Ordering a Lamb
Well, I ordered a lamb yesterday. It “won’t be ready” for a couple of more weeks, which means it’s still out there at the Schilling’s ranch, eating and growing and being a lamb. Which not only doesn’t bother me, it reassures me. It’s a happy lamb. It lives in my neighborhood. It’s being raised by responsible ranchers. And it’s a meat animal — that’s its purpose, so I’m not sad it’s going to die. I’m just relieved to know how it lived.
When it’s big enough, about 60 pounds, it’ll go off to Big Timber to the slaughterhouse, and then over here to Matt’s meats, my local guy to be butchered. Part of what I’m interested in about buying a whole lamb is that I can have some input into how it’s butchered. The general practice is to take any scrappy pieces and turn them into ground meat. I don’t cook a lot with ground meat — whether it’s hamburger or lamb or pork. But I do love stews, so I’m going to ask Matt to give me as much stew meat as possible. I’m also kind of hoping Matt will let me watch — I think butchering is really interesting.
And like learning to cook what grows in my garden, I’m looking forward to learning to cook cuts I might not have otherwise. We’ll see — another food adventure.
