I have only made it once with some elk and pork fat that a friend gave me. I don't have a grinder, so a friend who has one taught me how to do it. I would probably do it more if I had a grinder, but not looking at adding anything unnecessary to my kitchen that I do not use often. I do LOVE lamb merguez sausage...we travel to Mexico often and I have a "sausage guy" there that makes the best one I have ever had!
Great post! I have been butchering my own lamb for the past few years (at a local farm). I am self-taught and love to experiment with different ways to cut the animal depending on how I like to use it for different meal preparations. I am a home cook that cooks all of our meals, and lamb is our primary protein (since there's 2 of us and the lamb lasts the good part of a year). Thanks for the education... Keep it coming!
Heather, that's so impressive that you're doing your own butchery. I love breaking down lamb. What are some of your favorite ways to break? What do you do with all the extra fat? Other the years, we have so many different uses, but the easiest was to fold it in with lean ground beef to add some flavor. I've also used it in beef merguez sausage. But lamb fat is always the challenge when I use whole animal, especially when for home use.
Thanks Steve! I'm a "keep-it-simple" kind of cook and I apply that with I butcher as well. I try to cut the lamb into primals, and then just break it down all with bone-in cuts. The only real extra fat I have is the internal and caul fat. I actually render that down in small amounts and keep it in my fridge to cook with... Veggies, stews, meats, etc. The rest of the fat, I vacuum pack into small amounts so that when I'm finished with what I have in the fridge, I can just defrost and render more.
Simple enough! Do you ever make sausage? I'm going to do a post soon about sausage making, and offer some of our recipes too. Would that be of interest?
I have only made it once with some elk and pork fat that a friend gave me. I don't have a grinder, so a friend who has one taught me how to do it. I would probably do it more if I had a grinder, but not looking at adding anything unnecessary to my kitchen that I do not use often. I do LOVE lamb merguez sausage...we travel to Mexico often and I have a "sausage guy" there that makes the best one I have ever had!
Great post! I have been butchering my own lamb for the past few years (at a local farm). I am self-taught and love to experiment with different ways to cut the animal depending on how I like to use it for different meal preparations. I am a home cook that cooks all of our meals, and lamb is our primary protein (since there's 2 of us and the lamb lasts the good part of a year). Thanks for the education... Keep it coming!
Heather, that's so impressive that you're doing your own butchery. I love breaking down lamb. What are some of your favorite ways to break? What do you do with all the extra fat? Other the years, we have so many different uses, but the easiest was to fold it in with lean ground beef to add some flavor. I've also used it in beef merguez sausage. But lamb fat is always the challenge when I use whole animal, especially when for home use.
Thanks Steve! I'm a "keep-it-simple" kind of cook and I apply that with I butcher as well. I try to cut the lamb into primals, and then just break it down all with bone-in cuts. The only real extra fat I have is the internal and caul fat. I actually render that down in small amounts and keep it in my fridge to cook with... Veggies, stews, meats, etc. The rest of the fat, I vacuum pack into small amounts so that when I'm finished with what I have in the fridge, I can just defrost and render more.
Simple enough! Do you ever make sausage? I'm going to do a post soon about sausage making, and offer some of our recipes too. Would that be of interest?