Lamb Stock & Lamb Fat

[phatj]

Last night, after boning the leg of lamb I roasted for tonight's dinner, I discovered I had bones and assorted fatty trimmings from three legs (I'm guessing it was about three pounds total), so I decided to make stock.

The stock smelled wonderfully lamb-y as it was simmering. However, after skimming (and reserving) the fat, then straining and reducing the stock, I'm left with about a cup of hyper-concentrated lamb-flavored fat and a quart of tasty, but only vaguely meaty, and ever-so-slightly lamb-y stock.

I know that a lot of chemicals that give food their aromas and flavors are fat-soluble; however, from my experience with other stocks I was expecting more flavor of the meat to assert itself in the stock, especially after reduction. (I had about six quarts to start with, and it's reduced to less than one right now.) (Full disclosure: I didn't have enough time to simmer the stock as long as I would have liked. It was only about five hours. Nevertheless, I was expecting more flavor.)

Is this normal? Is lamb different from other meats in that it's flavoring compounds are mostly insoluble in water? Or did I just not simmer it enough?

In the meantime, what do I do with this stuff? The fat, particularly. I thought about roasting potatoes in it to go with the lamb, but I was afraid they would be too strong-tasting even for me, and I love lamb. I don't have sausage-making equipment, or I might try that. Other ideas?

What about the stock, too? It's a little sweet as it is, from I'm guessing Maillard reactions while reducing. Reducing it further would make it too sweet to use full strength, but diluting it would render it awfully bland.

[Shalmanese]

I've generally never found much use for lamb fat. It's melting point is too high so unless you're serving food piping piping hot, it becomes unpleasantly waxy. Did you simmer the fat with the stock?

The lamb stocks I've made have all been full bodied and aromatic, I don't know whats up with yours. You could always beef it up(no pun intended) with some demi-glace if you have that lying around. Before shanks became trendy thing du jour, they were fantastic for making stocks with. Braise it just for 3 hours and then make the meat into shepards pie and have stock as well.

Edited March 30, 2007 by Shalmanese (log)

[phatj]

I've generally never found much use for lamb fat. It's melting point is too high so unless you're serving food piping piping hot, it becomes unpleasantly waxy. Did you simmer the fat with the stock?

The lamb stocks I've made have all been full bodied and aromatic, I don't know whats up with yours. You could always beef it up(no pun intended) with some demi-glace if you have that lying around. Before shanks became trendy thing du jour, they were fantastic for making stocks with. Braise it just for 3 hours and then make the meat into shepards pie and have stock as well.

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I did simmer the fat with the stock. I usually do for whatever stock I'm making, because I find it easier to remove the fat after the fact if there's a good thick solid cap of it on top of the stock after chilling.