Lamb Category

Lamb
Coming from a young animal, lamb meat doesn't need to be marbled with fat to be exquisitely tender and delicately flavored. Perhaps lamb would be more popular if more people knew how to cook it properly. Lamb should be roasted at no more than 325ºF, or it gets tough and smells gamy. Select cuts with pink meat and white fat--red meat and yellow fat indicates an older and tougher lamb.
Denver ribs, Denver lamb ribs, lamb ribs
Denver ribs
This includes seven or eight ribs from the breast. These can be braised, but they're more often marinated and grilled.
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ground lamb
ground lamb
This is leaner and more delicately flavored than other ground meats. It's sometimes available as pre-formed lamb patties.
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lamb blade chop, lamb shoulder blade chop, lamb shoulder block
lamb blade chop
These are usually broiled, grilled, or pan-fried.
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lamb chop
lamb chop
Like beef steaks, lamb chops are pieces of meat that are cut small enough to serve as individual portions. They're often grilled, broiled, or pan-fried. The most elegant choices are the lamb rib chop and the lamb loin chop. The lamb sirloin chop and lamb leg chop aren't quite as tender, but they're quite good if you take care not to overcook them. The most economical cuts are the lamb shoulder chop and lamb blade chop. They're chewier than the pricier cuts, but they're more flavorful.
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lamb cubes for kabobs
lamb cubes for kabobs
These are tender one-inch cubes that are put on skewers for grilling. The best kabobs are made with meat from the leg.
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lamb leg, American leg, Frenched leg, leg of lamb
lamb leg
These are sold either with or without bones. The full leg is too large and unwieldy for many families, so it's often cut into two half leg pieces: the lean shank half and the more tender but more bony sirloin half. Alternatively, you can buy a short leg = 3/4 French style leg, which includes the shank half plus half of the sirloin half, giving you three-quarters of a leg. Legs are usually roasted, but boneless legs of all sizes can be either rolled and tied or butterflied so that they lie flat for grilling or broiling. If a leg of any size has some meat cut away to expose the bone at the end, it's called a Frenched leg. If the bone at the end is simply lopped off, it's called an American leg.
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lamb leg chop, lamb leg steak, lamb round leg steak
lamb leg chop
Cut from the leg, these are usually braised, broiled, or grilled. They're available boneless or bone-in
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lamb loin chop, double loin chop, English chop, noisette
lamb loin chop
These are the lamb's answer to Porterhouse steaks. They're the most tender chops on the lamb, and they're usually grilled or broiled. They cook best if they're thick. A chop cut from the saddle (incorporating the loin roasts from both sides of the lamb) is called a double loin chop = English chop. Double loin chops include two pieces of tenderloin, two of the eye, and two T-bones, and they're usually formed into a tidy circle. If a single loin chop is boned and rolled, it's called a noisette.
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lamb loin roast, boneless loin roast, double loin roast, double loin roll
lamb loin roast
This is a very tender, flavorful, and expensive roast. If you want more servings, you can get a saddle of lamb = double loin roast, which combines the loin roasts from either side of the lamb. If boneless, a loin roast is called a loin roll = boneless loin roast = rolled lamb roast, or a double loin roll = rolled double lamb roast if made from the saddle.
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lamb neck slices, lamb neck for stew, lamb neck pieces, lamb stew bone-in
lamb neck slices
These are usually braised or made into stew.
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lamb rib chop, French lamb chop, Frenched lamb chop
lamb rib chop
These exquisite chops are cut from a rack of lamb. They usually contain one rib per chop, but you'll get a thicker and juicier steak with double cut lamb rib chop, which includes two ribs.
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lamb shank, lamb fore shank, lamb foreshank, lamb hind shank, lamb hindshank
lamb shank
When you buy this, you're usually getting the lamb fore shank = lamb foreshank, but sometimes you'll get the lamb hind shank = lamb hindshank. Don't confuse the shank with the shank half lamb leg, which is a bigger and nicer cut. Shanks are fairly lean and if they're braised slowly, the meat pulls apart into delicious, juicy strands. You can also cube the meat for stews or grind it. Lamb shanks can also stand in for veal shanks in osso bucco.
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lamb shoulder chop, lamb arm chop, lamb arm cut chop, lamb round bone chop
lamb shoulder chop
These chops are a bit chewy, but very flavorful. They're usually braised, broiled or grilled. The round bone in them is a cross-section of the arm bone.
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lamb shoulder roast, boneless rolled shoulder, lamb shoulder block
lamb shoulder roast
This is a tasty roast, but it's very hard to carve with the bone in. To make carving easier, butchers will bone it and sell it as a boneless rolled shoulder, or they'll slice the roast into blade chops and then tie them together as a pre-sliced shoulder roast = pre-carved shoulder roast
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lamb sirloin chop, lamb leg chop, lamb leg sirloin chop, lamb loin end steak
lamb sirloin chop
These are usually less expensive than loin chops, but almost as tender. It's best to grill or broil them.
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lamb sirloin roast
The sirloin is just next to the leg, and, in some parts of the country, this roast comes attached to a leg of lamb. This cut makes a tender, if bony, roast, or it can be sliced into sirloin steaks for grilling or broiling
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lamb spareribs, lamb riblets
lamb spareribs
These are cut from the breast and usually trimmed of fat. They're best broiled, barbecued or braised.
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lamb stew meat, lamb for stew
lamb stew meat
These are cubes of meat that are too tough to grill or broil. If cooking slowly in liquid, though, they become wonderfully tender
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rack of lamb, lamb rack roast, lamb rib roast
rack of lamb
This elegant roast includes eight ribs, and it's big enough to serve three. If the meat at the tips is cut away to expose the bones, it's called a French rack = Frenched rack. Make sure the butcher cracks the chine (backbone) between the ribs, so that the roast is easy to carve when you take it out of the oven. You can make a double French rack by leaning two French racks against each other, bone tips interlaced. You can also tie two or three French racks together, bone tips up, to form a crown roast of lamb for an elegant meal
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sirloin half of leg
sirloin half of leg
This is the upper half of a leg of lamb, and it makes a tender, but bony roast. Many people ask the butcher to bone this cut, then either roll and tie it or butterfly it.
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