Growing up, we never ate lamb. Our family harbored no prejudice toward it. We lived in the Midwest. Beef and pork dominated the domain of red meat and left little room for interlopers.
What we were blind to then but know now is that we endured a deprived childhood. Oh yes, we thought we were happy. We thought we had what we needed. But a life without lamb? That’s no kind of life.
We did not suffer alone. Turns out, the United States is a lamb-poor nation. Almost half of Americans have never eaten lamb. The average American eats less than a pound of lamb annually. The rest of the world laps us at over four pounds by person. Australia and New Zealand—two countries that know how to enjoy themselves—they average between 25 and 26 pounds.
If you are a lamb novice, which cut do you take on your maiden voyage? We asked meat authority Stanley Lobel of Lobel’s of New York (pictured here), and he said, “Rack of lamb is easily my favorite cut of lamb. It’s the best–the softest, sweetest, most flavorful cut. It comes from a part of the lamb that doesn’t get much movement, which results in a very soft, tender cut of meat.”
Lobel’s sent us a Frenched Rack of Lamb to sample. Disappoint, it did not. We packed it with butter, rosemary, thyme and mint and cooked it sous vide at 134°F for three hours. Sous vide is method so simple yet so flawless that it feels like cheating. It delivered lamb at every-inch medium rare.
We still needed to caramelize the meat’s crust and render its fat. We usually do this with a hard sear in a cast-iron skillet. But we had a new toy. We fired up our Rösle Kitchen Torch and flame finished our lamb.
We served our masterpiece with roasted asparagus and mashed cauliflower to a tableful of friends, including several lamb novices. Any leftovers? Not a scrap. Any complaints? Only about the host’s jokes.
Rack of lamb ranks as Lobel’s most popular cut. Without question, it is the gold standard. But, don’t limit yourself. We sometimes substitute ground lamb for ground beef. Ground lamb is distinctive, sweet and succulent. It makes fantastic hamburgers or meatballs, like these.
We at G@H love beef. We love pork. You should eat beef and pork. But you should also eat lamb because it, too, is delicious red meat.
