# My first lamb experience {eating}



## elevan (Aug 28, 2011)

Yesterday I attended Ohio State's Parasitology Field Day at a sheep farm that had registered polypays - a wool breed.  Got my FAMACHA training by handling their sheep.  They were a calm, mild mannered breed...very easy to handle the ram lambs.

I also got to try my first taste of lamb.  I have to say that I'm not entirely sure that I like it  :/  DH enjoyed it but it just wasn't a taste that I thoroughly enjoyed.  They cooked down a leg of lamb...lightly seasoned...then shredded for sandwiches.  I'm told that wool breeds and hair breeds taste differently so I'll give it a try at least 2 more times before I completely pass judgement on taste.  I also understand that this was one style of cooking and it was intended to give us the full on flavor of the lamb without any competing flavor profiles.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Aug 28, 2011)

Penzeys Greek seasoning, some olive oil, a little extra garlic.    Crank your oven up to like 400 and sear the outside, then cook it low and slow for a while and keep basting it.  Serve sliced with cucumbers, olives, feta, fresh pitas or flat bread, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, plain yogurt, etc.     


   <excusing herself to go start dinner because I'm hungry now>


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## goodhors (Aug 28, 2011)

Have to say most folks cook leg of lamb too much, meat is not the least bit pink.
Makes it a bit dry and doesn't help the flavor at all.  We see it commonly at places
fixing meat to serve multitudes like the Buyer's dinner at the 4-H Fair.  I LOVE lamb, 
but that stuff would turn you off lamb meat in one bite!

We eat leg of lamb, all the lamb meats on a regular basis, and it is delicious.  Flavors
may vary a bit, same as pot roast in the kettle and steak off the grill, vary in beef.

We almost always use some garlic cooking meats, which will enhance the good flavors 
for you.  But a light application is best.  Husband is emphatic that lamb chops be cooked
for VERY short times in the broiler or on the grill.  Can depend on the thickness, but still
only a COUPLE minutes a side or less on thin cuts.

Anyplace you can go to a Greek resturaunt?  They almost always are GOOD with lamb
dishes.  Eating some good lamb will entice you to trying it at home.  Get some suggestions
on cooking from the Greek Chef! Or get a Greek cookbook for ideas.  Lamb done right is 
well worth any extra effort.  And after having done it a couple times yourself, lamb will 
be no effort for you at all!

We use the burger in any dish you would use hamburger.  One real good dish is rice, lamb
burger and raisins mixed with spice for flavor, easy to tweak to suit your family.  Husband 
made it up one day, thinking back to some meal in his past.  Tastes great, everyone likes it.
And we always get questions about the meat when we serve lamb, "Really good, but I don't 
recognize the cut of beef?"  They are always surprised to find they had lamb.

Good taste is in how lamb is prepared, less cooking time is better than overdoing the meat, 
drying it out, get the stringy effect.  Proper application of some herbs and spices, to enhance
flavors, not cover it up.

So you need to find a place that fixes lamb WELL, to use up your next two chances on!


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## elevan (Aug 28, 2011)

Thanks for the suggestions    I firmly believe that you can't say you don't like something unless you've tried it 3 times, 3 different ways.


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## Beekissed (Aug 29, 2011)

I tried my hair sheep wether lamb in the crockpot and also stir fried....both times were very tasty and juicy.  He was entirely grass fed, so this might make a difference, I don't know.  Sort of tasted like very young venison.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Aug 29, 2011)

Oh and when you cook it don't trim off ANY of the fat.  It's not a meat that is very often marbled so you need that fat layer to basically baste it with.  And agreed on not over cooking.


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## manybirds (Aug 29, 2011)

elevan said:
			
		

> Yesterday I attended Ohio State's Parasitology Field Day at a sheep farm that had registered polypays - a wool breed.  Got my FAMACHA training by handling their sheep.  They were a calm, mild mannered breed...very easy to handle the ram lambs.
> 
> I also got to try my first taste of lamb.  I have to say that I'm not entirely sure that I like it  :/  DH enjoyed it but it just wasn't a taste that I thoroughly enjoyed.  They cooked down a leg of lamb...lightly seasoned...then shredded for sandwiches.  I'm told that wool breeds and hair breeds taste differently so I'll give it a try at least 2 more times before I completely pass judgement on taste.  I also understand that this was one style of cooking and it was intended to give us the full on flavor of the lamb without any competing flavor profiles.


I hear if you don't process it rite that the meat will get a 'wooly' taiste


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## elevan (Aug 29, 2011)

It wasn't wooly, it wasn't gamey.  It was moist and lightly seasoned.  DH enjoyed it very much and ate his and my portions.  If I took a small bite it was ok...larger bites of it just turned me off.  It had a flavor that I just didn't care for.  Most everyone (about 100 or so people) enjoyed it very much.  I really think that it was handled and cooked properly and the the problem was me...my view of the flavor.


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## aggieterpkatie (Aug 29, 2011)

Lamb definitely has a distinct flavor. I love it, but not everyone does.  I don't think it tastes like beef or venison or anything...just lamb.     Goodhors is right, it has to be cooked to medium or at most med. well.  Overcooked lamb is not good.  And I really don't think there's much difference in breeds as far as flavor of the meat. I think it's more to do with diet and age and proper cooking.


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## ksalvagno (Aug 29, 2011)

I also had the same lamb as elevan. I do believe it was cooked properly. Very moist. I also didn't care for the taste of lamb. The texture was good, didn't taste overcooked. But the way they did it was to give you an actual lamb flavor. I just didn't care for that particular flavor. My DH was happy to know I wouldn't be adding sheep to the farm.


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## Bossroo (Aug 29, 2011)

My father in law says that he can taste the wool so he wouldn't eat lamb      ...   I bar b q lamb whole  in a dug out pit all the time for large groups . I serve it HOT , freshly cut off the carcass and served on HOT metal  plates on wood platers.           Then my father in law tried  this type of cooking... now he always has at least 3 helpings and just LOVES it.       For those that have an issue with lamb taste is ... The best way to enjoy lamb is to serve it on a very HOT metal plate where the meat stays hot to the last bite.      This is due to the fact that the ovine fat congeels as it cools and leaves a coating in the mouth that some people may object to.      Now my father in law loves to eat lamb at our house every time he comes to visit no matter the type of cooking...  the method of serving makes the real difference !!!


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## manybirds (Aug 29, 2011)

could it have been the seasoning?


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## goodhors (Aug 29, 2011)

manybirds said:
			
		

> I hear if you don't process it rite that the meat will get a 'wooly' taiste


This would probably not be from processing, but from butchering an older animal, over a year old.  For some reason when 
the lambs start getting in their adult teeth, taste changes to "mutton" flavor.  People raised with mutton in their diet like the flavor,
enjoy the meat.  They may even prefer it over the younger lamb meat.  Our family loves lamb meat, but NOT mutton flavor 
of older sheep.  Guess mutton is an "aquired taste" like some other foods.

There is one of those "legal loopholes" in the law, that allows Western States sheep raisers to sell sheep as lamb on the package
labels.  Packages are marked "Western lamb", but the animals are almost 18 to 24 months old, because they can't make market 
weight of 130 pounds grazing their first year.  Took us a couple packages of that stuff to learn we didn't like it, flavor was of
older sheep, not lambs at all.  Then we learned WHY Western Lamb tasted so bad (to us) and warned our friends and family about it.

We raise our own lambs now or buy at the local Fair Auction of meat animals.  Money goes the the kids, which makes you feel good.
  You get a good product either way with excellent flavor.


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## Bossroo (Aug 29, 2011)

The age and taste is true when lamb becomes mutton.  I also Bar B Q   OLD  worn out ewes by brining them whole in a 55 gal drum for a couple days, then pit BBQ them whole in basting them every @15 min. with a can of beer and making a 1/4 turn for about 6 hrs untill the meat is completly done. I have served the meat for groups up to 30 people at a time and all come back for seconds with satisfied compliments afterwards. As I stated earlier, the best way to serve the meat is on HOT steel plates for those people that have not indulged in lamb or mutton before.


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## Natisha (Sep 14, 2011)

Silly me, I thought this was about a first time newborn lamb.


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## Beekissed (Sep 16, 2011)




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## elevan (Sep 17, 2011)

Natisha said:
			
		

> Silly me, I thought this was about a first time newborn lamb.


No need to hide    Sorry about that - I changed the title for ya.


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## Javamama (Sep 17, 2011)

I don't like lamb either -and I know exactly what you mean about the flavor. I've tried it over and over and blech.


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