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Eating Lamb in Canada

This month we have been exploring what ‘nose-to-tail’ cuisine means for farmers, chefs & home-cooks alike. As a farm that sells whole animals it’s an important concept for us to convey to our clientele. We see this as a feature of our farm’s sustainability plan. Last week we discussed the benefits of buying direct from a farm, but this week I want to take a look at one of my favourite cuts; the lamb shoulder.

Canadians have not been enthusiastic lamb eaters in recent history. With our preference for beef, we rely on imported lamb to satisfy the limited but growing domestic demand. As memories of boiled mutton war-time dinners fade from the Canadian consciousness, a younger generation is exploring cooking with lamb & loving the results. At the same time many cooks are looking to source ingredients as locally as possible

Origins of Sheep as Livestock

Lamb has a rich, slightly earthy flavour that adapts to a number of different cuisines. My preference is always for the recipes from my family’s heritage – mainly the UK & Northern Europe. Despite the long history of sheep in rural England, Wales & Scotland, sheep don’t originate from the region.

Sheep were first domesticated in the Near East in regions like Kurdistan & Afghanistan. From there, they migrated to the Mediterranean before spreading to nearly every continent. Wherever people travelled, sheep made for easy-to-transport livestock. Prior to the invention of refrigeration sheep & goats made for compact portions of protein that could be eaten in one go without much wastage or spoiling.

In Ireland, for example, cows were raised almost exclusively for milk & dairy right through the mid 20th Century. Not many families or communities could afford to slaughter a cow & expect to put all 1000lbs of it to good use. Without some form of cold storage available, lamb was a great source of protein at the family scale.

How Lamb is Butchered into Different Cuts

Lamb is a very straightforward animal to understand from a carcass standpoint. Unlike a cow with overlapping muscle groups, lamb can be broken down very easily into its sub-primals. This makes lamb a great project for aspiring home butchers to tackle. If you are interested in expanding your home butchering skills a great starting point is chickens & moving on to lamb from there.

The shoulder, once cut away from the rack, the neck and the shanks is best braised, either as a whole roast, cut into stew chunks or cut on the bandsaw into medallions or shoulder steaks. My personal preference, (having tried all three) is for stew, cooked with the bones included for maximum flavour.

Comparing Lamb on the Market

Lamb is stereotypically associated with spring, and is sometimes marketed or sold as ‘spring lamb’. A true spring lamb is born in the spring & would be market ready after a season of grazing. These lambs are supplemented with grain to reach market weight before winter. A whole roasting lamb is born out of season in the fall & processed to meet the Easter market demands. On our farm lamb is born in the late spring & raised to a year-old before processing. This allows for slower growing on grass & hay & makes for great flavour.

Lambs imported to Canada from Australia or New Zealand tend to be much larger than locally raised lambs. The focus has been consistently on increasing carcass weights for global export rather than flavour. The breed we choose to raise are Shropshires. This breed of sheep were once the most common sheep in Canada serving a dual purpose role as quality wool producers & large lambs. Lamb from a Shropshire is heftier than ‘unimproved’ or ‘primitive’ breeds (both terms I detest) like Shetland or Icelandic which are raised predominantly for wool.

Lamb shoulder is a versatile cut to ask for at your butcher shop. It can be left whole (meaning left and right shoulder and the spine) or it can be broken into halves on a bandsaw. A lamb’s relatively compact size makes breaking a whole shoulder down at home entirely achievable with a food-grade hand saw. That being said any butcher I’ve ever met will happily do it on their bandsaw for you.

How to De-Bone a Lamb Shoulder at Home

We recommend getting the shoulder in a 4-5lb cut, and deboning at home. Deboning takes very little time & is very straightforward:

• You begin by finding the rib plate & sliding a knife as close as possible to the rib bones.
• If your butcher took the neck off for you, there will still be a few small bones from the spinal column. debone as you did the ribs
• The shoulder blade is an irregular shape. Use the tip of your boning knife to slowly expose it by feathering your boning knife along the surface of the bone. Remove stew chunks as you go.
• Use the same technique to expose the shoulder joint. The lovely thing about stew meat; there is no pressure to cut along the seams of muscles – it’s all ending up in 1″ chunks which makes it a perfect stress-free home butcher exercise.
• Once the bones are removed, set aside and save for either a future bone stock or toss in with the meat for extra flavour.
• Cut the larger morsels of meat into 1 or 2″ chunks ready for stew
• If roasting, then season the inside of the shoulder as per your recipe and reassemble in a roll before tying with butcher twine.

Variations to Try

If you’re interested in learning more about the cooking techniques mentioned below, I have a handy guide to cooking “Uncommon Cuts” such as lamb shoulder or shanks. You can find it for download here!

Roasting

The first few times I tried cooking a lamb shoulder was a bit disappointing. I tried roasting but found the numerous seams of connective tissue to be really off-putting when it came time to serving. If you opt for roasting make sure you are choosing a shoulder from a younger, smaller animal. This will maximize tenderness and minimize tougher tissues. Aim for 2-4 lbs boneless.

Braising

Braising a shoulder is a much more forgiving technique to apply to a shoulder cut. If you plan on feeding a larger crowd & need a bigger cut of meat, then a braise is a good way to prepare something in the range of 4-8 lbs. A braise is also a handy way to utilize a slow cooker while you’re out of the house for the day.

Shoulder Chops

A whole shoulder can be cut into bone-in chops from both the shank end or higher up near the blade. These can be challenging to cook consistently though. Each chop will have slightly more or less meat or bone depending on the chop. Keeping this in mind, I’d skip over any techniques like sautéing & stick with a braise. You can tell a blade chop from the small portion of rib bone attached to it. Ask your butcher to cut these at over an inch thick for generous portions. A thicker chop will hold together well after braising. This makes for easy plating.

Stew

Far & away my favourite cooking method for lamb shoulder is to stew. An Irish stew is quintessential lamb fare; with chunky potatoes & carrots braised in a combination of broth and dark beer. It’s been my go-to style of stew for years.

Recently I found a recipe in an old cookbook of my grandfather’s for ‘navarin l’agneau‘ or lamb navarin in english & decided to give it a try. The stewing liquid is a delicious & velvety combination of broth, red wine. An additional dollop of tomato paste really packs a whole lot of flavour into each bite.

I looked into the origins of the word ‘navarin‘ and found a really interesting & dramatic story that dates back to the Greek War of Independence in 1827. The French celebrated a decided victory at the battle of Navarino against the Ottoman Empire. As saucy as this theory seems – the name ‘navarin‘ more than likely refers to the humble turnips that give the dish a bit of bite & add some bulk. The french word for turnip is, naturally, ‘navet‘. Often the simplest explanations are the most likely of explanations – even when they’re less exciting than a naval battle!

Lamb Navarin

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

This traditional french stew utilizes the last of the winter root crops you may be holding onto in storage. Carrots & turnips are featured here along side starchy potatoes. The ultimate comfort food for the early days of spring when the weather outside makes it feel like winter won't ever end.

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Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless cubed lamb shoulder
• 2T butter
• 1 large onion diced
• 2lbs carrots, diced
• 1lb turnip, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1T tomato purée
• 1T flour
• 2C beef or lamb stock
• 1C red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 fresh spring of thyme
• salt & pepper to taste
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

Instructions

1. Sear lamb in butter on medium heat until golden brown.
2. Drain off all but 1T of the fat. Stir in onions & sweat until translucent.
3. Add a few slices of carrot & turnip along with the garlic, tomato purée & flour.
4. Slowly add the stock & wine, pouring a cup at a time & allowing it to come back to a simmer before adding more
5. Add bay leaf, thyme, salt & pepper.
6. Cover & keep at a gentle simmer for 1-1/2 hours.
7. Add remaining carrots, turnips & the potatoes and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
8. Serve with fresh bread and a generous spread of butter for a whole meal.

Notes

Parsnips, leeks or celeriac are other ingredients you might have on hand that would go well in a stew like this if you find yourself short on any of the vegetables mentioned above.

If you debone your lamb shoulder at home, include the bones in the stew pot. Remove before adding the remaining vegetables at the 1 -1/2 hour mark.

I have enjoyed this recipe so much this winter that I decided to include it in my spring recipe collection “What to Eat in Spring” which will be available beginning April 1st. If you enjoy this one as much as I have, be sure to check back and get the whole collection for free!