From the Butcher to the Kitchen
Before you start cooking lamb in the kitchen you need to know what to look for at the butcher or grocery store. Lamb sold in the supermarket has been slaughtered when 6 to 12 months old. (When the animal is slaughtered past the first year, the meat must be labeled mutton.) Generally, younger lamb has a milder flavor that most people prefer. The only indication of slaughter age at the supermarket is size. A whole leg of lamb weighing 9 pounds is likely to have come from an older animal than a whole leg weighing just 6 pounds. Read on to learn about the cuts of lamb we use most often in our recipes. Note that most markets contain just a few of our favorite cuts, and you may need to special-order lamb.
Bone-In Leg of Lamb
The whole leg generally weighs 6 to 10 pounds (although smaller legs from younger lambs are available) and includes both the wider sirloin end and the narrower shank end. An entire leg of lamb consists of three main parts:
1. Up near the hip is the butt end (which includes the sirloin, or hip meat).
2. Below that is the shank end. We prefer the shank end, which is easier to work with and yields more meat. Make sure the butcher has removed the hip bone and aitchbone or carving will be very difficult.
3. At the bottom is the shank, or ankle. Shanks are full of meat and connective tissue, so they are best served braised.
BEST METHODS: Roasting, Grilling
Butterflied Boneless Leg of Lamb
A leg of lamb is so big and so tricky to cook that we generally opt for a boneless leg, which is usually butterflied into a single piece of varying thickness. This cut can be grilled as is (the thicker parts will provide rare or medium-rare meat for those who like it) or stuffed, rolled, and tied.
BEST METHODS: Roasting, Grilling
Rack of Lamb
The equivalent to prime rib on a cow, this cut is extremely flavorful and tender. It's also very expensive. A single rack of domestic lamb weighs about 2 pounds and contains seven to nine rib bones that arc from the loin, depending on how the meat has been butchered.
BEST METHODS: Roasting, Grilling
A Note on Frenching
Traditionally, lamb racks are spiffed up via “frenching,” a process that involves cutting away the sinew, fat, and small bits of meat that cover the bones. It can be tedious work, but happily, butchers often take care of this so it’s easy to find a roast that is just about oven-ready. The rack above is frenched, while the rack pictured in #3 Rack of Lamb is “unfrenched.”
Shoulder Chop
These roughly rectangular chops are cut from the shoulder area and contain a piece of the chine bone (the backbone of the animal) and a thin piece of the blade bone (the shoulder blade of the animal). Their texture is chewy but not tough, and their flavor is assertive. These chops are slightly fattier than round-bone chops.
BEST METHODS: Grilling, Braising
Lamb Shank
Don't let the odd shape of a shank intimidate you; they are incredibly flavorful and inexpensive to boot. Logically enough, shanks can come from either the front legs (fore shanks) or back legs (hind shanks) of the lamb. To maximize flavor, it is best to cook lamb shanks until the meat is almost falling off the bone. There are two reasons for this: First, long cooking turns the shanks' tough collagen into meltingly tender gelatin. Second, a slow braise gives the lamb time to render its fat. Once the fat is rendered, it can be skimmed from the dish and discarded.
BEST METHODS: Braising, stewing
