vermin

I've never eaten sheep meat. Beef, pork, chicken, turkey, pheasant, duck, rabbit, deer, errant gnat, but never sheep.

What is its taste/texture? Does it tend to be dry or greasy? Does anyone have any recipes for sheep? Are there certain cuts that are better than others?

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davik

Lamb atleast is a tender, moist meat with a fair amount of grease to it; fairly strong flavor as meat goes, well complimented by marinating in a strong red wine. My roommate's middle eastern version was to marinate with red wine, worchestershire, onion, garlic, and loads of dried mint, and that was excellent, especially served over couscous. If people are interested I can try to dig up the actual recipe and post it.

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Cynthetiq

lamb/mutton is great...

it can be fatty... I had a great recipe that I threw together one night and posted on v3.0. I'll have to recall it because the wife wants me to make it again.

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Mad_Gecko

Hehe, mint sauce w/ lamb is a tradition here.

In my more youthful days (about 30 seconds ago) you'd lean out the car window and shout it at sheep on the road.

Good to slow roast a leg of lamb (gets rid of a lot of the grease) and serve with roast potatoes and mixed veg. Like pork also goes well with thyme as an herb.

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greytone

The flavor of lamb is stronger than beef but less than wild game. I have never had mutton.

Start with lamb chops and use a little olive oil and grill them. Use some real mint jelly....if you can't find that, then mint flavored apple jelly will do in a pinch.

Now for the real thing. You need a boneless leg and butterfly it so it is an even thickness (to ensure even cooking) and coat marinate in olive oil and rosemarry. Cut slits in the meat and insert whole cloves of garlic. Grill with indirect heat. Cook until medium.

You will be hooked for life.

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vermin

I realize I'm in no position to question them that know better, however, I'm not wild about the taste of mint. Is there some reason mint gets mentioned so much?

For a point of reference, a t-bone steak medium rare with salt and a little bit of pepper is the ultimate meat flavor (up till now, at least) in my opinion.

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crackpot

The mint jelly just seems right with lamb, somehow. Sort of like pork chops w/ apple sauce. Just one of those things, you know?
But you needn't worry too much about it; lamb rocks with or without it, imo. And in my (somewhat limited) experience, I feel it's pretty hard to screw up lamb. I'm sure it's possible though!
Maybe you could order it at a restaurant first, to save you cooking "sheep meat" yourself right away... and just to get a taste for it?

carnivore

I don't know what's up with mint and lamb, vermin. I hate it, personally. It may be a way to mask or minimise the gamy flavour of older sheep...

I do it with garlic slices inserted into the meat, then salt and pepper all over it, and rosemary sprigs tied to it. I usually grill it, but I just got a smoker, and it rocks for lamb.

If you use a meat thermometer with meat donenesses marked on it, I would reccomend ignoring the ones for lamb and stick with the ones for beef. I think you overcook it if you rely on the lamb markings. Also, pull the meat out 10 deg F cooler than you want it. Let it rest on the counter for 10-15 minutes and the heat in the meat will finish cooking it.

Good luck. Lamb's really tasty.

greytone

This got me so hungry for lamb, that I stopped at Outback last night to treat myself for finishing a really hard weekend on-call. They grilled a rack with the spices they but on steaks and served it with a cabernet sauce. It was different, but very good.

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yabobo

Try lamb burgers or lambcheese burgers. Use all the normal fixens plus rosemary and garlic. Most good stores have ground lamb.

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vermin

Just tried lamb in a Gyro, friday night. Very good.
Thanks to all suggestions.

Would Lamburger Helper contain sheepdog meat?

(sorry, couldn't resist)

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Tophat665

In my considered opinion, mint is to sheep as celery seed is to cow. Too much is overpowering and pointless, but a small amount has a synergistic effect. You don't really taste the mint or celery, but the meat itself seems to have a better flavor. Don't believe me? Next time you make burgers, mix about 3/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground celery seed into a pound of beef. I always use some mint when I make lamb, but it's always a quarter or less as much any other herb. It tends to neutralize some of the gaminess even in small amounts.

Mint jelly, on the other hand, is an abomination. *shudder*

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splck

I agree with the above posters that the secret is to use just a hint of mint. Make sure you don't over cook lamb, it can dry out real fast....follow carnivore's advice.

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nebbugvrok

If you havn't had lamb I'd sy you are missing out, it's the only meat I miss since going vegetarian, (about three years ago).

you can make some really good burgers if you mix mince of lamb, couscous and a little koriander (might of been mint can't remember)