Lamb neck fillets

[Norman Walsh]

I have came across a couple of recipes lately using Neck end fillets and I am wondering where on the lamb this cut comes from.

One of the recipes had a picture and it looked like a tenderloin about 15cm long by 5cm diameter, in the recipes they are cooked quickly on both sides very much like beef fillets.

The only lamb neck end I have came across are neck end chops or scrag end and there is no way these can be cooked quickly, they are more for braising or stewing.

I have a feeling this cut has just been invented as I have a few butchery books and they are not mentioned.

Any idea anyone.

Norm

[CalumC]

As i know it, its a fillet much like a tenderloin, running up the neck. I have used it with great success in a tagine, cooked for a long time, and it worked out great. Lots of flavour from the muscle usage and a lovely texture as well. I could certainly see it being cut into fillets in the same way a beef fillet steak is, as you said, cooked quickly on either side.

Hope you have luck finding and using it.

[Duncan]

I have came across a couple of recipes lately using Neck end fillets and I am wondering where on the lamb this cut comes from.

One of the recipes had a picture and it looked like a tenderloin about 15cm long by 5cm diameter, in the recipes they are cooked quickly on both sides very much like beef fillets.

The only lamb neck end I have came across are neck end chops or scrag end and there is no way these can be cooked quickly, they are more for braising or stewing.

I have a feeling this cut has just been invented as I have a few butchery books and they are not mentioned.

Any idea anyone.

Norm

←

Lamb neck fillets from the middle neck would match your description of looks, size, and cooking. Are you sure the word 'end' hasn't got into the recipe by accident?

Sheepdrove have a list of lamb cuts on their site:

NECK FILLET

A lean and succulent cut, ideal for grilling on a barbecue or a cast-iron grill pan.

[kutsu]

I often get lamb neck fillet in my wellhungmeat.com meatbox - it's very nicest, not a soft as fillet, but very flavoursome.

[Norman Walsh]

Thanks for the replies, both recipes quoted Neck end fillet but after reading the posts I realise it must of meant Neck fillet.

I would still like to know the the actual location of it, as I cannot think it comes from the neck itself if its a tender cut.

Norm

[dougal]

Norman, this seems to have been concerning you for a while!

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=108760

You might be interested to see this photo-tutorial on butchering a lamb...

http://overthegate.myfreeforum.org/about20...0&postorder=asc

This guide is just one way of cutting up a lamb to end up with the traditional cuts of:-

2 x legs 2 x shoulders 2 x neck fillets ? x loin chops ? x saddle chops ...

and, should you need more detail than the neck fillet photo shows, I'm sure the poster would be delighted to provide more detail - he's still around.

Hope that this reassures you that the cut really does exist!

[Tim Hayward]

I have a feeling this cut has just been invented as I have a few butchery books and they are not mentioned.

←

Far from it, Norman. Both my mum and my Nan (now 98) are great fans of a 'nice bit of neck'. It's one of those cheap, old fashioned cuts like 'scrag end' that rarely makes polite recipe books.

I've seen neck two different ways. There's a kind of 'agneau dans la guillotine' slice-of-neck chop which looks exactly like you'd imagine then there's the longitudinal strap which, I guess, is the extreme and neglected end of the fillet. The lovely thing is the marbling. The strap is about as thick as two thumbs but but with a series of connective tissue/fat layers in a herringbone pattern.

Cut across the grain into big chunks it's the absolute favourite cut for stews. (Hotpot and Irish stew purists will argue with that), it also takes well to most of the obvious Maghrebi treatments and - God, I'm letting myself slip here - pressure cooking. It might be just me, but I find it much more strongly flavoured than any lamb fillet.

I keep a neck fillets in the freezer for stews and tagines - though only when Farmer Sharp can't provide me with mutton backstrap. That's a whole different thread

[muichoi]

Nothing wrong with pressure cooking-like pork fat, a vital part of the mediterranean diet ignored by foolish commentators. Properly done, it keeps freshness in long-cooked dishes, a kind of petit bourgeois sous-vide.

[Norman Walsh]

Norman, this seems to have been concerning you for a while!

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=108760

You might be interested to see this photo-tutorial on butchering a lamb...

http://overthegate.myfreeforum.org/about20...0&postorder=asc

This guide is just one way of cutting up a lamb to end up with the traditional cuts of:-

2 x legs 2 x shoulders 2 x neck fillets ? x loin chops ? x saddle chops ...

and, should you need more detail than the neck fillet photo shows, I'm sure the poster would be delighted to provide more detail - he's still around.

Hope that this reassures you that the cut really does exist!

←

Thanks Dougal,

I had a feeling I posted on this subject before but my memory is not what it used to be, old age is creeping on.

The photo-tutorial was good I am now reassured that the neck fillet exists.

Norm

Edited November 11, 2007 by Norman Walsh (log)

[Gary Marshall]

spooky, i was just asking the butcher yesterday if this was a cut he could do for me (i was thinking of making lancashire hot pot).

as expected little demand for it nowadays, end up in the lamb stewing meat.