Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
A word on lamb
Dinner went over well, I think, and the only reason we have an ass-ton of leftovers is the fact I cooked for eight and there were five us (two of whom have small appetites). But that’s how it always is when I cook for people, there are always leftovers.
For the lamb stew, I knew I would have to take steps to make the lamb less lamby. I was raised on lamb chops so the meat’s gaminess doesn’t bother me. But I know it bothers other people. Figuring that the gamy flavor comes from the fat, the first thing I did was to trim as much fat as possible from my cut, a boned leg of lamb. I cut it into chunks and trimmed away even more fat.
The next thing I did: I macerated the meat in salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, Spanish smoked paprika, coriander, cumin, lots of cinnamon, and a little bit of allspice and clove. That sat in my fridge for a couple of days. On the morning of the dinner, I floured the pieces and browned them in bacon fat and olive oil. Add some duck stock, a couple of bay leaves, and the diced up piece of bacon that had contributed its fat; bring to a boil. And now the real trick, the whole point of this post: I did a slow simmer in a 220 F oven for 3 or 4 hours.
There were enough spices on the meat that I didn’t need to adjust the seasonings one bit. I prepared my vegies separately (onions, carrots, yams, apricots, which I know are not vegies), added them in towards the end of the cooking time, and garnished with fresh parsley and cilantro.
Oh! The key point. Almost forgot. I poured off all the juices/broth from the meat and separated out all but about two tablespoons of the fat. No lamby gaminess! The meat was fork tender and tasted of lamb, but not overwhelmingly so. The cinnamon and other aromatic spices came through clearly.
Making b’stila with duck confit is probably not worth all the bother. It was better than the chicken version, but not that much better. We’re talking about a dish that’s pretty damned good to begin with. Still, it had been a few years since I had made a confit, and I was curious to try it again. Guess I could have made a duck salad with it. Ah, next time.
D.
I must confess that I am one of those who don’t like the flavour of lamb. People look at me like I’m nuts, but even a hint of muttony flavour puts me off. The only time I’ve enjoyed lamb is when it is so disguised that it doesn’t taste like lamb at all.
Funny, my reaction to sheep flavour is almost a visceral one – it isn’t one of ‘I don’t like this’, it is rather ‘this isn’t edible’.
I used smoked paprika on a Moroccan-style roast chicken (olives, lemons, onions, paprika, cumin, cinamon) the other night, and I must say that it adds real flavour to a dish.
We made braised lamb shanks in tomato sauce over polenta last night. OMFG! They were incredible, and the recipe was chimp-simple. I like the taste of slightly gamy lamb, but there was no muttony flavor in this at all.
Dean: I have to use the stuff in small quantities around here, since neither Jake nor Karen like to actually TASTE the stuff.
ps: it does look simple — like a fast ossobuco.