Lamb Dishes

I have been considering "everyday" food. So, more fish recipes soon :) As far as terrestrial everyday protein sources, mutton is quite likely the most common.

The most common cooking method (as far as we know) is boiling.

Well, that sounded particularly uninspiring, I think we modernly have quite the horror of boiled meat.

However, my experiments led to some really delicious outcomes, so, onward to eating sheeps!

Attempt #1: Pulled Lamb

HOWEVER, then I realized that "boiled" includes quite a few other cooked items. Like pulled meat! Pulled pork is delicious, so is chicken, even beef is quite good. Ok, so what can I use to add some not-sheep flavor to this dish?

Version 1.

This is actually a "pre-recipe". I boiled the mutton, and while I was shredding it, I put a few bits to the side. These I ate with standard boiled grains and a sauce of skyr with fresh cilantro chopped up fine. That is quite good!

Version 2.

So, starting at the beginning :)

Into the pot, I put a little water, some onion/garlic/leek bits (you pick which, but use lots), a chopped up slightly unripe apple, and a little vinegar (or ferment liquid). I plopped in a big chunk of meat and left it alone on low for several hours. I took out the meat and pulled it into shreds. I mushed up the apples and onion/garlic, and added the meat back to the pan. Then I added some mustard, more garlic, salt, and some more vinegar (all to taste! keep tasting!).

This stuff is good (see caveat below, sigh)

Version 3.

I still had the sauce from Version 1 (skyr and cilantro), so I added that back to the pulled meat and stirred it all together.

SO.

Here's the thing. Sometimes I really like mutton. Other times it tastes like a sweaty sheep. Tonight, no matter what I did, I would take one bite, really like the dish I'd made, and then the sweaty sheep flavor would hit. Perhaps it was just the particular chunk of mutton I had, I've really liked it in the past, sigh.

Mmmmmm.....sweaty sheep, blech.

I think if you like mutton more than I do these will all be DELICIOUS to you. I think if you HATE mutton, you should substitute other meat and it will be delicious.

The concept worked out really well, the texture was great, I could easily feed a whole household on this stuff (one pot of pulled meat, one pot of boiled grains, voila, huge amounts of foods!).

I need to think very carefully about other dishes I can make with a boiling pot (and fish. Nom fishy mush???? Dubious).

I will try to take a photo in the morning, but this is NOT one of those gorgeous dishes, it is grey mush on top of grey mush.

Attempt #2: Lamb Stew

Stew consists of a few components: good broth + meat + root vegetables

So, step one is to make a good broth. I like to slowly cook lots of bones, browned meat bits, fat, vegetable bits, and flavorings for a VERY long time. I like lamb with carrots, celery, and alliums (garlic/onions).

Step two is to slowly simmer pre-browned meat chunks and some vegis. This first version was lamb, garlic, onion, carrots, and mustard. I also added some barley, as I didn't have any turnips. It was uninspired just cooked, MUCH improved by spending the night in the fridge.

(a quick note, if you add purple carrots...the whole grain part will be bright pink, sigh)

SECOND TRY.

This was intensely buttery and delicious and rich.

Broth: lamb (with bones), celery, onions, carrots, salt. I browned the meat in a teeny bit of bacon fat, then added the veg and some water.

After about 12 hours of simmering, I added more carrots, chopped celery (not a ton), finely chopped parsley, and a small branch of fir (make sure you pull this out before the needles fall off, they are bitter if you bite them). Let simmer until the new vegis are softened.