Lamb is perhaps a lesser known meat than beef. It is a highly versatile meat that you can find on menus in the form of roasts, chops, stews and braises. Here’s a brief guide to learning more about this often understated meat.

How to cook lamb:
Slow Cooking (ideally use leg, shank, shoulder roasts, stew meat)
Always start by searing the meat to build flavour before starting a slow cooking process such as braising and roasting. Braising is a method in which the lamb is browned in fat, tightly covered and cooked slowly in a small amount of liquid on the stove, in the oven or in a slow cooker while roasting is an oven-cooking method in which the meat is cooked uncovered in order to produce an exterior that is well browned and a moist interior.

Quick Cooking (chops, rack, ground lamb)
Lamb works well with the smokiness that’s produced by an open fire. Whole meats like lamb racks and chops can be cooked over a stove like in curries or fried, or on the barbecue while minced lamb is great as burger patties or also in stir-fries and curries. From burgers to chops, grilling is the perfect way to eat more lamb and spend less time cooking.

Lamb Loves Flavour
The versatility of lamb makes it a star in many cuisines from around the world.

• Fresh herbs like mint, cilantro, rosemary, thyme and basil are great to marinade lamb with
• Warm spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon are also great with lamb
• Indian curries use meaty lamb cuts for popular dishes such as Jalfrezi and Rogan Josh while the cuts with bones in are used for dum briyani dishes or Dhal stews.
• The Greeks and Middle Easterns love their lamb with yoghurt or as a mince in meatballs
• Many Mediterranean and North African dishes pair lamb with dried fruit such as apricots, prunes and figs.

Lamb cuts
Leg of Lamb
The leg of lamb tends to provide leaner pieces of meat and can be cooked bone-in or boneless as leg steaks. Bone-in leg of lamb takes longer to cook while the boneless leg steaks are best grilled, pan-fried or sautéed.

Loin Chops
The loin chop comes from the middle portion of the lamb consists of a T-shaped bone, which is the loin muscle and the tenderloin. Loin chops are best grilled or pan-fried as they cook rather quickly. Loin chops are the lamb equivalent of the sirloin of beef.

Rack
These are considered to offer the most tender lamb cuts at the end of neck and are best roasted in an oven with the fat side seasoned, glazed or covered with a crust. Separating them individually will make them ideal for frying or grilling,

Shoulder
The shoulder meat is best cut into cubes and cooked in stews, casseroles and curries because it can withstand robust flavours. The shoulder tends to provide a sweeter flavor than the leg when the fat is removed. If not diced, this cut is also great for low and slow roasting.

Shank
Shanks are from the leg of the lamb just below the knee. A small portion of meat is usually removed from the bone to make the shank look more pleasing and are mostly used for braises as they required a long, slow cooking period to develop a smooth texture until the meat literally falls off the bone.

Rosso at Amwaj Rotana is proud to present a special menu this month of John Stone’s grass-fed dry aged beef and succulent lamb. Click here to discover the tantalizing menu.

For reservations or more information, please call +971 (0)4 428 2000 or
email online.amwaj@rotana.com.