Grill Maestro

Before I had to leave the country on some emergency family matters, I was sent a gorgeous looking leg of lamb from the American Lamb Board along with four skewers, huge bags of spices, a thermometer, and several recipes cards. The package arrived in a styrofoam box with the lamb vacuum sealed and packed with ice packs. When I pulled it out, the leg of lamb easily weight something like six pounds though I didn’t weigh it.

I cut open the packaging, pulled out the leg of lamb, rinsed it off, and took a nice long look. It was a nice cut of meat, probably one of the nicest I’ve seen in a while (at least of that size), and I was eager to throw it on the grill and get it ready to eat. This is where the story gets a little rough because of a technical problem I had with the TEC grill but basically I charred the outside (the grease trap caught fire and nearly blew up the fuel tank) so I was forced to finish it off in the oven. After slicing off the charred bits on the outside, I was pretty much left with medium rare lamb meat with very little seasoning that was still pretty freaking awesome. I mean I charred the outside and the inside was still nice and tender, something that surprised me. At the same time, about four days later, I got a Weber Smokey Mountain and smoked some pork and beef for several hours and tried the two side by side – the lamb, even charred, was still better than the smoked pork and beef (though they lost on flavor, of course).

So, what’s the big deal with American lamb? Most lamb in the United States comes from Australia or New Zealand so picking lamb from the United States means you’re getting something made in America, traveled less, and probably fresher. Information on the American Lamb Board makes claims on the quality of American lamb and I’d take those at face value but anything that travels a shorter distance in general will probably be better vis-a-vis. Plus, in addition to potentially being fresher, you have the green element (less distance traveled means less gas used) and you’re buying American.

Next time you think about getting some lamb, just give American lamb a shot. I think you will not be disappointed. (no they didn’t pay me to say any of this)

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