April Blomgren - The Lamb Cookbook: Featuring 60 Dainty & Delicious Recipes

Dating back to before the beginning of recorded history, lamb has always been one of the favorite meat dishes. Anciently, lamb is often associated with a festive dish; for example, the Bible frequently refers to shepherds tending flocks of lamb or members of royal households killing the fatted lamb for an extravagant feast. During the Middle Ages, our love affair with cooked lamb continued as kings and queens made lamb the centerpiece of elaborate royal feasts. Flash forward to today, where lamb continues to be one of the most popular ways to celebrate special occasions and holidays in countries all over the world. Lamb and mutton are the meat of sheep basically at different ages. To distinguish between the two types: lamb, is an animal more than six months old; milk-fed lamb, that has never been grazing grass; and mutton, 12 months and more, with a more assertive taste. Similar to beef, lamb is one of the red meats. The quality, tenderness, and flavor are recognizable by the whiteness of its fat and the tight grain of its pale red flesh. The white should be slightly pink for the milk-fed lamb, or bright red for the sheep.

A slaughtered lamb usually is butchered into three significant primal cuts: the forequarter, the loin, and the hindquarter. Leg of lamb, lamb shoulder, lamb shanks, and lamb meat used for gyros is from the hindquarter and forequarter. These all tend to be tougher cuts of meat that require a long cooking period to make the meat tender enough to eat. The tenderest cuts of lamb come from the loin. The softest part of the lamb chops is from the rib, loin, and parts of the shoulder. These areas get the least exercise and consequently have far less connective tissue than other parts of the lamb. Lamb chops also have some of the best flavors because the meat is lean and tender, unlike the leg and shoulder, which can often taste somewhat gamey. Because of their excellent flavor and tenderness, lamb chops, you can grill, but sometimes you can bake or even fry.

Lamb meat is eaten and loved all over the world, and it's cooked in a great variety of ways, for instance, in the form of kebabs, grilled patties, burgers, soups, and meatballs. This book will give you 60 fresh ideas on how to prepare lamb dishes. The versatility of these ingredients makes it very easy to incorporate into many dishes, and the flavor is just astounding. So, go beyond the usual ground beef and chicken dishes. You're sure to get several excellent choices in this book, whether you're preparing food for a dinner party or just making a weeknight dinner for your family.

So, don't hesitate, get ready, and get cooking!

I wish you a happy read!