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Lamb lard?


Indirect Heat

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I recently cubed a leg of lamb for lamb kebabs. Unlike when I cook a whole leg of lamb and leave the fat on, I cut a lot of the fat off (otherwise I would have had cubes on skewers that were more or less entirely fat. I ended up with a pretty large pile of lamb fat, and I felt pretty bad tossing it. I still feel bad. Could I have rendered it to make lamb lard? What do folks do with leftover lamb fat?

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In Russian cooking lamb (or any other red meat) fat is called Salo. It very flavorful and could have been used in a number of dishes. The first thing that comes to mind rendering it in some sort of pilaf.

Also, you could always do a confit of lamb.

Here's another interesting thought that involves salting Pork Salo.

Original http://www.delaysam.ru/kulinariya/kulinariya34.html

Google Translation http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.delaysam.ru%2Fkulinariya%2Fkulinariya34.html

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Lamb fat can be easily overpowering, so I can see why it isn't commonly used as lard, though I'd imagine that somewhere in the world where sheep are the dominant protein it may be. People who don't like lamb are usually reacting to lamb cooked with too much fat.

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A bit off-topic here, but mutton tallow was traditionally used by wood workers to grease the soles of planes.....I guess bacon fat was used for cooking, beef tallow used for candles, but lamb and mutton was too, uh..overpowering for anything else.....

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I don't like lamb fat, mainly because of it's high melting point which makes it taste waxy in anything but piping hot food. Lamb cracklings, on the other hand, are food of the gods. I love them with salt, cumin & szechuan peppercorn. Render out the fat, strain out the bits, dust the bits with the spice mixture and scarf while still warm.

PS: I am a guy.

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The lamb I buy locally or from New Zealand is too lean for excess fat to be a problem. If roasting a leg with potatoes, I add olive oil or something else to get the browning. Loin chops have tasty fat, like you'de expect from a mini T-bone steak. I'm not a fan of the waxy tallow, as others mention.

A while back when I was trying to cook like a Viking I observed:

gallery_42214_5579_194323.jpg

Starting at 12 o'clock: blackberries, honeycomb, mutton, beef marrow bones, onions, spelt with sea salt and dill seeds in the centre. Note the geographically appropriate use of Ikea bowls.

I'd never worked with mutton before, but as a hardcore lover of lamb our union was inevitable. This sample was from a 3 year old ewe and let me tell you it was lovely -- nothing like what I'd heard and expected. My theory is that that the yucky mutton taste comes from peripheral fat and not from the meat or it's marbling -- just a theory.

Peter Gamble aka "Peter the eater"

I just made a cornish game hen with chestnut stuffing. . .

Would you believe a pigeon stuffed with spam? . . .

Would you believe a rat filled with cough drops?

Moe Sizlack

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I butcher my own lamb, so end up with a lot of this. I cook roast potatoes in it, to accompany roast lamb. The rest gets poured into half coconuts and hung in the trees for the birds. The confit idea must be worth a try though. I've made lamb shoulder confit a few times with duck fat, plus garlic and thyme. Shred it, moisten with fat and form a ballontine with clingflim. Refrigerate. When firm slice and fry to crisp. Gordon Ramsay lists this in a couple of his recipes from the 3 star chef book. I wouldn't worry about cubes of it on a kebab. I might not eat them but they'd moisten the other cubes as they cook. I've seen references to using the fat from the tail to do this on north african kebabs.

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