Bones_ Recipes, History, and Lore - Jennifer McLagan [44]
Looking at the lamb’s skeleton and familiarizing yourself with where the various cuts lie, will help you understand how to cook them.
Bones is a nickname often given to doctors of medicine. One of the most famous is the fictional Bones of the Starship Enterprise, Dr. Leonard McCoy.
The Front End
The front leg, with or without the shank (see “The Extremities”), is sold as the shoulder. It can be roasted or braised, depending on the age of the animal. Ask your butcher to remove the blade bone, which will make it easier to carve. Often the shank is removed, as well as several shoulder chops, reducing the size of this cut and making it square in shape. Chops cut from the shoulder are meaty but because they consist of several muscles, they vary in tenderness and are best braised.
In all cultures, bones and hard work are linked, especially when that work goes unrewarded, as in “to work one’s fingers to the bones.”
The Middle
The leanest, most tender part of the animal, this is the source of the popular rack of lamb. Usually seven or eight ribs in size, the rack has the backbone or chine bone removed to make carving it easier. The ends of the rib bones are usually frenched (see page 108) for presentation. Two complete racks, preferably from the same animal, can be used to create either a guard of honor or a crown roast (see page 108). The rack can also be cut into individual rib chops.
My German friend Frerk says “that’s bone work,” when describing washing pots and pans.
As the ribs wrap around the animal to form its chest, they have more fat and less meat. A rack of breast ribs has a tapering shape, as the ribs shorten toward the back legs. You can cook these like a rack of pork ribs or cut them into individual ribs to braise.
There is a Tamil expression, “working until my bones were wasted.”
The French say, “tu vas y laisser tes os,” meaning that you are taking a great physical risk doing something or you will work yourself to death.
The Japanese expression is “to work so hard you break your bones, but in vain.”
Toward the back leg, close to the backbone, is the loin. Here the bone divides the meat into two pieces—the loin and the tenderloin. Loin chops resemble very small T-bone steaks, with meat on both sides of the bone. If this section is butchered without splitting the backbone, the two joined loins are called the saddle. It can be roasted whole or cut into double lamb loin or English-cut chops. Ideally, any chops from the rib or loin should be at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. They can be sautéed or grilled.
However, as all our parents said, “Hard work breaks no bones.”
The Back End
After the feet and tail of the lamb are removed (see “The Extremities”), before the pelvic bone is removed from the leg, it may then be sold as a whole long leg. The whole leg can be divided into two cuts, the sirloin, or butt end, and the shank end. If the sirloin end is removed from the leg, the remaining cut is called a short leg. The sirloin end has a higher portion of meat to bone, but the shank end is leaner and easier to carve.
Bone-in steaks or chops cut from the leg are distinguished by the small round bone they contain. They should be at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick, and they are delicious grilled.
The Extremities
The most popular lamb extremities are the shanks. They are cut from the lower portion of the leg, most commonly the front leg. This is a tough part of the lamb, but when slowly braised, it becomes very tender and its abundant collagen yields a rich sauce. You can ask the butcher to cut the shanks into thick pieces to make lamb osso buco.
A bone ace is either a card game or the ace of diamonds.
Often overlooked, lamb neck is also rich in collagen. It is sold whole or cut into pieces. Pieces are more practical and they can be cooked like shanks or used in stews.
Roll the bones, or to throw dice, especially in the game of craps.
There are many recipes for lamb’s tails and feet in older cookery books. However,