It's getting on towards end-of-animal time. Strictly speaking, I'm exaggerating. I still have plenty of lamb, beef and pork. I did re-organize my freezer the other day, though, and did a little inventory. Still have large cuts of pork--good for the upcoming bbq season (which, in Oregon, is roughly 1 month starting in mid-July), but too many hams. I guess we'll be having some ham-themed dinner parties upcoming. Stay tuned. The chops are all but gone. The ground pork is dangerously low. I cooked the last steak (sirloin) on Sunday for what turned out to be an excellent, er, restorative dinner. A very butch dinner of steak, baked potato and an icy martini, gin, thank you very much.
I think I did a little mis-management of my meat this season--I've got too many large, "celebration" cuts, and dwindling supplies of quick and easy dinner-for-two cuts.
Amongst the large cuts like hams, leg of lamb and pork bellies are a couple tongues, a pair of trotters, and, until, this past weekend, a lamb neck. I've been calling these the alternative cuts. Not offal, not organs, but not things you normally see in a grocery store, and maybe not things you grew up eating or cooking. The unfamiliarity, however, does not interfere with their deliciousness. And if I'm ever unsure of how to cook an alternative cut, I turn to my motto: "when in doubt, braise".
We had people over for Easter/Passover/post bike ride eating last weekend. I wanted to do a menu that was mainly Passover (as a Chaim Potok reading non-Jew I leapt at the opportunity to cook Jewish celebration food after marrying a sort-of Jew). It would also be a good conceit to feed my lactose-intolerant dinner guest. Naturally, I turned to Chinese cuisine.
I used the lamb neck to make twice cooked lamb. Based on a recipe from Fuschia Dunlop's excellent Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, I marinated the neck overnight in regular and dark soy sauces and sugar. The following day I braised the neck with ginger, garlic, leeks and stock.
The day after that, the day of the dinner party, I drained, de-boned and de-gnarled the meat, then wok-fried the chunks in a goodly amount of peanut oil (I'm a little sorry I didn't use lard. Next time.), a spoonful of my friend Jill's endlessly useful homemade plum sauce, and a splash of stock. The stock, I'm afraid, was made from a nice ham bone. It was what I had on hand, and it was lovely stock, and, well, it was sort of Easter, too.
The lamb was gorgeous--succulent chunks of mahogany garnished with a large handful of chopped cilantro.
We had people over for Easter/Passover/post bike ride eating last weekend. I wanted to do a menu that was mainly Passover (as a Chaim Potok reading non-Jew I leapt at the opportunity to cook Jewish celebration food after marrying a sort-of Jew). It would also be a good conceit to feed my lactose-intolerant dinner guest. Naturally, I turned to Chinese cuisine.
I used the lamb neck to make twice cooked lamb. Based on a recipe from Fuschia Dunlop's excellent Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, I marinated the neck overnight in regular and dark soy sauces and sugar. The following day I braised the neck with ginger, garlic, leeks and stock.
The day after that, the day of the dinner party, I drained, de-boned and de-gnarled the meat, then wok-fried the chunks in a goodly amount of peanut oil (I'm a little sorry I didn't use lard. Next time.), a spoonful of my friend Jill's endlessly useful homemade plum sauce, and a splash of stock. The stock, I'm afraid, was made from a nice ham bone. It was what I had on hand, and it was lovely stock, and, well, it was sort of Easter, too.
The lamb was gorgeous--succulent chunks of mahogany garnished with a large handful of chopped cilantro.
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