need pep talk for cooking some nice lamb loin chops

[Wifezilla]

Lamb is wicked expensive in Colorado. Abi, maybe you should steal us a sheep ranch instead of heading to Canada!

 

[abifae]

Yeh. Lets steal some sheep. I'm Irish, not Scottish though.

 

[Mattemma]

Lamb is expensive for me but when I buy it I will brown it in olive oil with a bit of salt/pepper.
After browned I add LOTS of chopped garlic.
Cook just a WEE bit and then add sliced red,yellow,orange peppers.
On top of that I add a can of diced tomatoes. Sometimes I add a bit of water with some tomato or pepper paste.
Cook covered till tender.
Serve with bulgur wheat that was cooked with onion,tomato,and green pepper.

I like this simlie!

 

[jambunny]

May I suggest finding a small sheep rancher to sell you a lamb for butcher? Much cheaper and probably taste better. We raise just a few which started as a 4-h/ffa project. Has also become one of our favorite meats. I just season with garlic and italian seasoning and yum yum.

 

[patandchickens]

While we're on the subject, does anyone happen to know how the NZ lamb that's imported to North America tends to be grown? I would *think* (and my husband whose family used to be friends with some sheep people in NZ thinks so too) that NZ lamb is basically *all* raised on pasture, whereas AFAIK most Ontario-grown lamb is pretty largely grain fed... but does anyone actually KNOW about this?

Pat, getting hungry now and really hoping her ewes are pregnant but who really knows

 

[modern_pioneer]

Wife swears that NZ sheep are the best in the world, Welsh comes in a close second. This was a topic talked about while sitting around the dinner table while I was in Europe some years ago. What I took out of the conversation was that Americans don't know hw to raise a tasty lamb, and NZ grass is very special. So I would agree that pasture grazing would have been the correct way to raise a lamb good enough to meet international standards.

Where to find NZ grass seed to grow in Canada? Clueless.....

 

[patandchickens]

Around here at least, it is not a grass-seed issue so much as the simple fact that in this climate you can't expect to pasture-feed animals for more than maybe 6 months of the year, not on actively-growing grass anyhow; plus which there are enough predators around (do not talk to me about coyotes!) that intensive lamb rearing on grain is just much more economically feasible, for large-scale commercial operations I mean.

If I get lambs this year they will be kept on grass and then when the grass runs out in the fall they will go to freezer camp, rather small; but that doesn't have anything to do with how ontario-raised lamb gets to supermarkets LOL

Pat

 

[abifae]

I've heard NZ is the best too. Saveur said so. That makes it fact, right?

 

[ORChick]

The best lamb that I have ever had was Canadian! But it came from Vancouver Island, where the climate is mild. I have only had frozen NZ lamb, and it was good, but the leg of lamb from BC was really, really good. When we lived in Ireland, in the 1960's, the lamb was also very good; probably still is. Where I live now there are a lot of sheep raised, on grass. Unfortunately most of the lamb is shipped out to Portland, Seattle, and S.F., but recently I have found a source where I can get it. And, after reading of the prices in Ontario and NZ, I won't complain anymore about what I have to pay!

 

[Beekissed]

Frenched rack of lamb--$24.99/kg
Loin chops--20.99/kg
leg of lamb--$12.10/kg
shoulder--$8.80/kg
ground lamb--$7.49/kg

This makes me cringe! My boys butchered our lamb the other day and I didn't really have the time to instruct them on it(I was at work). They did it like they usually do our deer in plentiful times.....quarters and loin removed, the rest goes to the dogs for raw feeding.

I could have keeled over as I watched the dog chewing on lamb ribs and neck......

Now...who's dog is the most spoiled???

Anywhoooo....anyone have a good recipe for leg o' lamb? And question: Why all the brining and marinating something as tender as lamb?