live (a "rare" breed ... Loaghtan) has a rather gamey flavour which is not to everyone's taste which goes back to knowing what you are buying.
Don’t know where you live but search for a Halal butcher nearby. There are also ones on the internet that ship. Usually USA raised lamb. Just a thought.
Where in Nortgern NJ are you? Im in Jersey City and have an amazing butcher and fishmonger that know me and will get me whatever my lil heart desires. My fishmonger goes to the Fulton Fish Market every day so everything he gets is from the same place all the NYC restaurants get their fish from. If I want something specific, he’ll find it for me. My butcher is a whole animal butcher and he sources VERY high quality chicken, beef lamb etc. Again, he’ll get me whatever I want - even if it’s something he doesn’t usually carry, like rabbit. I feel confident that wherever you are in Northern NJ you can find something similar. The food in NJ is exceptional! Look for farms, butchers etc. Buy from them consistently, get to know them, and they will love giving you their expertise and finding you the best meat available. I find the guys who are serious purveyors absolutely love to talk about the products they’ve sourced. They are a wealth of information and really appreciate knowledgeable buyers. So ask a ton of questions. And, if like me with regard to fish about a year ago, you don’t know squat, just admit it upfront. I have learned soooo much about fish in the last year bc every time I go in there they want to tell me about what’s new.
What type of lamb did you cook - Spring Lamb, Lamb or Mutton? What type of lamb can possibly be an indicator of the result. Also, do you like a strong lamb taste or a mild one?
Which means you might like a strong lamb taste, which was what your October lamb tasted like (probably mutton) and the recent lamb was more mild (probably Lamb).
Where did it come from? US, New Zealand or Australia.
A lot of variables. Because we all know IT IS NEVER THE CHEF!
We eat lamb quite often. I was just talking about the same thing with.my in-laws who were saying the lamb was great. First find one of your good cooks and figure out what brand lamb it was. Sometimes with chops thats hard as they are split out and put in the little Styrofoam trays. I buy racks of lamb and forgo the precut stuff for just this reason. Stick to that brand. Now, the larger it is TYPICALLY the stronger the "gamey" flavor is. Find a weight for your particular cut you use and stick as close to it as possible. Third, be sure what you are buying, is it lamb or mutton. Mutton is stronger and "gamier" there are a multitude of factors that affect taste, what they are fed, how much they roam around, age, local, fat content, so forth. Doing the above is the best way to attempt to control those factors. Hope it helps.
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On the gamey taste of some lamb--a friend told me just last weekend that American lamb is gamey but Australian lamb is not. I almost started the mental eye-roll, but then thought--she's the one who cooks lamb all the time. When I cook lamb, it's only the little New Zealand lamb chops from Sam's. So maybe she knows what she's talking about?
I did a leg of lamb last year - smoked till tender and did pulled lamb tacos. It was just... ok. It had that gamey flavor I don't like. I have eaten mutton and liked it, but mainly in dishes with lots of seasoning and spices - like a curried gravy, etc.
I've heard or read somewhere (I THOUGHT on here but maybe not), that you should try to source American lamb, as it isn't nearly as gamey as Aussie/NZ lamb. Could be misremembering that. I was at Costco yesterday and every type of lamb they had was Australian. Passed. The one we did - The Wife and The Boy said they liked it, but leftovers sat in the fridge and ended up getting tossed out... so... yeah.
One of my friends is a big fan, he is a complete carnivore. He says he is doing some research, says most lamb he gets at the restaurants (he eats at Fogo de Chao, Brasao, Texas de Brazil, etc., at least several times a month, sometimes 2-3x in a week) he really enjoys. But he is wondering if they are sourcing 'hair sheep' instead of the traditional sheep that have wool.
Apparently there's some kind of difference? I mean besides the obvious - he thinks it's possible that hair sheep are less gamey overall? I don't know why, diet or genetics or what. No telling.
Can anyone here give us a primer on this, and explain how I can get lamb products that AREN'T gamey as HELL?
In my personal experience I have found that grass fed and grain finished has a much milder flavour than grass fed only. It is not always easy up here in Canada to discover if the lamb has been grain finished unless you are purchasing from the rancher directly. I have always found the Australian lamb at Costco to be of good to excellenbt quality and it is my go to source. The leg of lamb at Canadian Costco's and I would suspect US as well is packaged with a gland still in place that can really ruin the flavour. I always cut out of the little mesh bag, unroll and remove gland, season both sides and then roll up and re-tie.
While I guess it is supposedly required to list the source (i.e., Australia, NZ, US, etc.,) I have never seen really ANY piece of meat that tells me if it was grain finished. I wish it did. If it does (routinely), I've never noticed it. But either way... I WOULD like to source some lamb I KNEW these things about, if it were affordable. Just so I can't KNOW, you know? Do I really just dislike lamb, or is there SOME lamb I enjoy? Eh.
realdocBBQ the only time I can find out grain finished is from the local producer or in rare cases a local butcher shop. Other than that it is trial and error. Costco Australian lamb hits my palate nicely so I tend to spend my dollars there.
I have been pleased with both the rack of lamb from both Costco and Sam's as well as the boneless leg of lamb and lamb chops from Sam's. This Easter I reverse seared 2 lamb racks, one each from Costco and Sam's. Both good and no difference in taste, quality etc. As always, YMMV.
at best, whereas the prior one last October was excellent. Reviewing my grilling notes, that variation has been the rule much more than, say, with beef, despite using Meathead's method in all cases. As it can't possibly be the chef, I'm wondering if there's a best time of the year to buy lamb or a source and/or strain that's considered the best.
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