1st Taste of Our Own Lamb!

[norseofcourse]

OK what I would like to know... was there a smell when you cooked it; a smell, not pleasant akin to stink? The ONLY experience I have with lamb is someone else cooking it and the odor was horrible.

I cooked a leg of lamb a couple evenings ago, and it smelled wonderful! Someone told me to make some cuts in it and put garlic cloves in. I didn't have garlic so I poked bits of onion in. I rubbed some olive oil on it since it was quite lean, and I sprinkled some herbs on it ('italian seasoning' mix of stuff like rosemary and oregano). It smelled really good and it tasted very mild. I used a meat thermometer and turned it off at 145° and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

@Baymule - I'm glad your lamb turned out so well! Mine is good, but I'm still having a hard time getting used to eating something I've raised. I know it's something I'll just have to keep working on.

 

[Bruce]

I cooked a leg of lamb a couple evenings ago, and it smelled wonderful! Someone told me to make some cuts in it and put garlic cloves in. I didn't have garlic so I poked bits of onion in. I rubbed some olive oil on it since it was quite lean, and I sprinkled some herbs on it ('italian seasoning' mix of stuff like rosemary and oregano). It smelled really good and it tasted very mild. I used a meat thermometer and turned it off at 145° and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

@Baymule - I'm glad your lamb turned out so well! Mine is good, but I'm still having a hard time getting used to eating something I've raised. I know it's something I'll just have to keep working on.

Sounds right! People GENERALLY eat it cooked medium rare but of course to each his/her own. Now the concept of topping it with mint jelly is I can only imagine people do it because they are trying to cover up a flavor they don't like.

Finally your work has paid off.

I like both goat and sheep but nothing better than deer, to me. I love growing our own food and knowing how it is treated, fed, etc.

We are going to have bear meat for dinner tomorrow night.

Hope you cooked it REALLY WELL. Nothing like trichinosis to run your day (or end your life).

OK what I would like to know... was there a smell when you cooked it; a smell, not pleasant akin to stink? The ONLY experience I have with lamb is someone else cooking it and the odor was horrible.

Could be store bought lamb, or maybe it was from an older animal... but oh my word!

I've been told lamb is good, tasty, yummy and all the other appropriate words, but...but...but...

Lamb
is
the
BEST!!!!

My step-father wouldn't eat it. Too much mutton (which I gather is QUITE gamey) when he was in the 101st in WWII. Even the mild smell of lamb cooking brought back memories of gamey mutton. My wife will eat it but she doesn't properly appreciate it so I don't buy it. Expensive stuff.

Yes, you want to make sure it is young and it can't legally be called lamb if the break joints in the front shanks are calcified which is usually happens at about 1 year old. But, I think there is a general definition that says to call it lamb, it must not be older than 12 months. Could be the lamb you smelled cooking was on the older side of that.

 

[norseofcourse]

Yes, you want to make sure it is young and it can't legally be called lamb if the break joints in the front shanks are calcified which is usually happens at about 1 year old. But, I think there is a general definition that says to call it lamb, it must not be older than 12 months.

Legally, in the United States, sheep at *any age* can be called lamb.
Code of Federal Regulations, Title 7:
Section 1280.111
Lamb.
Lamb means ovine animals of any age, including ewes and rams

I would imagine, however, that any producer that cared about the quality of their lamb, and wanted repeat business, would be more specific if they sold older animals.

 

[NH homesteader]

@Bruce 101st? My brother was in Iraq and Afghanistan and was in the 101st Airborne.

Know of a good place to get local lamb in NH or VT? I have to try some before I get sheep!

 

[TAH]

Hope you cooked it REALLY WELL. Nothing like trichinosis to run your day (or end your life).

Sadly we haven't had it yet. (Dad decided he wanted moose instead).

 

[NH homesteader]

I had moose once and it was delicious. My husband doesn't like it. Well turns out my moose was an off season roadkill moose and he had only had it in moose season. They need to change hunting seasons then! Lol

 

[Green Acres Farm]

@NH homesteader, my dad had lamb at a restaurant after we got goats and couldn't eat it because it tasted how our bucks smell. But, before we got goats he liked it.
I used to like goat cheese before we got goats and now the store bought kind tastes like rut to me.

 

[Bruce]

@Bruce 101st? My brother was in Iraq and Afghanistan and was in the 101st Airborne.

Know of a good place to get local lamb in NH or VT? I have to try some before I get sheep!

Yep 101st Airborne. All the jumps didn't do his feet any good
Battle of the Bulge. He had 2 bayonet scars in his shoulder. Didn't want to kill the babyface German solider that had run out of ammo. Then had no choice. "Funniest" story was one jump where the guy next to him was sick and got out of the jump line. After he jumped, he noticed everyone else was going up. Apparently that high up you don't really feel like you are falling. And you ask why didn't he pull the ripcord after jumping? Because the chutes were connected to a wire in the plane so they would open at the right time with respect to the other paratroopers. Except the sick guy unclipped the wrong chute.

Haven't looked for lamb since no one but me would eat it. I think you need to find people with all sorts of sheep breeds so you can decide which tastes best to you before you get your stock.

 

[NH homesteader]

Ha! Wow my brother was military intelligence so no jumping out of planes.

Yeah that's a good idea. I'm pretty set on hair sheep and there are only so many of those! But if I found some amazing kind of sheep I would shear a bunch of them to eat well! Lol

 

[Mike CHS]

Haven't looked for lamb since no one but me would eat it. I think you need to find people with all sorts of sheep breeds so you can decide which tastes best to you before you get your stock.

That's what we did. I don't like the meat from wool sheep (imported from Australia) and I wasn't sure about hair sheep. We found a processor that had several types available and we tried several but liked all of them. I sure didn't want to raise sheep for a year to find out we did not like the taste.