Lamb is a common term for what you will see in a butchers shop if you are buying meat as well as a young sheep running around in a paddock and also in the occasional nursery rhyme too, so let’s get down to it, what is lamb?
Lamb as a meat and also as a protein source is usually the term used for sheep’s meat in a few countries which include Australia and New Zealand too.
It can also, as the sheep gets older, be called hogget and mutton, but it is usual to see in the butcher lamb cuts of meat rather than the latter.
Lamb is the name given to a sheep in its first year and its meat is also called lamb.
The meat of a lamb used for eating is usually taken between the ages of one month and one year as this is the best time to get the tenderness in the meat and as the sheep gets older the hogget and mutton gets a bit tougher and also has a lot more flavour too.
The lamb generally gets cut into nine different cuts of meat, scrag end (neck), middle neck, best end (neck), loin, chump, leg, shank, shoulder and the breast.
The three kinds of meat get sorted from there from the lamb, these are the forequarter, loin and the hindquarter.
These areas then get divided into smaller cuts again from there.
There are lamb chops, rib chops, loin chops, shoulder chops, breast, leg of lamb, saddle of lamb and the lamb shank.
Also other parts of the lamb are eaten too, the kidneys, liver and also the tongue sometimes too.
Lamb is a rich source of protein, vitamins and also fat as most meat does.
In Australia there are many different cuts of lamb, here is a list of them for you, and these are the basic cuts for cooking;
Leg ::
Trim Lamb Steak
Trim Lamb Mini Roast
Leg – Tunnel Boned
Easy Carve Leg
Leg – Bone in
Chump ::
Lamp Rump
Chump Chop
Tenderloin ::
Trim Lamb Strips
Trim Lamb Tenderloin
Eye of Loin ::
Trim Lamb Butterfly Steak
Trim Lamb Eye of Loin
Loin Chop
Loin – Bone and Rolled
Loin ::
Frenched Cutlet
Frenched Rack of Lamb
Frenched lamb Rack
Forequarter ::
Rolled Shoulder
Easy Carve Shoulder
Diced Forequarter
Mince
Forequarter Rack
Forequarter Chop
Shank ::
Lamb Drumstick
Lamb Shank
Neck ::
Neck Fillet Roast / Rib Eye Roast
Neck Chop
Best Neck Chop
Party Pack ::
Party Ribs
So there are certainly a lot of different cuts to choose from if you are looking at getting more protein in your diet by eating lamb.
Again, like other meat protein foods there are different variations of these above cuts depending on which country you are in and of course the butcher you buy from, but most of the meat these days in the supermarkets etc are fairly standardised cuts for the consumer.
Lamb can be cooked many different ways, they can be grilled, pan fried, barbequed, braised, stewed, roasted, sautéed and boiled to name a few.
There are different food grades from country to country too, these also apply to lamb and all the different byproducts of lamb too.
This acts as a protection to the end consumer in regards to labeling and also the grading quality guarantee that the cut and quality of meat they are buying is the one you are paying for when you’re buying your Sunday roast or the like.
So there you have a brief run down on lamb, lamb has been used in cooking for a long time and pops up in many places in history too, the different cuts above and also the many ways it can be prepared prior to cooking means there is different protein levels for each type of lamb product.
I will have to do a lot more research into the different protein levels of these cuts over time, but it should be a good experience learning a bit more about lamb.
So keep on checking back here for more updates.
