The Class With All the Frenching

Interesting Fact: Due to its Ethnic Diversity, the Northeast Corridor is the Largest Consumer of Lamb in the United States.

Two apologies off the bat. First, the interesting fact isn't that interesting, and second I missed another post yesterday. These are both due to the effects of working full time and being in school full time, finally having their way with me. I'm walking in a haze here people. I missed reporting on the fabrication of pork, and rabbit.

Ok on with the show. Last night we continued butchering our way through the meats, by adding a lamb leg (from hip to hoof) and a full rack of lamb to the long list of raw, bloody meat I have learned to debone and cut into fancy chops, filets and a whole lot of cubes. But as always the lecture came first.

The different types of lamb:
1. Genuine spring lamb - milk-fed only, tremendous quality and texture of meat. Slaughtered at 3-5 months old, 30-45 lbs. Only available from March-May.
2. Hothouse (Incubator) Lamb - Specially bred for Christmas (no joke). 6-10 weeks old at slaughter time, milk and formula fed, 20-40lbs. Meat is very tender, flavorful and has a fine grain.
3. Spring lamb (yep, different from Genuine spring lamb) - Available from March-October, 5-7 months old, 40-50 lbs. The spring lamb is milk and grain fed so the meat is a little darker and grainy.
4. Pre-sale (pronounced Pre-sally) - This lamb is from Normandy only, and is raised on the salt marshes there so the meat picks up a slightly salty flavor.
5. Yearling - 10-12 months old very gamey.

When picking out a lamb, some quality points to remember: the meat should be a dark pink color, it should have a fine grain and the fat should be firm, white and brittle (it should flake when you squeeze it). We went over the basic cuts of lamb and talked about offals (the "specialty meats" - kidney, heart, sweetbreads...)

Pencils down. Cutting boards and knives out. First the knife drill, medium dice (1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2") of potatoes. My cuts are finally getting better! While no speed demon, my dices were square for the most part, only a few rhombuses, and pretty close to the right size!! Then we took out the leg.

Removing the tail bone and leg bone/shank from this piece of meat is a bitch. The veins still had blood in them and the meat was so cold my fingers started to hurt. Not to mention its one hell of a long bone. You have to cut around the tail first loosening the meat, then cut around what for all intents and purposes is the femur, making a slit through the meat straight down to the knee cap. Then you have to come back in to take out the knee and the shank. Once the bone is removed, the fat and elastin has to be trimmed and then we cubed the damned meat.

From there we got the demo on frenching a rack of lamb. To completely remove the meat, fat and membranes from half the rib bones is a daunting and arduous task. First on either side of the rack, make a mark approximately an inch down from the eye. Then connect the marks straight on both the outside and inside. Stab the knife in between the rib bones along this line. Slice down the center of each bone to loosen the membranes. Then work along the bone to completely detach the membrane from the meat on both sides. Put the rack of lamb on its head, so the bones stick straight up in the air, place fingers on meat in between bones and pull down. The meat should break away from the bones in one piece leaving a whole section of riblets and your bones meat and membrane free.

Simple, right? More like total disaster. And most of us, myself included, had to spend a good fifteen minutes using the backs of our knives to scrape off all of the meat and membrane from the bones to leave them clean. A total nightmare.

We salted and peppered our chops. Threw some fresh asparagus into a salted pot. Grilled the chops and after we cleaned up the kitchen (I'm still on floors and side towels), ate the fruits of our labor. I love lamb.

Tonight, since we're working backwards through the butchering, we're tackling chicken. I believe Chef said something about making hot-wings too.