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Vietnamese lamb ideas


pistolabella

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OK....so I'm making pho for the first time (starting broth tonight, feeling pretty confident about the recipe/process - it will be a beef pho). I decided to do this because I'm having a small dinner party (4 total people) tomorrow night, and after looking about, I realized I had many of the necessary ingredients on hand already for pho (good bones, good meat, all the spices). I then decided to make a few summer/fresh rolls based on a recipe I've used several times featuring shrimp, to accompany.

 

Now..I have approximately 1 pound of fresh lamb shoulder chops given to me by a friend that I would LOVE to some how incorporate into a Vietnamese inspired salad, appetizer, SOMETHING to accompany these two dishes I've decided to make. I've never cooked lamb shoulder chops period - only loin chops / lollipops. I'm open for suggestions on what I could possibly do with these shoulder chops that would compliment what I'm already serving. This is for tomorrow night, so I can do anything that allows me to prep/start tonight, or that I can get done in the 2 hours I'm home after work tomorrow before guests arrive. Hit me with your best ideas?

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Though lamb is not traditional it is a more fully flavored meat than much of our supermarket beef so it can work. I would turn this into a lettuce/herb/rice paper wrap party with nuoc mam cham dipping sauce. Cut the lamb into small bits, marinate in fish sauce/sugar/lime and broil or grill. Then let them roll away as they slurp the pho.

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Why not make a simple lettuce salad, grill the lamb simply with salt and white pepper to your desired doneness. Cool, slice, and dress with a balanced fish sauce lime juice sugar chili dressing.

I'd add some cucumber and radish for texture. This will showcase the lamb flavor just like heidih's suggestion above would.

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Great ideas! I am going to report back with what I do and how it turns out. I love the idea grilling the lamb and cooling it , and the dressing.

If you're doing that, make sure to get very lean lamb. Lamb fat gets unpleasantly waxy when cold and is not at all appetizing IMHO. Lamb with a lot of fat on it is best served warm.

PS: I am a guy.

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Good advice shalmanese I wasn't reading carefully and missed the cut of meat. with shoulder chops you'd want to cook longer past medium rare to render out some fat for this application.

The salad might work better with leg meat.

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Shoulder chops are a wonderful cut, but not served cold as noted by others.

Too late for your party, but for future reference: skewer cubed meat (with as much of the fat as you can tolerate),, season with freshly coarse-ground cumin, salt, cayenne, black pepper, then grill over medium fire ( it will only take a couple of minutes)..

Bob Libkind aka "rlibkind"

Robert's Market Report

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