Page 22 - The Hunt - Spring 2020

FOOD & DRINK
basic marinade, Barrowcliff suggests rosemary, garlic and lemon with oil.
Another cut—and a personal favorite—is a leg of lamb. Served bone-in, it can be prepared on the grill or on a spit. Baste it as it cooks, then slice for serving, Give those who preferred charred meat the outsides and save the inner cuts for those who prefer it rare.
The butcher can also remove the bone, leaving a perfect cut for stuffing and roasting in the oven. Bread croutons, vegetables (including spinach or squash) and lightly spiced ground sausage make for a complementary stuffing.
For an equally flavorful—if somewhat stringier—option, lamb shanks are a great choice. Unlike other cuts, these are roasted or braised until well-done, with the meat falling off the bone. Be sure to save juices from the pan, or ask the butcher for lamb fat to prepare it confit-style. Shanks are especially delicious cut into pieces and used in a cassoulet—made with white beans, chicken or vegetable broth, and topped with a layer of fine bread crumbs.
For an equally flavorful—
if somewhat stringier—option, lamb shanks are a great choice. Unlike other cuts, these are roasted or braised until well-done, with the meat falling off the bone.
Be sure to save juices from the pan.
When making a selection, breed matters, too. While there aren’t many sheep in the Brandywine Valley, nearby Elkton, Md., is home to BBR Farm, where Julie and Mike Moore run a smaller operation, raising a unique breed they’ve dubbed Katahdins. Crossbred in Maine for different climates, these lamb have a savory meat that’s less gamey in flavor.
That gamey flavor is often a turn off for first-timers. “Unfortunately, a lot of people’s bad experiences with lamb comes from having had older Australian lamb, which tends to be more gamey,” says Julie, who prefers a shoulder cut prepared in a crock pot or a lamb shank “fixed like osso bucco.”
Back in Colorado, the lamb dish a majority of judges also liked best was a Turkish-inspired dry, pursed dumpling
(or “manti”) filled with ground lamb,
dry harissa, and cilantro and other spices. Whatever flavor profile your next lamb dish is prepared with, pair it with a great merlot
or pinot noir. TH
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