/ck/ - Food & Cooking

lamb as a gamey flavor (which I love). Most people expect meat to be a neutral-ish medium only there to carry whatever they cook it with (spices, marinade, etc).

Plus there is the cuteness factor...

you associate with shit eaters and judge the entirety of America off of it. well done

>>4868000
>gamey flavor

I keep hearing this. Why do so many refer to it as "gamey?" Do they mean gamey like venison? Or do they mean gamey as in the meat actually tastes like something, as opposed to a boneless skinless chicken breast?

>>4867993
It's so expensive to buy so people usually don't cook it often. Where I live, there are Greek restaurants where I can get a roasted lamb dinner for $13-15, but if I were to buy a whole lamb leg to cook for my family that would set me back $60. So 4 dinners like the ones I can get in restaurants would set me back $20 per person

Can't speak for the rest of America but I simply dislike the taste. I'm not revolted by it but it's not favorable enough to be a regular staple of my home menu. I will eat it if a family member has me over and prepares it, however.

>>4868003
>well done

lel

I wish more places apart from middle-eastern restaurants served it. I don't like it myself but a close friend of mine has problems digesting the proteins in beef and pork but for whatever reason is fine with lamb, so when we go out for a quick bite we mostly wind up at kebab houses. It'd be nice to have some variety.

I'm told that most of the lamb we get in the US is for wool, and slaughtered after it outlives its usefulness as a wool machine.

The real reason is because the Beef Industry in the U.S is so powerful that they suppress a local Lamb industry. The only lamb people can get is mostly imported from Australia/New Zealand and comes with a hefty pricetag.

I love lamb but it's too expensive to enjoy regularly.

>>4868006
gamey like venison ya dingus, that's what it means.

>>4868052
the beef industry doesn't care what you eat at home, all their profit is in the fast food market.

>>4867993
It's not like Americans don't like lamb, lamb is just too expensive to be stocked in most supermarkets.
There's just not enough demand for it.
I seriously don't think I've had it outside of one time at a Greek restaurant.

Eid al-Adha is coming up.
On that day, it's traditional for some muslims to gift non-muslims fresh lamb meat. Last year, I was gifted half of a side of lamb. I was told that the lamb is symbolic of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son cuz god said so and good muslims are to willingly spend all this money to have a fresh lamb killed only to gift it to someone else (as sacrifice).
In muslim majority countries, they just give the lamb to the poor rather than non-muslims, though some muslims gift lambs to one another, avoiding the whole charitable spirit of the holiday altogether.

I was told that to have a whole lamb slaughtered and butchered costs $150USD, which seems /really/ fucking reasonable (considering the average carcass weighs about 65lbs).

So if you really, really want some lamb and you live in Freedumb, find a friend or few who also enjoy/s lamb, have one slaughtered and butchered for you and divide the meat and cost amongst you.

Is OP making one of those stupid Americans threads or is lamb actually rare in the states?

Garlic and rosemary roast lamb with mint sauce is my favourite food ever.

Because it's expensive.

>>4868071
>the beef industry doesn't care what you eat at home, all their profit is in the fast food market.

Oh ok, whatever you say. Not like I know for a fact or anything...
Oh and saying "the beef industry doesnt care about the domestic market" is fucking laughable.

>>4868129
Speaking as a rural American living near sheep farms, it's even pretty rare here. From what I understand for the rest of the country, it's hard to find outside of relatively upscale restaurants. I've only had it in a gyro before (which would be the exception to the mostly upscale restaurant rule). There's not a lot of food variety where I live, so the fact that I can't honestly remember seeing lamb chops on a menu ever doesn't mean much for America as a whole. Still, lamb's nowhere near as common or cheap as it is in Europe.

I grew up on lamb & trout.

Both very local.

Nowadays lamb comes from New Zealand & trout comes from fish hatcheries.

Both should be cheap, but each is very expensive.

How come?

>>4868129
>Is OP making one of those stupid Americans threads or is lamb actually rare in the states?
It's not rare like dog or quail or anything, but it's not super common either. I'd be surprised if I went over to someone's house and they served it to me for diner.

>>4867993
They are worth more for their wool than for their meat. So, the meat ends up being expensive. Goat is better anyway.

>>4868206
I buy goat cuz it's cheap. $2.49/lb in Philly from this mohammedan butcher I go to. Love that place, man.

>>4868233
Found a grocery with goat in Boise, but it's all frozen. Hoping to find some fresh.

>>4868241
The Chinese butchers in my area also sell goat but it's both frozen and more expensive than the muslim guy's place, so I just stick to giving my money to terrorist causes.

>>4868168
same reason oxtail is expensive

I hate how expensive it is in the US. I'm jealous of the poster who has access to a middle eastern butcher. I just want the cheapest cuts to make shawarma, but when I can find lamb or mutton in SW Missouri it's only leg of lamb, and pricey at that.

>>4868096

The Saudi students in my area apparently went to the Amish and bought them that way. Apparently it's the cheapest they could find, since they could butcher it themselves.

People who don't like lamb and call it "gamey" aren't generally talking venison or duck gamey, they're talking "I don't know what gamey is but this tastes like licking a bard door and people say lamb is gamey so that's gamey and I don't like it."

And that barn taste is to do with the flavor imparted by lanolin (which varies widely by breed) and seperate from any gamey taste native to lamb. Anyhow, more lanolin = better wool = taste many find offputting. Less lanolin = shit wool, but the animals also tend to put on weight more easily.

Long story short, New Zealand lamb is (still) primarily bred for its wool and tastes like licking a barn door. It's also shipped frozen, which along with being from wool-first animals means it's usually cheaper, so people usually buy it and have bad early experiences with lamb.

Australian (now) and small producer US are generally meat first breeds that graze grass, giving a plesant mild gamey taste without the barn door.

American stuff you get in a supermarket is usually meat first and grain fed and tastes 97% like beef so why the fuck bother.

Anywho. Lamb 101. At least from an American perspective. Shop accordingly.

>>4868529

In Australia we have different sheep for wool and meat, because of the reasons you just listed. lanolin oil tastes how sheep smell, it's what flavours the meat and is what causes some people to complain of having a "soapy" feeling in their mouth after eating lamb. it doesn't bother me too much, probably because I've been around sheep and used products with lanolin oil in them my whole life but I know my asian friends dislike it.

lanolin oil is great for you skin and hair, if you don't mind smelling sheepy.

This thread has me salivating for some good lamb. A nice leg roast with some crusty rosemary and garlic potatoes.


I really like the stronger flavour than other meats myself. I can't fathom the whole "barn door" thing someone mentioned though. Different animals have different tasting fats is all. I'm glad to live in a country where it's readily available.

>>4867993
this is how you do mutton

I'm American and I like lamb. :|
I never had it until I moved to Australia, and the lamb that I saw in the supermarket in America came from Australia (and was really expensive). Go figure.

>>4867993
because most people that say that never really had lamb, but an old sheep.
Or it wasn't trimmed/prepared properly.
Fresh lamb, cooked by someone knowing what he's doing, is awesome.

I think it is because most women in America prefer bland foods. You let them try something like lamb and they usually complain about how "strong" it tastes.

I'm an American who grew up having lamb every now and again. Usually roast at Easter with mint jelly, and sometimes in a tomato based stew with German style dumplings on top. It's not super unusual in the Northeast - you can find it in most supermarkets.

I've always liked it. Sometimes I'll slow cook a shank in tomatoes, garlic, onion, carrots and rosemary and use that as a pasta sauce. Fucking delicious.

If you like lamb you'll probably like goat as well. It's like a tastier version of lamb, unless some unscrupulous shithead pawns mutton off on you as goat. (Here in NYC a generation of Latinos have had that stunt pulled on them).

>>4869851
>You let them try something like lamb and they usually complain about how "strong" it tastes.
For a long time in America strong flavors were considered ethnic, and by extension low class. Men have gotten over this easier than women probably because consuming strongly flavored foods like hot peppers, mustard and wasabi is seen as macho. Women have no such incentive.

But Americans are better than they used to be about flavor. Back in my grandmother's day no one even used garlic except the Italians. You couldn't get olive oil. And the only people who ate Chinese food were Jews.

>>4868050
then it would be mutton and not lamb

>smells terrible
>tastes like shit
>looks terrible

The only people who eat lamb are arabs

I know I love gyros with lamb, and I've considered buying it despite the price, but I know I'll get bitched at when I serve it, "Why do think baby animals deserve to die? They probably split its neck and let it suffer." The sphere of empathy only seems to extend to the meat in the gyros and squid for some reason. I've explained that squid aren't that smart, it's octopuses that are intelligent.

Also it's not something I want to fuck up because of the price, I know the meat can easily be done incorrectly.

I fucking love it but it's so expensive

I made lamb just the other day.

>>4867993
American here OP, I eat lamb. I don't know what kind of idiots you were consorting with.

>>4868000

no it doesnt, game is strong flavored, lamb is sweet and tender

It hard to get good lamb here. I've started buying halal lamb just because it's the only way to get un-gamey lamb. It's like people don't understand that lamb has to be young, and you can't let the lanolin get on the meat or it games it up.

>>4869974
Looking good, anon

In Canada the only lamb you can get is overpriced previously frozen shit sent from New Zealand or overpriced locally farmed shit.

>>4869974
Everything looks dull as shit.

>>4869994
Well it was good as fuck so that's great.

>>4869974
nice, could use a better sear though. Get your pan hotter next time.

>>4870017
Was a charcoal grill. That was the first time I've ever made lamb though.

>>4869974

>six overcooked chops

You fat sloppy, destroyer of quality products I hope you die an agonizing and painful death.

>>4870026
Niggah please.

>>4869993
Well yeah, you mostly don't have the climate to keep sheep outside all year (except in BC) so that pushes up the cost a lot.
Round here? (The UK.) It's a common animal to raise, as they're hardy enough to withstand our winter normally and grass grows better than cereals. Still relatively expensive; I'm guessing that's because a lot of it is sold on the international market for premium prices.

because you cant get good scottish grass reared lamb :D

>>4869895
>unless some unscrupulous shithead pawns mutton off on you as goat. (Here in NYC a generation of Latinos have had that stunt pulled on them).
Care to elaborate on that stunt?

>>4870585
I think he's mistaken.
Mutton is more expensive than goat so if anything is getting pawned off as anything else it would be goat as mutton.
And this isn't specifically an American thing. In Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and India it happens all the time so much so, in fact, that the word 'kambing' which meant 'mutton' originally in Indo/Malay and Tagalog/Filipino now means both mutton and goat in Indo/Malay and has been supplanted for goat entirely in Tagalog/Filipino. Flips use 'tupa' for mutton now, but it's become something of a rarity in Filipino cuisine.