Milk-fed lamb

[&roid]

At the weekend we had a few friends over so decided to get something a bit different. Having just come back from a week in Spain I went trawling through my favourite online Spanish food place and found a good deal on their milk fed lamb. 
 

They import this direct from the continent and sell it in halves or quarters, the lambs being slaughtered no more than 35 days old.  
 

I ordered two quarters, a forequarter:

 

 

and a hindquarter which I split the leg off:

 

 

I salted them up and left to dry in the fridge overnight. 
 

To cook them I started early Saturday morning using my favourite lamb method from Neil Rankin’s Low and Slow - 120°C oven for however long it takes to get fully tender. With an older lamb shoulder this is around 5-6 hours. This younger version took about 3.5 to get nice and soft and yielding.  The method calls for roasting the meat on a rack over some water (+/- some whole garlic cloves).

 

Meat just out of the oven after the first step:

 

[jmacnaughtan]

Looks great. I'm a huge fan of Spanish style milk-fed lamb.

[&roid]

Once the meat is done I rest everything for at least an hour basting with the cooking liquid every so often. As it cools the rendered fat starts to solidify so you build up a layer of it on the skin of the meat. As a final step you crank the oven up really high (230-250°C), and roast for a final 20 minutes or so to crisp everything up. 
 

 

This is such a forgiving recipe - super simple and as long as you have a few hours it’s pretty much foolproof. The resting gap needs to be at least an hour, but I’ve done as much as four with no problems. This makes it a great method if you’re entertaining - really can’t go wrong. 
 

Once crisped, the meat was absolutely gorgeous. Soft and juicy it pulled away from the bone with no effort at all. The flavour is delicate and creamy, a little like suckling pig and… OMG, that skin!

 

 

I did a side of herby beans topped with breadcrumbs and some grated Comte, they were nice but this was all about the meat!

 

 

Young lamb is not something we see every day over here but if you come across any I’d definitely recommend giving it a go. 

[Teronms]

I've never eaten young lamb in my life. But your shots look so deliciuos that I can taste it from the screen... 

[KennethT]

My wife recently came back from a work trip to Ribera del Duero where she had the suckling lamb.  Your photos are better than hers!!!

[&roid]

7 hours ago, KennethT said:

My wife recently came back from a work trip to Ribera del Duero where she had the suckling lamb.  Your photos are better than hers!!!

bet she had some cracking wine out there - I love a good Ribera 

[farcego]

suckling lamb, and pig are really stunners on the oven!!

[&roid]

6 hours ago, farcego said:

suckling lamb, and pig are really stunners on the oven!!

I got a rotisserie attachment for my kamado grill last year… think I’ll have to have a go with a suckling pig/lamb on that at some stage

[liuzhou]

Right next door to my apartment is 5-star hotel complete with a number of restaurants. The main banqueting restaurant does an amazing roast suckling pig. Of course, I don't eat banquets every day or even every month so I don't get it that often. But I do smell them cooking. Torture!

 

 

As to lamb, the best I've ever eaten was Gower Salt Marsh Lamb from Wales. To die for.

Edited April 30, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[&roid]

21 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Right next door to my apartment is 5-star hotel complete with a number of restaurants. The main banqueting restaurant does an amazing roast suckling pig. Of course, I don't eat banquets every day or even every month so I don't get it that often. But I do smell them cooking. Torture!
 

As to lamb, the best I've every eaten was Gower Salt Marsh Lamb from Wales. To die for.

Salt marsh lamb is great isn’t it. My parents live quite near to the gower so we have it from time to time. That website you linked looks great - half a lamb for £80, fully butchered isn’t bad at all for decent stuff.