Lamb: what is, properties and recipes
The most popular types of meat are beef or pork. How to cook a tasty dish from them, even a very experienced hostess knows.And what to do when you want to do something original for dinner and surprise your loved ones? For such a case, gourmet meat, called lamb meat, is suitable.
Lamb and lamb: what is the difference?
Lamb is the meat of an adult. Lamb receive only from a young animal that is under one year old. In order to form such valuable meat, youngsters begin to be slaughtered from three months. The product obtained from dairy lamb has a special aroma and taste. Only delicious dishes are cooked from the lamb. Even the most sophisticated gourmets recognize lamb meat as the most delicate product. Each recipe made on its basis is considered a delicacy.
According to its rich composition of nutrients and calorie content lamb is not inferior even to beef. However, it differs from other types of meat in that it is quickly digested and gives effective saturation due to the high content of easily digestible proteins. Calorie meat is 209 kcal per 100 grams. This dietary meat is shown to eat with various diseases of the heart and blood vessels, since the content of "bad" cholesterol is almost absent in it.
Lamb is rich in iron and zinc, which are necessary for a person to complete life activity. With the consumption of this meat there is a rapid formation of red cells in the human body. In lamb meat there are such vitamins as PP, E, D and a group of vitamins B, as well as choline and biotin. The product is rich in minerals - magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium. Therefore, the lamb must be used by those who suffer from various diseases and anemia.
Meat selection
For those who will cook the lamb for the first time, the following tips will help. You need to pay attention to the freshness of the product and the color. Dark shades say that under the guise of lamb they are trying to sell you a simple piece of mutton. In this case, safely refuse to purchase. Ideally, the color of the piece should be light pink, something resembling rabbit meat, and also not look weathered. When pressed, good meat will always be elastic. There is no unpleasant smell of rot in a quality lamb.
Are you lucky and made a successful purchase? So you can start cooking with the following recipes.
Recipes
Rack of lamb
It is prepared in exceptional cases, as it is considered a delicious and expensive dish. We go to the market and buy baby lamb ribs: two pieces weighing 400-500 grams. Before cooking my lamb and obsushivaem. If you purchased non-dairy lamb meat, then we cut a thin film and veins from the ribs (we do this in order to get a beautiful crown). However, you can not clean the bones so carefully. In this case, the finished product will be better to keep the shape. In any case, the choice remains for the cook.
Next, rub the ribs with salt and pepper (you can add favorite seasonings), sprinkle with mint sprigs and place in a cup. Top cover with culinary film and leave to soak for 2-3 hours. We get yagnyatinu, we turn in the form of a crown. It is advisable to do this immediately on a baking sheet, pre-oiled. We wrap the ribs with thread. There should be a small space inside the circle. If there are trim after cutting the meat, put them inside the space.
Take a medium onion, peel and cut into cubes. Put in a bowl. Separately take zucchini - 2 pcs. They should be washed, peeled, cut into cubes and folded separately. It should be noted that if desired, zucchini can be replaced with eggplants. Next, peel two tomatoes, cut into slices. Vegetables pre-salt, pepper and lay layers around the crown alternately: onions, zucchini, tomatoes, and sprinkles with residues that are inside the circle.
Separately, we cut a piece of foil and wrap the crown to the middle. We do this so that the dish does not burn from above. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Carefully remove the ready-made ribs from the oven, peeling foil. We spread on a beautiful dish. Add baked vegetables.Serve on boiled potatoes served, which can be watered with the remaining fat from the meat. Anyone can cook a rack of lamb if it does everything according to the rules.
Roast lamb with pumpkin
The advantage of this dish is that it is cooked simply and quickly. Even frozen lamb meat is suitable for the main component. Although frozen meat has drawbacks: it will be dryish and may lose shape when cooked. But if everything suits you, then there is nothing terrible about it. So let's get started. Meat (1 kg) thawed or take fresh. My and obsushivaem. If it is a sirloin, then cut into medium pieces (note that this dish can be cooked from virtually any part of the lamb). Then rub with salt and pepper to taste and set aside in a separate bowl for 1 hour.
In a cauldron or in a pot with a thick bottom (suitable for a goose) pour 6-7 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil. In the hot oil carefully lay out the lamb. Fry and then add 0.5 glass of filtered water.
Cover with a tight lid and leave to simmer for half an hour. During this time we prepare vegetables. Two or three onions peeled, washed and cut into rings. With a pumpkin weighing 600 grams, remove the peel and cut into pieces that fit the size of the meat. We put everything in a pot separate from the bow. Next we need 5-6 potatoes. We wash them, we clean and cut them into separate slices.
Open the lid, where the meat is stewed, and laid in layers: onions, potatoes, pumpkin. Vegetables are pepper and salt to taste, if desired, add 2-3 bay leaves and 1 pc to the dish. Bulgarian pepper (whole for smell). From above we put 2-3 diced tomatoes. Stew for 30-40 minutes.
While the lamb is cooked, all the neighbors will come running to the delicious smell. So be prepared for such a visit. The stew will turn out very tasty.
We place it on a large plate as follows: first we take very carefully the vegetables so that they do not lose shape. They are placed in one half of the dishes, on the other we have pieces of meat. Sprinkle with finely chopped green onions. Alternatively, lamb with a side dish of pumpkin and potatoes can be served in portions. Another whole piece of lamb (no matter whether it is a sirloin or meat on the bone), you can just bake in the oven.
Pre-rub a piece of salt, garlic and apple cider vinegar to taste. The weight of a separate piece of meat does not matter. The main thing will be very tasty. Experiment! Lamb is the most unpretentious in cooking.
To learn how to cook a lamb loin on charcoal, see the video below.