Cost of Lamb

[Ted Fairhead]

I would venture to say that lamb is probably the most unpopular meat in the U.S.

Why? Most of my friends and acquaintances have no reason for their bias, they simply say that they have never eaten it. Then when I cook it for them, either roast or rotisseried, they invariably exclaim with delight.

Here in the heart of pig country one cannot find lamb in most of the food stores and supermarkets. The one store that has a few pieces of lamb on display charges an exorbitant amount for it. Their prices are on a par with finest Black Angus Beef.

Can anybody explain this? Surely, the law of supply and demand should mean that lamb should be the lowest priced meat.

It seems only a few years ago, one could find lamb shanks for give away prices because nobody would use them. Today in our one "gourmet" store they are selling two scrawny foreshanks for $14.00

[Terrasanct]

I can't answer your question but I want to know why all the lamb in the market here (in Montana) is from Australia or New Zealand, when I see sheep all over the place out here. Where are the local lambs going?

[Ted Fairhead]

I can't answer your question but I want to know why all the lamb in the market here (in Montana) is from Australia or New Zealand, when I see sheep all over the place out here.  Where are the local lambs going?

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Good question! I have wondered the same thing. I don't believe that the bad ol' ranchers in the cowboy movies managed to drive out all of the despised sheep farmers, did they?

[Terrasanct]

I can get local beef and chickens, just not lamb. I've never figured it out. Maybe lamb is just expensive because they have to fly it from the other side of the planet. Maybe they're shipping Montana lamb to Australia?

[Jensen]

The ratio of the cost of production to yield is probably higher. You don't get the same amount of meat from a lamb as you do from cattle or hogs.

[jayt90]

Some farmers (and maybe ranchers, I'm way off base here) raise lambs for wool. Some breeds are better suited to this. When they are retired the meat won't get a good price, and may become pet food.

[Jensen]

One more reason why it's probably more expensive: economies of scale (or lack thereof). The level of production of lamb for meat must be dwarfed by the production of beef.

[tim]

Hi,

The problem with lamb is a simple supply/demand equation coupled with the economies of a small animal which is not easy or inexpensive to produce.

The demand problem goes back eons and relates to quality (think mutton), the unfortunate taste of lamb fat (less than wonderful), ingrained ideas requiring well-done meat (Yuck!), and poor marketing.

A close friend of mine worked for the Illinois Meat Producers Association (or something like that) that promoted Illinois PORK, Beef and lamb. (Notice the dropping importance)

About 10 years ago she was given a FREE trip to Australia that was designed to promote their lamb. She gave daily reports on local radio about the trips, sponsored by her Meat Producers Association. One day she talked about all of the lamb that "we had to eat". She specifically stated that she really disliked lamb but they had to eat what was served, like it or not.

The next day she talked about the wonderful meal she had enjoyed. The meat was fabulous, rare, tender, well sauced and had a wonderful flavor. One of the finest meals she ever had. She asked the host about the meat and was shocked to hear that it was lamb. Especially shocked since, "I don't like lamb and never will."

After questioning, she admitted that the dish was rare leg of lamb, obviously stripped of most of the fat before roasting. I was served rare and without fat and she loved it. (She also admitted that the Illinois lamb producers were very angry about her reports.

She was coming to my house for dinner and I wanted to serve rare leg of lamb. I was overruled and we served beef. Later, we talked about the dinner and she was extremely relieved that I didn't serve lamb since, "I just don't like lamb."

Some people are really slow learners.

Tim

[Rebecca263]

I adore lamb, lamb fat (ooh, broiled extra with salt and rosemary on it!) and I also adore mutton! Maybe because of my Middle Eastern background, I'm unsure of the reason. Because of my fondness for lamb, I've served a LOT of it, and often, at dinner parties, cocktail parties, barbecues and even at breakfast for visitors- it always gets eaten up happily by omnivores. I never heard that people don't care for it, I actually have the impression that people adore it and find it to be a rare yet wondrous animal to eat.

[Peter the eater]

Here in the heart of pig country one cannot find lamb in most of the food stores and supermarkets. The one store that has a few pieces of lamb on display charges an exorbitant amount for it.  Their prices are on a par with finest Black Angus Beef.

Can anybody explain this?  Surely, the law of supply and demand should mean that lamb should be the lowest priced meat.

Around here (Eastern Canada) local lamb is better and a little bit cheaper than the frozen Kiwi (NZ) stuff. Fresh legs, shanks and shoulders are all around 10 - 12 $CAD per kilogram. Loins and racks etc. are a lot more. Stuff from nearby would be even better priced if it were not for the coyotes - this invasive species has been a very big reason the market is still small.

[rlibkind]

At Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market leg on the bone can be obtained at US$4.99/pound, which is pretty much the same price as Peter the Eater cites for eastern Canada.

The popularity of shanks has, unfortunately, driven up its price.

But I'm a lover of fatty cuts, so shoulder is less expensive than leg, and breast even cheaper. I love the fatty cuts so much that about a month ago I asked one of the butchers at the Reading Terminal Market to save me the trimmings from when he frenches rib chops, which he usually puts into the grinder. He sold me a two pounds, which included the ends from the breast riblets with a little bit of bone, for what worked out to be US$1.80/pound. They were yummy, after marination in yogurt, then highly seasoned before indirect grilling.

[viva]

the unfortunate taste of lamb fat (less than wonderful)

It's unfortunate? Is that a common conception? Are you talking when rendered and used on its own (I've never done that) or just in general?

I've always thought it was pretty damn tasty when I've been eating my lamb chops (especially when they've got a nice dusting of herbs and salt, maybe grilled with a little mustard glaze, and I can pick the whole chop up by the bone and eat it with my fingers... that, my friends, is heaven).

You are right though... I don't see a lot of lamb in stores, and I definitely don't see the local producers at the farmers' markets selling lamb (if anyone knows of any in the Raleigh-Durham area, please point them out!!).

[weinoo]

I recently had a dinner party where I served lamb two ways - shoulder braised with apricots and raisins (sort of tagine like) and butterflied, marinated leg - cooked on a grill pan. It was fresh Colorado lamb, bought at a good butcher (Florence Meat Market) here in NYC. Both preparations were pretty much devoured by everyone in attendance.

The shoulder had a few of the little riblets attached - this is one of the tenderest, most delicious pieces of lamb I've ever eaten!! When I lived in California and had a backyard, I would often get lamb ribs - they are awesome on the grill!

ETA - I paid around $5.99/ lb. for the leg and $3.99 for the shoulder.

Edited July 10, 2007 by weinoo (log)

[LittleLea]

Today in our one "gourmet" store they are selling two scrawny foreshanks for $14.00 

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Wow. I guess I am lucky. At my supermarket they always have lamb (though the cuts are just luck of the draw, you never know what they will have). I bought 2 lamb shanks for dinner tonight for $3 each.

[hummingbirdkiss]

There is a terrible bias against lamb and I just can not understand it!

it the most wonderful meat I know ..my favorite is actually mutton but lamb is right up there

I have found that I can find it in some regular markets but as this thread states it is very pricey!..at Easter I always buy a couple of legs on sale but that is the only bargain time for most places..

I dont mind NZ lamb but it is very mild and I love the flavor of the meat and the NZ is so mild is not always what I am looking for... unless I just want to sear it on the grill or something

I have found that at Somali or Ethiopian or any HALAL market you can either find lamb or you can ask them about a local butcher who sells it.

Many Muslim families enjoy this wonderful meat buying it from a Halal butcher.. who does it specially for them (both lamb and goat) I have purchased a half lamb cut and wrapped (not one bit missing) for a very decent price that way.

my problem is I dont currently have a freezer other than the one on my fridge so I can not do that this year

so my suggestion to cut cost and obtain wonderful meat ...check in the Middle Eastern/Muslim/Somali or Ethiopean communities (both in the US and Canada for sure) it is the best place to locate local fresh lamb meat for a very decent price

good luck

[Dave Hatfield]

I don't understand why one of our favorite meats is so hard to get. And expensive.

When we lived in Chicago the situation was so bad that we would share a whole lamb with friend who lived in Spokane. His local butcher would cut it up to our preferences, package it & flash freeze it. Our friend would then FedEx it to us. Fairly expensive, but it worked.

Here in France we have no problem. The French love lamb. We get most of ours from Bernard who is a local sheep farmer (less than half a mile away) We normally buy a half lamb at a time for 10 Euros per kilo. (about $6.00 per pound) He is very 'green' in his raising & goes to a special 'humane' abbitoir. The meat is beaturifully packed when it arrives. Its some of the best lamb I've ever tasted.

The cost per pound is about the same, perhaps a little less than beef. Pork is the cheap meat here, and very good pork it is too.

Beef is the problem here. The French like it very lean & they don't hang it for very long. The result to the American palate is not very flavourfull and relatively tough. THe local supermarket got in some Irish beef ribs the other week which were great. We bought as many as we could find room for in the freezer.

If anybody wants a recipe for most any part of a lamb just let me know. I have a lot.

[Hest88]

Oddly enough, DH and I have concluded that we don't like the Colorado lamb chops we've gotten, and much prefer the NZ chops. The Colorado ones seem less fatty--thus tougher and less flavorful. I'm sure that's not totally the case, but just our experience with what's available locally.

[phaelon56]

In terms of sales volume I think goat meat is a far less popular meat than lamb in the US market. Yes - we do have specific Muslim communities and folks from the Caribbean diaspora who consume goat regularly but it's difficult to find it in any mainstream grocery store - even a well stocked one.

I happen to love goat met yet when I mention that fact to people the typical reaction is a roll of the yes followed by an emphatic "Yuck!". I counter by asking if they have ever tried lamb. Most respond in the affirmative and 75% of those admit to enjoying lamb. And they're surprised when I describe goat as vaguely reminiscent of lamb but with a more delicate and subtle flavor.

What surprised me was the radical difference in taste I experienced last summer between two separate batches of ground lamb. I made hamburg style patties from the first batch, grilled them to medium and served with a bit of BBQ sauce (heresy I'm sure but very tasty).

A few weeks later I bought another package of ground lamb from the same store and prepared the patties in an identical fashion. This time they tasted really gamey and less than delicious. The meat was not spoiled. What gives? Why would ground lamb vary so wildly in terms of flavor? Was it likely to be related to the age of the sheep?

[JohnRov]

I can't answer your question but I want to know why all the lamb in the market here (in Montana) is from Australia or New Zealand, when I see sheep all over the place out here.  Where are the local lambs going?

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They're obviously off lobbying for more importation of foreign lamb! Smart move.

[Peter the eater]

At Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market leg on the bone can be obtained at US$4.99/pound, which is pretty much the same price as Peter the Eater cites for eastern Canada.

The popularity of shanks has, unfortunately, driven up its price.

But I'm a lover of fatty cuts, so shoulder is less expensive than leg, and breast even cheaper. I love the fatty cuts so much that about a month ago I asked one of the butchers at the Reading Terminal Market to save me the trimmings from when he frenches rib chops, which he usually puts into the grinder. He sold me a two pounds, which included the ends from the breast riblets with a little bit of bone, for what worked out to be US$1.80/pound. They were yummy, after marination in yogurt, then highly seasoned before indirect grilling.

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Spot on Bob.

As far as I'm concerned, flavour rules. Unless you are in a rush and need medium rare lamb for your dinner party or whatever, take some time and coax the best out of that "cheaper cut". Shanks are good, shoulders even better.

[Malkavian]

In NC you can get lamb, but be prepared to pay for it. My parents both had lamb growing up and dislike it, I imagine because 1 grandparent is just a lousy savory-foods cook, the other believes pink meat will kill you so any lamb my mom had was invariably far overdone. I cooked a rare or med rare leg once at home on the holidays and both parents pronounced it the best they'd ever had.

It seems a vicious circle. People don't experiment with it because it's expensive, which means the economies of scale don't work out, so it stays expensive. *someone* must be buying the stuff though, as I rarely see any marked down due to sell-by date.

[BarbaraY]

An appropriate subject because today I picked up two lamb shanks fir $5.00. They had been marked down for quick sale since the pull date is tomorrow. There was only one other package in the meat case and it was marked $4.99 per lb.

Rack and chops go for about $15.00 to $17.00, leg is usually around $5.00.

In the spring I bought a whole shoulder and cut it up myself which is my usual way of buying most lamb.

Locally the shoulder is usually trimmed of the rib bits and then sawed into slabs and tied into a "roast". When I was still learning to cook, I tried roasting one of these things. Between the slabs of meat, fat and bone the blood cogulates into nasty looking clots.

If I want the whole shoulder I have to request the butcher save one for me.

Oddly enough, DH and I have concluded that we don't like the Colorado lamb chops we've gotten, and much prefer the NZ chops. The Colorado ones seem less fatty--thus tougher and less flavorful. I'm sure that's not totally the case, but just our experience with what's available locally.

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I prefer the NZ chops to the American grown lamb that's available here unless it's what the 4H kids have grown for the Fair. Our local stores buy at least one or two each and it's very good meat. (Hurray! It's Fair week here!)

In terms of sales volume I think goat meat is a far less  popular meat than lamb in the US market. Yes - we do have specific Muslim communities and folks from the Caribbean diaspora who consume goat regularly but it's difficult to find it in any mainstream grocery store - even a well stocked one.

I happen to love goat met yet when I mention that fact to people the typical reaction is a roll of the yes followed by an emphatic "Yuck!".  I counter by asking if they have ever tried lamb.  Most respond in the affirmative and 75% of those admit to enjoying lamb.  And they're surprised when I describe goat as vaguely reminiscent of lamb but with a more delicate and subtle flavor.

What surprised me was the radical difference in taste I experienced last summer between two separate batches of ground lamb. I made hamburg style patties from the first batch, grilled them to medium and served with a bit of BBQ sauce (heresy I'm sure but very tasty). 

A few weeks later I bought another package of ground lamb from the same store and prepared the patties in an identical fashion.  This time they tasted really gamey and less than delicious.  The meat was not spoiled.  What gives?  Why would ground lamb vary so wildly in terms of flavor?  Was it likely to be related to the age of the sheep?

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I've quit buying pre ground lamb as I've had the same problem. Now I grind my own so I can see what I'm getting.

My late SO, like many of the locals, told me he didn't like lamb. First time I got him into a Basque restaurant he changed his mind.

[adegiulio]

Maybe it's because lambs are so darn cute.

We have a local guy selling lamb. Unfortunately, he FREEZES everything prior to sale. Stupid stupid stupid...

[phaelon56]

If I had a bigger freezer or a crowd to cook for (it's usually just me and on occasion one guest) I could just go to one of our better local Middle Eastern markets. They get fresh whole lamb and goat carcasses in every Thursday. I haven't yet tried the lamb yet but I did buy half a goat that was divvied up between a Haitian friend in Ithaca, a Jamaican friend in Buffalo and me. I don't have enough experience to have a good reference point for goat meat quality but both of them advised me that it was the best that they'd had in quite some time.

The half goat was about $45 - I suspect he has a good price on lamb also.

[pax]

I am really interested in this because I have just started keeping sheep. (I am not new to farming and livestock, though, just sheep.)

My sheep do not need to pay for themselves, but I can see that in not too long a time, I am going to be oversupplied with (neutered) ram lambs.

How do I get the average foodie interested in taking some of these things off my hands?