Ingredient: Lamb - Frozen (New Zealand) |
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Category: Meat - Lamb
Season: December to May
New Zealand lamb has always been a great favourite of the British ( when home grown lamb is out of season)and is always full of flavour.
Each time you buy New Zealand Lamb, you can be sure it will meet the same high standards of tenderness and eating quality.
Eating quality means tenderness, first and foremost, to many consumers. All New Zealand Lamb that is exported complies with an objective tenderness standard, one of the few standards of its kind in the world.
These standards are regularly audited, and periodically checked by taste panels. Accelerated Conditioning and Aging (AC & A) ensures that New Zealand Lamb scores consistently high for tenderness.
When the cook chooses the right cut and cooking technique, New Zealand Lambs tenderness is virtually guaranteed.
Traditionally, lamb was tenderised or "conditioned" by leaving it to hang in a cool place. However, this natural process takes days to complete and is difficult to achieve in a meat processing plant with high turnover.
In addition "cold shortening", leading to toughness, occurs if muscle is chilled to low temperatures, or frozen, too rapidly after slaughter. This causes the muscle fibre to contract and, consequently, the meat to toughen. To avoid this, New Zealand Lamb is conditioned.
New Zealand meat processing plants developed the conditioning process known as Accelerated Conditioning and Aging (AC & A), to enhance the natural tenderizing process which takes place after an animal is slaughtered.
Individual firms producing New Zealand Lamb use different means to achieve the tenderness standards.
Accelerated conditioning
Accelerated Conditioning (AC), using electrical stimulation of the carcass, has been developed to speed up this process. AC reduces conditioning times to a couple of hours.
Aging
Aging is another natural process that makes meat tender. Fresh lamb needs time to age.
During the aging process, naturally occurring enzymes break down and soften the muscle fibres, making the meat more tender.
Flavour also develops during aging
The aging rate increases with temperature, Aging occurs quite rapidly in warm carcasses, more slowly in very cold meat
Controlled aging improves tenderness
Accelerated Conditioning and Aging
One of New Zealand’s most important breakthroughs in meat science was combining Accelerated Conditioning with Aging in the process known as AC & A.
Accelerated Conditioning and Aging gives meat processors fine control over the level of tenderness in meat, so New Zealand Lamb virtually can be guaranteed tender (as long as it is cooked appropriately).
Packaging promotes aging
Packaging designed to promote the shelf-life of lamb also allows it to continue aging naturally, becoming superbly tender by the time it is ready to use.
Vacuum packaging and Controlled Atmosphere Packaging (CAP) technologies respectively perfected and developed by New Zealand meat scientists, allow New Zealand Lamb to age to perfection.
Thawing - take time and keep covered for best results
To bring out the best flavour, thaw New Zealand Lamb as slowly as possible, ideally in the refrigerator . After slow thawing, frozen meat will have the look and succulence of the fresh product.
If the lamb you bought is in a close-fitting vacuum plastic pack, leave it in its packaging while thawing.
Alternatively, simply cover the meat loosely.
Place on a plate at the bottom of the fridge and leave to thaw.
Slow thawing in the fridge is the safest method and retains meat juices.
Typical thawing times
The larger the cut of New Zealand Lamb , the longer the time needed:
Joints (e.g. leg), whole 24-36 hours
Joints, half (e.g. rack) 18-24 hours
Chops, steaks etc. 5-7 hours
Diced, ground/minced 5-7 hours.
Safe ways to speed up thawing
If you don't have time for thawing in the fridge :
Enclose the frozen meat in a watertight plastic bag and thaw it in a sink of cold water.
Cover the meat and put it on a plate in a cold fan-forced oven (heat off, fan on).
The microwave is useful for quickly defrosting meat and for reheating prepared meat dishes. Follow the manufacturer's guidelines for times and settings.
As far as possible, spread the meat out on the plate ; cover it loosely and allow about five minutes per 1 lb (450 g) on 'defrost'. Turn meat at least once during the defrosting process.
Keep the meat as cool as possible to ensure food safety.
Use thawed meat quickly; don't refreeze
Meat that has been thawed in the fridge will keep for a few days before cooking . Meat thawed more quickly should be cooked and used immediately.
Refreezing thawed meat is not recommended. Each time meat is frozen there is some deterioration of quality: the ice crystals tend to rupture the muscle fibres, breaking down texture and letting juices escape.
When you buy frozen New Zealand Lamb , it has been professionally packed and frozen to give top quality eating results. Take the same amount of care when you store it in your home freezer.
NEVER refreeze meat that has been thawed and held at room temperature.
Get more information on: Selecting New Zealand Lamb Cuts and cooking them, click here
Matching Lamb to wine table |