Lamb

Leg of lamb cooks well either on the bone or boned. The price per pound will be more when boned, but the advantage is that it makes it very easy to slice and carve for serving. Have it tied by the butcher, or do it yourself at home. Roast lamb is traditionally served with beans, such as green flageolet or cannellini, and for a very good reason: They are a perfect combination.

The shank is the best part of the lamb to braise. It is a meaty cut from the foreleg. A shank is a generous serving; braise them whole or ask your butcher to cut them in half lengthwise. Gremolata, a mixture of parsley, garlic, and lemon zest, adds a final bright fresh garnish to the long-cooked braise.

Lamb shoulder, because it is a cut of meat with lots of connective tissue, cooks to a very succulent, tender roast. You might have to ask your butcher for a whole, bone-in roast.

A properly seasoned and cooked roast is an elegant and simple dish to prepare, and something very valuable to know how to do confidently for feeding a large gathering of family or friends. With insufficient know-how, roasting meat can be an intimidating prospect, so here are a few basic ground rules to equip you for cooking a superb roast. I know I’m repeating myself here, but the best meat comes from animals that are locally produced, pasture-raised, and organically fed. Factory farms may produce a lot of inexpensive meat, but it is at great cost to the health of the land, the animals, and both the people who eat them and those involved in their production. Not only is the meat from humanely raised animals the tastiest, but your purchase supports those in your community who are tending the land, creating a very rewarding reciprocal relationship. It is really important to seek out markets and butchers who carry this type of meat. Some cuts of meat can be bought with or without the bone. Roasting meat on the bone will produce a better roast; it helps the meat to retain its juices and adds flavor as the roast cooks. Leg of lamb, lamb shoulder roast, rack of lamb, saddle of lamb, bone-in pork loin, pork shoulder roast, and prime rib are some examples of cuts that can be roasted on the bone. For easier carving, the bone may be removed before the meat is taken to the table to be cut. Or slice it in the kitchen and arrange it on a warm platter to pass; that is what I do most often. Seasoning the meat in advance makes a roast more juicy, tender, and tasty. Applying the salt one day ahead of cooking will do, but two or three days ahead is not too far in advance, especially for a large roast. A fresh herb marinade or dry rub is good to put on a few hours ahead or even the night before. It is important to bring the meat to room temperature before you cook it. Meat put to roast when still cold will cook very unevenly. The exterior will be fully cooked before the interior has even had a chance to warm up. Take the meat from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before roasting, or 2 hours for a bone-in roast. A good temperature for roasting is 375°F. Choose a pan just slightly larger than the roast. A rack is not necessary; instead, turn the meat twice while it is cooking. First, after the meat has browned, after 20 to 30 minutes; then, after another 20 minutes, when the underside has browned, turn it again and finish cooking. This allows for even browning and distributes the juices and fat all through the meat as it is cooking. (If the roast is small, brown it in a pan with a little olive oil over high heat before putting it into the oven to roast. It does not need to be turned then, unless it is browning too much on the top.) If you are roasting a rack of lamb, a bone-in pork loin, or a prime rib, lay the meat in the pan, bones down, for a natural rack. These roasts do not need to be turned. How do you know when it is done? I will poke and prod a roast to see if it is done, but I always take the internal temperature to confirm my judgment. An instant-read thermometer can be inserted anywhere in the roast and will immediately reveal the interior temperature. For the most accurate temperature reading, insert the thermometer lengthwise into the thickest part of the roast, parallel to the bone (but not touching it). You want to take the reading at the coldest part of the roast, as that will tell you where it is least done. For lamb I take the meat out at 128°F, for beef at 120 to 125°F, and for pork loin at 135°F. These temperatures are for medium-rare lamb and beef and medium-rare to medium pork. At these temperatures, the meat is still tender, juicy, and full of flavor. If you prefer your meat cooked more, for each increasing level of doneness, take the temperature up ten degrees—138°F for a medium leg of lamb, for example. It is very important to let roasted meat rest before cutting and serving. This allows ...

An ancho chile is a dried poblano, perfect for adding a little heat to this bread crumb crust. If you don’t have a spice grinder, a clean coffee grinder will work just as well. (Grind the chile first and then make the bread crumbs in the grinder to clean it out.) Traditional mint jelly works fine as an accompaniment, but I like to surprise my guests with jalapeño jelly, which you can find in Latin markets and well-stocked supermarkets.

In my experience even people who complain that lamb can taste too gamey love lamb chops. I would be lying if I didn’t also acknowledge that lamb chops are the most expensive cut, but I think they’re worth it, because they deliver a lot of flavor in just minutes. These chops, with a sweet tangy dressing drizzled on top, are an easy and fast meal that delivers, specifically on special occasions or for a Sunday night family dinner. Even Jade loves them!

Lamb chops are among the best meats to grill; although they tend to catch fire, they cook so quickly—three minutes per side is usually more than enough—that there is no time for them to char, and the fire makes the exterior even crisper than it might be otherwise. The cucumbers are best if they’re salted, which removes some of their bitterness and makes them extra-crisp. Start with one or two Kirby (small) cucumbers per person—or half of a medium cucumber or about a third of a long (“English”) cucumber.

Lamb shoulder is a bony cut of meat that easily can be turned into a boneless roast by any butcher, including those who work in supermarkets. The result is a round, tied piece of meat with lovely crevices into which you can stick a simple seasoning mixture like garlic and parsley. This is a traditional combination for lamb, and rightly so, because the flavors marry so well. If you have them on hand, add two tablespoons of crushed coriander seeds (put them in a plastic bag and pound gently with a rolling pin, rubber mallet, or like object) to the parsley: they add a distinctive and alluring floral note to the dish.

If you don’t see lamb ribs in your supermarket, the chances are that they’re being tossed. Both demand and profit are evidently so slim that they are not worth processing and putting out in the case. Which is a shame, because next to pork (spare) ribs, lamb ribs are the best down-and-dirty grill item I know. They’re also the cheapest. Where I live, it’s hard to pay more than a dollar a pound for them. Like spareribs, lamb ribs are the bones of the breast, separated into individual pieces. The supermarket meat department or butcher may give you the entire breast, or he may separate the ribs for you. If he does not, be sure to ask him to at least remove or cut through the breastbone, which will make cutting in between the ribs fast and easy. Lamb ribs require special treatment while grilling, because they are loaded with fat (this is one of the reasons they taste so good, of course). You can grill them very slowly or (my preference) parboil the ribs just for ten minutes or so, long enough to render enough of the fat so that it doesn’t catch fire the instant you put the ribs on the grill. You’ll still need to be careful during grilling; don’t leave the fire for more than a minute or two. Broiling them makes this somewhat easier, but you still have to keep an eye out; left unattended, they will burn. Any brushing sauce or spice rub you like is suitable here. My choice is a sweet but pungent amalgam of raw onion, strong mustard, and honey, marmalade, or maple syrup.

Though this is an unusual preparation, in many ways lamb is the meat most suited to this simple treatment. Like all cutlet preparations, it’s lightning-quick.

Asparagus may Introduce spring, but mint screams it. The perennial herb is among the first edible greens out of the ground, and it’s rampant enough to be considered a weed for those who aren’t fond of it. Team it with lamb and you have a model spring dish.

There may be no meat better for grilling than boneless leg of lamb. It cooks reasonably quickly, usually in less than half an hour, but still develops an irresistibly crunchy crust. Even better, that crust can be flavored in minutes before it is cooked with any of a dozen combinations of seasonings. Marinating is unnecessary, as the meat itself has exquisite flavor and really needs no more than salt. The leg’s irregular shape virtually guarantees that every eater will be happy—lamb is the only meat good at every stage of doneness. When the thickest parts have cooked to rare, the ends will be well done, the parts in between medium. Boneless legs sold at supermarkets are sometimes wrapped in an elastic net to form them into a round roast. For grilling, remove this so the meat lies flat. If the larger end of the meat is three or more inches thick, you might cut a flap to make that lobe thinner and flatter so that it cooks more evenly. Using a sharp, thin-bladed knife and working from the side of the lobe that faces the rest of the meat, make a horizontal cut about halfway down from top to bottom, most of the way through, and fold the meat out; in essence, you are butterflying the butterfly.

You might think of this Turkish dish as a kind of lamb shish kebab with a couple of twists. First of all, it can be executed indoors (though in good weather the initial browning could certainly be done on a grill). Second, it contains its own built-in sauce, a combination of yogurt and the juices exuded by lamb and roasted vegetables.

A logical combination and glorious once you taste it, with the sweet juice of the peaches deftly cutting through the richness of the lamb without being piercing. A hint of cinnamon (or an even smaller one of allspice—maybe an eighth of a teaspoon) gives the dish a great aroma as it cooks and a slightly mysterious flavor at the table. A pinch of cayenne or other red pepper makes a nice addition. Whereas most braises begin with browning, this one ends with it, like the Braised and Grilled Lamb Shanks on page 188. This method reduces both spattering and time—since the lamb’s liquid is mostly gone by the end of cooking, it doesn’t go flying from the hot fat, and the meat browns faster. And the peaches, browning lightly in the same cooking liquid, contribute some of their juices to the pan while becoming meltingly tender.

Rack of lamb—a row of unseparated rib chops—has been a restaurant feature for so long that many people assume there is some trick to cooking it. But there is not. You trim the rack of excess fat and roast it at high heat. Salt and pepper are good seasonings, there are a number of quick tricks for adding flavor to the exterior, and you can of course make a quick reduction sauce before serving. But these are options and by my standards unnecessary: the distinctive flavor of true lamb is an uncommonly fine treat. Getting true lamb is part of the problem; the mild flavor of baby lamb has a more universal appeal than the gamier flavor of older meat. Be sure to tell the butcher you want a rack that weighs less than two pounds. Because many restaurants offer a whole rack as a serving (six to eight ribs!), many people believe that to be a standard serving size. But there are almost no circumstances where even a small rack will not serve two people; a larger rack can accommodate three and sometimes four. To serve more, just cook two racks at a time; they will fit comfortably side by side in most roasting pans. I like to cut each rack in half before roasting. This makes for slightly more uniform cooking and also relieves you from separating each rack into individual ribs before serving. The roasting itself is child’s play. Your oven should be hot (it should also be well insulated, because high heat produces smoke). Cut the rack most of the way down between the ribs so that more meat is exposed to intense heat and therefore becomes crisp. (“Frenching” the ribs—scraping the meat off the bones to leave them naked and neater in appearance—is counterproductive; the crisp meat on the bones is one of the joys of rack of lamb.) Unless you’re highly experienced, the most reliable method of judging doneness is with an instant-read thermometer; 125°F in the center will give you medium-rare meat.

Why do so many recipes have you brown lamb shanks and other tough meats when the long braising needed to make them tender ends up breaking down the lovely, crisp crust? The simple answer is that browning creates complex flavors, but it also creates a spattery mess. So here’s a solution: grill or broil the shanks after braising. This will give them the ultimate crust, and the braising liquid will serve as a succulent sauce.

You can make this easy mint chutney quite hot, and it still seems balanced, especially when served with a rich, flavorful meat like lamb. Heat, as aficionados know, comes in a wide variety of flavors, and what works best here is a bit of roasted fresh habanero (also called Scotch bonnet), the hottest chile you can find. But minced raw jalapeño or hot red pepper flakes are also good. No matter what you use, add a little at a time (I’d start with a quarter teaspoon if you’re using habanero) and taste repeatedly, bearing in mind that the heat of chiles can “bloom” after a few minutes. Serve this with a neutral dish like plain rice, and perhaps a cooling salad.

This is the recipe of my friend Vikram Vij, whose Vancouver restaurant, Vij’s, is among the best Indian restaurants in North America. Other cuts of meat you can use here: Beef tenderloin (filet mignon), cut into medallions. Pilaf (page 513), Dal (page 433), and other standard Indian accompaniments would do nicely here.

In India, it should be noted, much “mutton” is actually goat, and—except in the most expensive restaurants or wealthiest homes—this spice mixture would be used on meat that would later be braised in a yogurt sauce, much like the one for the meatballs on page 424. But with our relatively young, tender lamb, you can just rub the meat with the spices and grill. (If you refrigerate for an hour or a day, the taste will be somewhat improved, but it’s not imperative.) I find this dish just as elegant as the French version, page 358, especially when it is on the spicy but mild side, with the chiles omitted. Serve with simple Pilaf (page 513) and, if you like, Curried Carrots (page 451). Other cuts of meat you can use here: beef steaks like skirt, sirloin (New York) strip, or ribeye are all good treated this way.