By Golly, Lamb is good!!

I never had lamb before, but I figured if I was going to start raising some lamb and selling the meat, I better start learning to like it. Of course before you can learn to like it, you have to try it.

I never ate lamb before, nor do I cook. But I downloaded this quick easy grilling instructions for Lamb Ribs and I'll be darned if it was not good. My Grandmother LOVED it, and she claimed she hated lamb.

Funny how people like something when they think it is something else (she assumed it was beef ribs). Anyway if you have never tried lamb I would highly recommend it, at least with this recipe. For the record too, the lamb I bought was called Lamb Country Style Ribs and was bone-in at a cost of 3.99 a pound. With 6 ribs in the package it came to $5.02. I served it with macronni salad and a side salad.

Grilled Lamb with Brown Sugar Glaze

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 lamb chops

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix brown sugar, ginger, tarragon, cinnamon, pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Rub lamb chops with the seasonings, and place on a plate. Cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat grill for high heat.
Brush grill grate lightly with oil, and arrange lamb chops on grill. Cook 5 minutes on each side, or to desired doneness.

Oh, yes. Lamb is delicious. Classic when cooked with garlic. A bit of mint jelly is a traditional plus also. However, it must be eaten while hot. The fat hardens and doesn't taste good at all that way. We used to have one or two butchered out a year.

Lamb is excellent. We probably have it about 3-4 times a month...

Our favorite is to cut some leg up in cubes, and marinate it in some olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and thinly sliced onions for about a day.

Pop em on skewers and call em Kabobs.

A lot of folks that went through the depression I've found claim to not like lamb. I think it was because they were eating some pretty old mutton at the time...

Good lamb to me is a nice tender meat, with a bit of gameyness that I find enjoyable.

Frank's right about cold lamb though. It can get a little funky.

I also find that overcooking it will tend to make it taste a little funny too...

There used to be a bumper sticker around here that read, "Eat more Lamb, 50,000 coyotes can't be wrong!"

It has been years since I had lamb but I remember it being really good. I still prefer slow elk.

Curt Fuller said:

There used to be a bumper sticker around here that read, "Eat more Lamb, 50,000 coyotes can't be wrong!"

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I like that.

It was funny because as you guys all know, I NEVER cook. This was my 4th meal I have ever cooked. Anyway my Grandmother called me back a bit later and said it was the best ribs she had ever had. Perhaps it was just flattery to her non-cooking Grandson, but it was fun telling her it was Lamb. She was very surprised.

I don't remember this as I was 2 years old, but all this sheep raising talk lately has gotten a few stories out of my Dad.

Well as you know we used to raise sheep, a lot of them,and of course to get lambs you have to have Ewe's and Rams. I guess I was in the pen with this one Ram when the darn thing came up and butted me. My Dad swooped me up and started out of the pen, so the Ram decided to head butt my Dad. Unable to defend himself holding me, he got rammed pretty hard. (pun intended) So he put me down outside the pen and cold-cocked the Ram with a shovel.

Well Rams have tough skulls so it did not phase him. Now really mad, Dad went in the house and called the cattle dealer to have him hauled away. When the guy showed up he was expecting one of our bulls or heifers, not a sheep and he had half a trailer full of cattle on. He kept saying that the cattle would stomp all over that sheep and kill it, but Dad would not allow him to leave with out that silly Ram, even if it meant certain death in the cattle trailer. He was not having it around.

Reluctantly the guy took it and when he opened up the trailer at the slaughterhouse, he was surprised to see the Ram had the cattle scared and pushed right up against the headboard of the trailer, not only alive and well, but king of the trailer!!

So then they let the Ram out and he went headlong for the holding pen. The gate was closed but undeterred he kept head butting the gate making it rattle time and time again. The slaughterhouse guy finally came out thinking a cow had gone berserk. He took one look at that foolish Ram, pulled out his gun and said "I'll cure you", and that was it...mutton!!

On the subject of rams

My grandfather raised a lot of sheep, and of course rams are needed like travis said.

One morning when grandpa bent over to do something the ram piledrived him and sent grandpa flying. My dad was witness to this, grandpa got up, put a plug of tobacky in his mouth, went to the corn crib and found a cob of corn.

Grandpa went back to the sheep barn, got the ram backed in a corner and commenced to rubbing the eye area of the ram with that corn cob....got it roughed up pretty good...then started spittin the tobacky in the rams eyes.

Dad said all the ram could do for a while was shake it's head.

Had lamb twice, once by a friend who raised sheep, the second time on a cruise we took a few years ago......didn't care for it either time as well as I would one of my wifes marinated steaks, but it wasn't bad enough I wouldn't eat it again.

I remember one time somewhere in eastern PA stopping at a restaurant with a bunch of friends. There was rack of lamb on the menu and I dicided to give it a try. That's up there on the top 10 meals I've ever had - little meat-sicles on the bone. Tender, seasoned just right - mmmm... making my mouth water just thinking of it. This is my broke week too - Travis, you are a cruel, cruel man! (just kidding!)

Mark Kosmowski said:

I remember one time somewhere in eastern PA stopping at a restaurant with a bunch of friends. There was rack of lamb on the menu and I dicided to give it a try. That's up there on the top 10 meals I've ever had - little meat-sicles on the bone. Tender, seasoned just right - mmmm... making my mouth water just thinking of it. This is my broke week too - Travis, you are a cruel, cruel man! (just kidding!)

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Naaaa...this is cruel. A picture of a nice fluffy, snuggly, soft lamb....

Actually all mammals when they are young are cute. (okay maybe human babies don't count...they all look like Winston Churchill to me)