This Weeks Healthiest Food - LAMB

rockinrobin · 03-17-2008, 08:25 AM

http://www.whfoods.com/index.html?PH...68e93580e 481

Okay, this is one food that I simply refuse to eat. I find the look and smell of it alone vile.

Probably dates back to when I was a young child. Maybe 10 or 11. My mother made lamb chops for the family and would not let me leave the table til I ate them. I sat there for hours and hours. I finally offered to take out the garbage. She fell for it. In the trash went those suckers.

I had a friend over for the weekend, and funny enough I repeated this incident to her as she first told me her story like that. I think her "lamb" was broccoli, although she eats broccoli now (she's just lost 80 lbs yay!). It's odd, because my mother was never "that way" with anything else, at least that I can recall - except for that one time - with those darn lamb chops.

missingmyerica · 03-17-2008, 08:31 AM

This is one of my guiltiest pleasures.

I absolutely love lamb, but I hate myself for loving it because my sister has two sheep Fred and Ethel and I always think of them when I eat it.

I love to knit and I go every year to the annual sheep and wool show in Rhinebeck N.Y. where they serve the most awesome lamb ever. I always thought it a bit weird that they would be serving lamb at the sheep and wool show, but it is delicious.

HarpoChicoGroucho · 03-17-2008, 08:59 AM

Baaaaa baaaaa. I love lamb. We've got lots of barbeque places in KC, but there's this great one that serves lamb ribs. Yum yum.

Glory87 · 03-17-2008, 10:47 AM

Absolutely adore lamb - lamb chops, lamb burgers. It has an I don't know, faintly spicy taste? compared to regular beef. I'm planning on making lamb chops this week!

Glory87 · 03-17-2008, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by missingmyerica

I always thought it a bit weird that they would be serving lamb at the sheep and wool show, but it is delicious.

The restaurant in the Dallas Aquarium used to serve a lot of fish, I always found that amusing. Put on a good show - or it's the pan for you!

zenor77 · 03-17-2008, 09:41 PM

Lamb is the only red meat I eat (except for the rare exception of Ostrich.) I love it, but it is fatty so I try to only have it a few times a year.

There's a restaurant in San Luis Obispo that makes the most amazing grilled lamb chops with lavender salt. OMG! Too bad we don't live near there anymore... I suddenly have a craving...

walking2lose · 03-17-2008, 09:55 PM

It doesn't sound remotely appealing to me... Yech... but I remember my mom preparing it maybe once a year and serving it with mint jelly. Wow, that combo alone with the thought that it's a BABY turned me off to the point that I haven't ever even TRIED it. Just can't do it...

Glory87 · 03-19-2008, 03:49 PM

Heh, not to be overly argumentative but most slaughterhouse animals have a pretty yucky life. They don't have some happy bucolic childhood, might as well eat them young and spare them additional misery as they are jammed together and fattened up to be slaughtered anyway later.

Ideally, I want to get a big chest freezer and find a local farmer who raises a smallish number of animals who are allowed to roam and graze freely. A smaller farmer wouldn't have to slaughter so many animals a day, so they could have more time to make sure the kills are quick and clean (unlike an allowed percentage of regular slaughterhouse animals who suffer). Right now, I just don't have the space to buy an entire lamb or half a cow, but someday!

I generally try to eat mostly vegetables, not because I think there is anything inherently wrong with meat, but because I find the slaughterhouse industry reprehensible!

nelie · 03-19-2008, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glory87

Ideally, I want to get a big chest freezer and find a local farmer who raises a smallish number of animals who are allowed to roam and graze freely. A smaller farmer wouldn't have to slaughter so many animals a day, so they could have more time to make sure the kills are quick and clean (unlike an allowed percentage of regular slaughterhouse animals who suffer). Right now, I just don't have the space to buy an entire lamb or half a cow, but someday!

I believe that farmers can't slaughter their own animals due to USDA regulations although there are some exceptions. The animals need to be sent to regular slaughterhouses. I had also read that many of the animals (not sure if all?) in the latest news stories were actually animals from small farms.

Although slaughterhouse horrors weren't what stopped me from eating meat and I don't think they'd stop the average omnivore. It is a shame though that the animals are treated so poorly.

lovnmom · 04-01-2008, 10:41 AM

Animals you purchase from a family farm are sent for slaughtering, but not to a factory type environment. Small family owned meat packaging stores provide this necessary service. Every small farmer will know where to send you for a humane job well done. Although a farmer, in WI, can legally slaughter an animal for family use.
As for lamb. We purchase one every year from the local fair. I find it tastes gamey sort of like venison which is ok, but not my favorite. We keep buying though, because our children love it.

meowee · 04-01-2008, 11:50 AM

I

lamb, too. Although I have to admit there is nothing more obnoxious than lamb fat left congealing in the pan. The leg is probably one of the leaner cuts. Can't imagine it smothered in mint jelly, though. I do the "slivers of garlic forced into slits all over the leg before roasting" thing. Of course, if you can manage the calories, it's marvellous served with a garlic/oil based (Ailioli) sauce.

KateB · 04-01-2008, 12:16 PM

I haven't had lamb in ages. I remember when I was young....between 6-8 YO, my mom was on adiet and it called for lamb chops every Wednesday night. She had an electric indoor grill and would cook them on that. I remember them smelling horrid...but I did like them. I have never made lamb, because I still remember that awful smell....I kow if my famil got one wiff of that they would never eat it.

orthodiva · 04-02-2008, 10:02 PM

I have enjoyed lamb as an adult but with one caveat - I can't eat lamb unless it's been prepared in some sort of ethnic style where it is fully cooked and heavily spiced. I grew up eating Indian foods and I love the lamb curries (especially the gravy!) and spicy appetizer dishes. I like it grilled in the various Middle Eastern type cuisines. However, when I've tried some of my boyfriend's lamb dishes at an American restaurant where the kitchen will prepare it medium rare or something other than well-done, it doesn't work for me. If they do it well done in an American restaurant, I find it bland because I'm so used to having the well done dishes at the ethnic places.

ennay · 04-03-2008, 10:58 PM

Lamb for me really depends on the piece. If it is too gamey

My local organic place has some really nice chops that never taste gamey and I have a delish garlic pepper rub and I do a mint lemon vinaigrette that is great. No icky jelly crap

But they are mondo expensive so I only get them occasionally...I mean for that price I could get a much larger filet mignon.

Sorcha33 · 04-04-2008, 01:31 AM

I don't eat lamb very often, but do enjoy it occasionally when roasted (only when I make it, though) with a rub made from a little butter, dijon mustard, rosemary, garlic and sea salt. It's more a company dish, something to have when calories aren't the focus.

Something that I do have a little more often that is also lighter is lamb koftas. Basically, you combine minced lamb (I always grind my own, and remove a lot of the fat) with middle Eastern spices, form the meat into sausage-shaped "kebabs", and grill them (you can place them on skewers or grill them without). Served in a wheat pita with some hummus and/or tzatziki, chopped tomato, cucumber, a good squeeze of lemon and some chopped mint, they are very, very good!