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By Root 311 0

cooks something for us to eat for dinner and it’s something you think you might not like because it’s a part of the animal you don’t like the sound of, think before you say you’re not going to eat it. Because when you reject that liver, tongue, or cheeks, you are essentially saying that this animal gave its life for nothing—this animal that someone else raised, cared for, and fed died for nothing because you don’t want to eat it. It is okay to be sad that the lamb is dead. Hold on to that sadness, because the taking of a life is never something to joke about. When you think about that lamb and what it gave up for us so that we could eat, you understand that we killed a living thing, and we must always respect and honor that animal by using everything it has to offer.”

I never forgot my father’s words. When I first started cooking in restaurant kitchens, I wanted to use every part of the animals I was butchering. I wanted to honor those animals that had given their lives so I could feed the people who came to eat the food I created. I wanted to show them that I could create something beautiful and delicious from even the worst cuts of meat.

In this chapter, there are recipes that many people may want to skip over because they use unconventional parts. It is my sincerest hope that, rather than flipping ahead to the next chapter, you instead will consider making one of these dishes and honoring the animal that gave its life to sustain us.

Anthony Bourdain once told me that a true test of great chefs is not how well they can cook a prime or luxury cut of meat, but rather how they are able to use their talent to cook obscure or less desirable ones. This, of course, was after I had cooked a twelve-course offal dinner for him and David Kiley, who was writing a story for BusinessWeek on organ meat. The following recipes use both luxury and obscure cuts of lamb and goat to show how, in the right hands, all food is beautiful. Maybe you too will take Bourdain’s challenge and give it a try.

ROASTED LEG OF LAMB

PSITO BOUTAKI ARNIOU

SERVES 6, OR MORE FAMILY-STYLE

Butterflying the lamb gives you options that you don’t have with a bone. A good butcher will be happy to do this for you. (See my instructions on page 146.) Here, I’ve made a very flavorful stuffing from sun-dried tomatoes, which looks great when you carve the roast. Normally, I don’t see the point of mincing herbs, but rosemary, with its woody sprigs, is hard to eat. If you’re using it only as a flavoring agent, you can just pull the sprigs out at the end, but if you want to eat it—and lamb loves rosemary—it has to be very finely chopped.

FOR THE STUFFING

1½ cups large, plump sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped

¼ cup oil-cured black olives, pitted

1 teaspoon minced rosemary

Leaves only from 3 small sprigs thyme

1 teaspoon dry Greek oregano

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

15 cloves Garlic Confit (page 264) or cup Garlic Purée (page 264), if you have it

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar

About 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

FOR THE LAMB

3 to 3½ pound boneless leg of lamb, butterflied to flatten, some of the fat trimmed off

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil

1½ cup water

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon Garlic Purée or 2 to 3 cloves Garlic Confit, if you have it

3 large sprigs rosemary

3 tablespoons blended oil (90 percent canola, 10 percent extra-virgin olive)

In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients for the stuffing and purée to a smooth, thick paste, about 45 to 60 seconds. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the stuffing.

Lay the lamb out on a work surface with the fattier side down. Season generously with kosher salt and pepper and spread an even layer of stuffing over it, pressing the stuffing down into the crevices. Drizzle with a little olive oil and roll the lamb up in a spiral, seasoning the fatty side with salt and pepper as you roll. Tie in 3 or 4 places crosswise and 1 or 2 places lengthwise (twist the string around itself 3 times instead of just once before