Category: Meat - Lamb
Season: June, July and August
British lamb is top for taste in Europe (source 2001 EEC project, co-ordinated by the Division for Food and Animal Science at Bristol University.
British lamb is among the tastiest and healthiest in Europe, according to a £500,000 scientific survey ordered by Brussels to settle claims about who produces the best meat in the EU.
After three years of blind tasting by panels of experts in six countries,
British lamb from flocks fed on grass was rated higher for flavour than meat from lambs reared intensively on milk in Spain, Greece and Italy.
It was also rated better than meat from intensively reared lambs fed on grain in Spain, Greece and France.
Prof Jeff Wood, head of the Division for Food and Animal Science at Bristol University, said: "All of the tasting carried out by panels in Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Iceland were carried out 'blind'. Nobody knew which region the meat they were eating came from."
It has a natural seasonal cycle, which is at its peak in June, July and August (in fact it progresses from West Country lamb which is available in April to Scottish lamb which reaches the shops in August)
There is nothing to beat fresh lamb in June after it has had all the benefit of grazing on the lush green spring grass.
Scottish lamb
Prime Lamb from across Scotland, from the heather hills, of the Southern Uplands, to the shores of Lewis and North Ronaldsay.
Scottish native breeds of lamb! Have great differences in texture and flavour! Whether, it is from the mild Cheviot to the gamey sea weedy Shetland .
Mature Lamb from native and rare breed sheep, include: Shetland Lamb, North Ronaldsay Lamb, Black Hebridean Lamb, Soay Lamb, Jacob Lamb and our famous Blackface lamb. Reared in their natural habitats often on diets of seaweed, and heather.
Try the following cuts in Scottish lamb:
Delicious tender gigot steaks, chops, supremely sweet lamb valentine steaks and noisettes.
Scottish Lamb joints for roasting
Scottish Lamb shanks (for slow casseroling or long slow cooking), giving you tender, flavoursome casseroles and pot, roasts.
Lamb offal is becoming more popular again , supremely flavoursome, sweetbreads, kidneys, and liver.
All the young spring vegetables are in season at the same time: fill up your dinner plate with tiny melt-in-the-mouth peas, baby carrots tossed in herb butter and fresh new potatoes.
I would recommend that you go to your local butcher and buy the local produced lamb, when in season.
The imported frozen lamb from New Zealand (may be an alternative when there is no home grown lamb available) should not be your first choice when local lamb is in the shop, as the is nothing like home grown lamb.
Supermarket information:
Several of the major supermarkets in the U.K. are now switching to British lamb,when in season, due to customer demand for this high quality meat.
In Septembe 2007, Supermarket giant Tesco have been forced to change British labels on its lamb shank after a customer spotted it was made from New Zealand meat,
A spokesman for Tesco said:
"The description of British was intended to indicate the type of cuisine rather than to suggest every single ingredient came from the country.
"We would never intend to mislead and the process has already been put in place to change the labeling on this product. People should see that in store in the next couple of weeks.
"We are committed to clear labeling and only source lamb from outside the UK when local meat is not available.” get the full story here.
Morison’s leads with commitment to 100% British Fresh Lamb, dated 02/11/2007.
Matching Lamb to wine table
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