Lamb - the Final Frontier

Nothing that we eat is safe anymore.  Here in “Supernatural” British Columbia, our beef is under suspicion of Bovine Spongiform “Mad Cow” Encephalopathy, our chickens are being culled to curb Avian ’Flu, and store windows are practically papered with warnings about the dangers of genetically modified vegetables. 

Pork is seemingly unchanged, although the pork producers in North America are touting the leanness of their product compared to pigs of yesteryear, but the spectre of trichinosis lingers, and pork is simply not an option for some folks. I am pleased that I am not required by religious dictate to eliminate pork from my diet, although I am careful to cook it all the way through.  Canadian hog-raising has almost eliminated trichinella from commercial swine, making it seem like a negligible risk, but one can get trichinosis from certain species of wild game, including walrus, and occasionally bear – which may be why the highest incidence of the infection in Canada is in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.  It is preventable by cooking to an internal temperature of 71°C, though, which means you only have to get over the idea of potentially eating harmless worm cysts.

Lamb is just about the only no-fuss supermarket-available animal left to eat, since Canada has been free of Hoof and Mouth disease for some time.   It’s not associated with any recent major disease outbreaks, and you can still cook it rare without fear (unless it’s ground).  Yay lamb!  Yet, Canadians eat a surprisingly small amount of lamb, peaking in 2003 with just over one pound of lamb per person per year. 

I tasted lamb only once when I was growing up; my father has a particular and extreme dislike for it, so it never made an appearance at our table.  A school fieldtrip to a working farm in Matsqui included a “hamburger” barbeque where the detail that we were eating lamb was either maliciously or misguidedly omitted.  I didn’t finish my burger.  Expecting that the meat was beef, it tasted wrong, and having just experienced the relative horrors of seeing a lot of food animals in close quarters, my twelve-year-old mind told me that there was something desperately wrong with the meat.  I felt queasily certain that I would fall ill during the night (spent in sleeping bags in the farm’s hayloft), and by next morning, finally learning that what we had eaten was lamb, I simply felt angry and somewhat betrayed.  Betrayed, not because I had been tricked into eating cute little lambs  (I eat rabbit without qualm, and they’re adorable), but because I had gone mostly without dinner, needlessly, and because I was furious at being lied to – via omission or otherwise.

I find it curious that I was still open to trying lamb, after that, although my memory of the flavour was dimmed considerably as time passed, and it was a number of years until opportunity to try lamb presented itself again.  I found myself first eating Greek preparations – roasted shoulder and the ever-popular souvlakia.  From there, I’ve been happy to romp through many different preparations in many different cuisines.  I’ve eaten Lebanese lamb shawarma, English style roasted lamb, Moroccan braised lamb shanks, Peruvian lamb stew, Chinese lamb and cumin dishes, and yes, lamburgers - of which I have become quite fond. 

I have yet to find a lamb dish that I do not enjoy, making allowances for the vagaries of preparation. Yet, my own lamb consumption is laughably low for someone who likes it.  I probably purchase approximately two or three pounds of ground lamb per year, and maybe up to six pounds of other cuts – leg roast, shanks, or shoulder-cut stewing meat, most of which contain bone.  This, divided amongst two or more people (I love serving lamb shanks to guests) means that I’m not much higher than the statistical average, which seems strange for someone who likes lamb.  I do order it from time to time in restaurants, as well, however, but not regularly.

So, why isn’t lamb on my menu more often?  Perhaps it is because much of my culinary repertoire is based on the food of my Mother’s kitchen.  The new additions, broadly speaking, are from Asian and African cuisines that I didn’t have much experience of as a child, but now find easily in Vancouver.  Price can also be a factor, because while lean ground lamb is quite affordable, the nicer chop/rack cuts and the whole leg roasts are either costlier than their beef and pork counterparts (and less often on sale) or simply provide a quantity of meat that is daunting to a household of two.

Lamb can require a little preparation – the fat needs to be stripped away, bones “frenched” or cleaned, but you can buy the items prepared by a butcher who will happily take care of those details.  In fact, more and more butchers and specialty meat stores are offering de-boned, stuffed shoulder roasts (already tied up and ready to go), and skewers of marinated lean lamb cubes for the barbeque or broiler at very reasonable prices.

Occasionally I find myself making a temporary culinary policy, in an effort to revise or inject new life into my cooking and dining habits.  In the past, one of these policies has implemented Vegetarian Night, and another “Noodle Night” – a no-added fat dinner of freshly cooked soba or non-fried ramen, topped with broccoli, spicy bok choi, or quick-simmered prawns, for a healthy, simple-to-prepare supper on Monday nights.  I ask myself, could a culinary policy help me begin to integrate more lamb into my repertoire?  Certainly, the internet is a goldmine for adventurous cooks looking for new recipes, so repetition shouldn’t be a problem.  Once per week, though, seems – well, really often.  Fortnightly seems the thing, just to get into the swing of things.  Maybe I’ll start with replacing the beef in some of my favorite ground beef recipes, and see where that leads.

The fresh lamb that is readily available for purchase is most often from nearby Saltspring Island, a charming community well known for its pottery, crafts, cheeses, and lamb.  I’m always happy to buy things locally produced, to support small farmers and growers in my area, and that just sweetens the idea of bringing more lamb to the table.

April 2004