Rack of lamb: what it is, what part, recipes, how to cook the most tender meat

What is a rack of lamb, what part of the carcass is it

It’s worth figuring out what a square is. In simple terms, these are bone-in chops. Oddly enough, classic ribs are the most tender and, accordingly, expensive part of the meat carcass. The cut used is the front loin of lamb: a piece of the side of the animal carcass on four or five ribs.

Origin of the name of the dish

Rack of lamb - what is it? The original name of the dish has several origin stories.

One version says that the word “caret” came from Ancient Rome. This was the name given to the formation of troops in the form of a geometric figure - a square. The warriors had to stand close to each other, with bayonets pointing straight up. Since the ribs of young lamb raised up are laid out on the dish, this is where the association came from.

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Translated from different languages, the name of the dish means lamb ribs. For example, in French “rack of lamb” sounds like carre d'agneau, and in English the dish is called rack of lamb.

How to deliciously marinate meat on ribs

Marinating a rack of lamb is not a necessary condition for obtaining the best dish, since the meat itself, after cooking, will have a natural richness of aroma and taste. If the cook prefers spicy notes or wants to get a more delicate dish, then you can place the meat in a special composition for 1-10 hours, depending on the desired effect.

Let's consider the most popular marinades based on 1 kg of the main product.

With vinegar

• a shot of olive oil;
• half the amount of vinegar;
• a little French mustard;
• 2 crushed cloves of garlic;
• rosemary and mint leaves.

With soy sauce

• 1.5 glasses of soy sauce;
• ½ head of garlic (chopped).

With yogurt

• 200 ml yogurt;
• a little cumin and cardamom.

Vegetable marinade

• chopped carrots and onions;
• 2 crushed cloves of garlic;
• grated celery root;
• black peppercorns.

For lovers of spicier dishes, we can recommend using a mixture of adjika, cumin, paprika and ground black pepper as pickling spices.

Lamb loin. Description

Lamb loin is the back part of a lamb carcass, consisting of ribs and meat. Chefs often use this part to prepare a variety of gourmet dishes, as the meat is very tender - an ideal creation for haute cuisine. The name itself comes from the French “Carre”, denoting the part of the carcass in question.

Lamb is a recognized delicacy, which in former times could be found on the tables of only the rich; the tender meat of the animal was not available to other segments of the population. Nowadays, tender lamb loin is used not only for preparing delicacies, but also for creating dietary dishes. This is due to the large number of medicinal elements in meat that are beneficial for the body.

Rack of lamb baked on the grill

When it’s time for barbecue, the question arises: what to cook meat on ribs over a fire so that it is not only tasty, but also surprises all the gathered guests with its novelty.

You can prepare a rack of lamb on the grill, which will require the following products:

• 1 kg of meat;
• 3 stalks each of rosemary and thyme;
• garlic head;
• ground pepper;
• 2 stacks of olive oil;
• a little salt.

Sequence of actions:

1. The rack is cleared of films, washed and divided into portions so that each contains 2-3 ribs.
2. A homogeneous marinade is prepared from the remaining products, which is used to rub the meat slices.
3. Next, hot coals are prepared.

Bake the rack for no more than 10 minutes, systematically turning the grill over.

Cooking features

Making a rack of lamb on a charcoal grill is not that difficult. If the lamb is selected correctly, then all that remains is to marinate it and then place it on the grill.

There are several points to consider when preparing:

• do not cook young lamb for a long time;
• prolonged heat treatment leads to the fact that the meat becomes rubbery and dry;
• grill the lamb for a few minutes on each side;
• if you cook in the oven, then select a temperature of 245 degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes;
• If you are not sure about frying, first hold the rack for 2-3 minutes on each side, then cover the grill with a lid and wait another 3-4 minutes.

Please note that the fat in lamb begins to solidify at a temperature of 40 degrees. Therefore, such meat should always be eaten hot.

There are several more important nuances to successfully grilling racks of meat on the grill:

• Before marinating, it is advisable to rinse the meat and leave it in cold water for 1-2 hours;
• the marinade takes away the characteristic aroma of lamb in 10-15 minutes, and therefore there is no point in keeping the meat in spices for a long time;
• to bring the rack, fried in a frying pan, to readiness, transfer it to the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees;
• Serve berry sauces and fresh herbs with the rack;
• If you cook boneless loin, do not pound the meat, otherwise it will be dry.

With all this knowledge, you can start cooking.

Recipe in the oven

The easiest and fastest way to get a delicious dish is, of course, baking in the oven. Preparation requires a minimum of labor with excellent results.

To make sure of this, you need:

• 1 kg of main product;
• a stack of vegetable oil;
• 2 times less lemon juice;
• thyme, thyme, rosemary, ground pepper and salt (to taste).

Sequence of steps:

1. The rack is freed from films and divided into pieces; if desired, part of the meat carcass can be left whole.
2. The processed product is laid out on a baking sheet.
3. All seasonings, salt, vegetable oil and lemon juice are mixed in a bowl.
4. The rack is poured with a fragrant composition and kept for 30 minutes. At this time, the oven is preheated to 240 °C.
5. The dish is baked for a quarter of an hour.

Rack of lamb can be served with homemade tomato sauce or satsebeli - an amazing Georgian seasoning.

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Parts of lamb carcass and their culinary uses

Lamb is a valuable product, since in terms of its content of nutrients and caloric content it is well suited for feeding children and the elderly. It contains a lot of fluoride, which protects teeth from caries, and little cholesterol. Moreover, the lecithin contained in lamb helps prevent diabetes and also has anti-sclerotic properties. A large amount of minerals has a beneficial effect on the heart and blood vessels, and also promotes hematopoiesis and normal functioning of the thyroid gland. People usually don’t like refractory fat in lamb, but they eat the meat of young lambs that simply don’t have it. Calorie content of lamb: 100 g 203 kcal.

This is the simplest cutting diagram

To buy lamb correctly, you need not only to know how to choose good-quality meat, but also to understand what parts (bran) the carcass consists of and what their purpose is. The figure and table presented below will help the buyer choose the right part by name, grade and purpose.

Table - Description of the parts for cutting a lamb carcass

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Good-quality lamb is firm and elastic to the touch, its fat is white. If the fat has a certain yellowness and friability, then this is the meat of an old ram or sheep. When purchasing, do not forget to do a pit test after pressing. By sniffing thoroughly, you can determine the degree of freshness - the smell should be pleasant, without mustiness or rottenness.

In general, when choosing any meat, you must take into account the age of the animal. The younger, the more tender it is, and the older, the denser. The meat of young lambs (up to 3 months) is tender, and the meat of suckling lamb (up to 8 weeks) is even more tender, has an unusually mild taste and is considered a delicacy.

Age can be determined by the color of the meat - the lighter, the younger. Old lamb can be recognized by its dark red hue, yellow fat and stringiness.

If you are looking to buy a dairy lamb, it is good to know that lambs are usually born between January and March. The likelihood of choosing fresh lamb during this period is highest.

Thawed lamb can be identified by loss of elasticity; when pressed, the dimples may not even out at all, and the surface becomes bright red.

Remember that second-frozen lamb significantly loses its taste and nutritional qualities. Improperly defrosted lamb will also lose its properties. Advice to never defrost in warm water.

Grade I includes the loin and hind legs. They are used to prepare baked lamb dishes, manti, shish kebab, pilaf, chops and stew. K II - brisket and shoulder, they are used for cooking boiled meat, pilaf, kabyrgi, stew, azu, shorpoo, naryn, etc. K III - neck. Cutlet mass is mainly prepared from it. To cut a lamb carcass, it is divided crosswise into the back and front parts at the protrusion of the pelvic bone. The shoulder blades and neck are separated from the front part of the carcass, the breast bone is cut into equal halves, then the flesh is cut along the spine on both sides to the ribs and the spine is cut out from the kidney part. The resulting halves of the dorsal-thoracic part of the carcass are cut into loin and brisket. The back of a lamb carcass is divided along the sacrum and spine into two legs. Central Asian and Caucasian cuisines have their own national methods of cutting lamb. Often, during such cutting, the bones are not chopped, but the carcass is cut at the joints.

Parts of lamb carcass and their culinary uses

Lamb can be prepared in any way, but it is traditionally considered the best meat for preparing real pilaf and shish kebab. In order for lamb to best reveal its taste, try to choose meat based on exactly how you are going to cook it.

• Stews : shoulder, neck, hind leg.
• Grill: loin, ham.
• Pilaf: shoulder, tenderloin, breast. Pilaf will be tastier if you add a little fat tail fat to it.
• Stew: drumstick, neck, brisket.
• Shish kebab: ham, dorsal and back parts of the carcass.
• Soups and boiled meat: neck, brisket, shoulder.
• Steak : hind leg.
• Chops : The back and back portion of the carcass.
• Chopped cutlets : shoulder blade, neck part.
• Roast: neck, hind leg, kidney.
• Roasting: hind leg, kidney part
• Roasting : hind leg, shoulder, brisket, shank.

It also happens the other way around: you want to buy lamb, but you haven’t yet decided what exactly to cook from it - soup, pilaf, shish kebab, or maybe all at once. Or you were supposed to buy a leg of lamb, but for example, only ribs and brisket were on sale. In this case, you can figure out what dishes this or that part of the carcass is suitable for, and make a choice from what is currently on the counter.

• The lumbar part is the most tender piece of meat in the whole carcass.

What to cook: chops, cutlets with bones, oven-baked meat, shish kebab, pilaf, boiled meat.

• The hip cut (o korok ) is the meatiest and most versatile cut.

What to cook: fried or baked meat, natural cutlets, chops, schnitzel, shish kebab, kebab, pilaf.

• Brisket is a fatty piece, with a lot of fatty streaks.

What to cook: stew, pilaf, shish kebab, dressing soups.

• Flank – abdominal wall.

What to cook: stews, pilaf, dressing soups, rolls, stews.

• The neck is a fatty but very flavorful part of the carcass.

What to cook: soups, steaks, cutlets, schnitzel, stews.

• The knuckle is the lower part of the front leg.

What to cook: broths, jellied meats, stews.

• The shank is the lower part of the hind leg.

What to cook: broths, jellied meats, stews.

• Brisket is a fairly fatty meat. The length of the ribs in the loin should not exceed 10 cm.

What to cook: fried meat, shish kebab, cutlets, chops.

• Boneless shoulder blade

What to cook: fried meat, cutlets

The carcass cutting scheme described above mainly concerns an adult ram. The lamb carcass is usually cut into fewer parts, and sometimes - especially for dairy lambs - it is not cut at all: the lamb can be baked whole. The most used part of a young lamb is the leg or part of the back called the saddle.

• Rump : Most often prepared in one piece. It can be stewed in the oven or baked on the grill; You can cook it with or without the pit.

• Back: consists of three parts - saddle, cutlet and neck. The most valuable part of the lamb back is the fillet, which is often sold as a cutlet. Lamb neck meat is very juicy, it has a lot of fatty streaks; it is stewed, boiled, roasted and stewed.

• Shoulder: Lamb shoulder meat is typically sold rolled or diced. This meat is very tender and is suitable for frying and boiling, as well as baking in the oven.

• Brisket: meat riddled with fatty streaks with a bright, specific taste. Brisket is used primarily for making soups, but can also be cooked in the oven as a roast.

• Subcostal part (edge) : this meat, riddled with layers of fat, is suitable for cooking.

Before cooking lamb, it must be processed - be sure to remove the thin parchment-like skin from it.

The most valuable meat is the meat of young (up to 18 months) castrated rams or sheep that are unsuitable for breeding. The meat of well-fed sheep, no older than 3 years, is also tasty. It is distinguished by a light red hue, the fat is elastic and white. The meat of old, poorly fed sheep has a dark red tint and yellow fat. This meat is stringy and is therefore best consumed as minced meat. Lamb fat is rarely used in cooking, as it has an unpleasant odor and, moreover, is difficult to digest. Lamb meat ripens slowly; to speed up the ripening process, it is best to use a dressing made from vegetable oil and vegetables (up to 24 hours), marinade (2-3 days) or pour sour milk over the meat. The seasonings included in the vinegar dressing add flavor to lamb meat, which is necessary due to its specific smell.

So we can summarize:

LAMB FOR COOKING

• Broth: bones;
• Boiled meat: neck, brisket, shoulder. LAMB FOR Roasting
• Steak: back leg;
• Cutlets with bone: loin;
• Chopped cutlets: shoulder blade, neck part. LAMB FOR STEW
• Zrazy chops: back leg;
• Goulash: spatula;
• Pilaf: brisket, shoulder;
• Stew: brisket, shoulder;
• Stewed roast: neck, hind leg or kidney. LAMB FOR BAKED DISHES
• Baked meat: hind leg or kidney part

Cooking and serving

There are a lot of ways to cook lamb: there are so many traditions. In the Near and Middle East, young lamb meat is flavored with aromatic spices and boiled with the addition of fruits, such as dates and apricots. Olive oil, wine, tomatoes and garlic give Mediterranean dishes a warm, southern flavor. In northern countries, dishes pleasing to the heart and stomach are created by adding potatoes and root vegetables to meat. Young lamb meat can be successfully prepared as a regular roast, sautéed in a deep frying pan, or grilled, seasoned sparingly with herbs. Any herbs from the Lamiaceae family - thyme, marjoram, oregano and savory - go well with young lamb meat. The sharp smell of rosemary and dill, if you don’t get carried away with them, will also successfully complement the flavor of the roast. The meat will be most juicy if it is half-fried, that is, its color remains pink. The longer the meat is cooked, the drier and tougher it becomes, and its flavor is lost. Many people are put off by the specific taste of lamb fat. When cooking, fat easily penetrates into lean meat. Therefore, before heat treatment, you should remove as much fat as possible from the surface of the piece. The older the animal, the more fat it has and the more important this procedure is. If you still notice the taste of fat, you can beat it off with a hot sauce, such as mint sauce with vinegar, which is very popular in England. But by improving one, you worsen the other, so we recommend cooking the meat properly and enjoying its natural taste. There is so little fat in the meat of suckling lamb or kid that it should be added, for example, by wrapping the whole carcass in a seal before cooking. Meat from dairy animals is usually fried or baked. Red wines go better with milk lamb meat . But the specific choice of wine depends on how the meat is prepared. You will enjoy with equal pleasure an exquisite wine with the simplest cooking, unless its taste disturbs the bouquet of the drink, and, on the contrary, a complex dish of young lamb meat, washed down with ordinary wine. Any real red wine goes well with roast lamb, but nothing will empty the cellars of famous Burgundy and soften the harshness of a fine century-old claret faster than a moderately seasoned and appetizingly roasted leg, saddle or brisket of young lamb. There are many exquisite red wines that are in no way inferior to the world-recognized Bordeaux and Burgundy. These include Corna and Saint-Joseph from the banks of the Rhone, wines of different years from Beaujolais, Bourgueil and Chinon, the province of Touraine, as well as Zin-fandel and some varieties of California Cabernet. These wines go best with stewed meats, examples of which include navarin. Perhaps a red wine like Chateauneuf-du-Pape or Barolo would be a better choice to pair with the rich flavors associated with French doube. Spicy lamb dishes with oriental flavors, such as Moroccan stew, require sharp, even coarse wines. Rough white or rose wine , if drunk somewhat chilled, will often better highlight the specific taste of this type of dish. Wines that go well with heavily flavored dishes include Roman Frascati, many local wines from Southern Italy and Sicily, most Greek wines, white Cassie from Southern France, and rosé wines from the lower Rhone regions. with baked milk lamb , but it can quite successfully share honors at the table with the wonderful creations of Burgundy: Mersol or Puligny-Montrachet, as well as Château-Chalon of the Jura Mountains. There are no hard and fast rules in wine selection, only general principles that can easily be broken in the interests of new experiences and greater pleasure.

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Series of messages “CULINARY EDUCATION AND VOCABULARY”:
Part 1 - Cutting a beef carcass and the characteristics of the cuts Part 2 - Cutting a pork carcass and Description of the parts of cutting a pork carcass Part 3 - Parts of a lamb carcass and their culinary uses Part 4 - What is al dente? Part 5 - Sous-vide technology (sous-vide) ... Part 11 - Cheesecake and its secrets (IMPACT CHEESECAKE) and the Secret of the “seal” or Estella’s Rules (from lara) Part 12 - COLD-PRESSED OLIVE OIL (OLIO EXTRAVERGINE DI OLIVA) Part 13 - Beautiful and tasty. Tasty and beautiful! — Smoothie

Cooking in a frying pan

The absence of an oven is not a reason to refuse the opportunity to enjoy a delicious dish. Moreover, preparation requires a minimum set of ingredients and very little time.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg rack;
• 5 g mustard;
• 15 g tomato sauce;
• ½ glass of olive oil;
• a pinch of salt and ground black pepper.

Method for preparing the aromatic dish:

1. First of all, the meat is prepared, washed, dried with paper towels and divided into portions.
2. Take a small bowl in which mustard, sauce, vegetable fat and spices are mixed.
3. The rack is rubbed with dressing and kept for 15 minutes.
4. A frying pan with a small amount of oil is heated, after which the meat pieces are fried for 2 minutes on each side.
5. Next, the heat is reduced and the rack is cooked for 3-4 minutes in the same order.

To prevent the meat from losing its juice, it must be placed in hot oil to form a crust.

How to choose the right one

Before cooking a rack of young lamb on your grill, you need to choose good and fresh meat.

This is a key aspect in such a dish. If you take old or stale meat, the result will disappoint you.

There are several tips on this matter.

• There are whole carcasses on sale, where the loin and ribs should be cut out to prepare the rack. But there are also parts that have already been processed. If you don’t have time, or you are not interested in other meat parts, choose a processed bone-in loin. Ask the seller to cut off part of the spine, leaving only the flesh and rib bones.

• Look at the color. If the meat is dark, then they are trying to sell you an adult sheep. Young lamb is indicated by the exceptionally light color of the meat. So the square will be tender and juicy.
• Presence of fat. Up to 5 months, lambs feed only on milk. Because of this, there are no fatty layers in the meat. After 5-6 months, other foods are added to the diet. Fat begins to appear. You can take such meat. But the fat itself should be thin and white, in small quantities.
• Smell. If the pulp gives off an unpleasant odor, then there are 2 options. This is an old ram, or it has not been sterilized. It's not worth taking it.
• Finger test. The simplest test is to press a piece with your fingers. If the meat is fresh, it will regain its shape very quickly. If there is a dent, it is a low quality product. The hole must be dry. Its filling with blood and liquid indicates repeated defrosting.
• The rib bones and the distance between them. If the ribs are large and the distance between them is large, then this is a rack from an old carcass. Small ribs that are located close to each other indicate the desired young meat.

Choosing quality lamb meat is not so easy. But this must be done to create a delicious restaurant-quality grilled dish.

Tender rack of lamb on the grill

Home cooking will allow you to save a significant amount if, for example, you make a rack of dishes on your own grill. The main condition is the purchase of quality meat. If you already have 1 kg of this, you can start executing the recipe for a gourmet dish.

Auxiliary components:

• head of garlic;
• 1 lemon;
• 20 g rosemary;
• salt, ground pepper and a little olive oil for greasing.

Step-by-step cooking instructions:

1. The meat is washed and left in one piece. Incisions are made between the ribs.
2. Garlic can be separated into cloves. One half is cut into slices, the second is pounded.
3. The rack is stuffed with garlic.
4. The zest is removed from the citrus, then the fruit is crushed.
5. The meat is processed with crushed spices, garlic, salt and covered with foil.
6. After pre-treatment, the rack is grilled for about 25 minutes.

Before sprinkling with spices, the product must be rubbed with oil, which allows it to maintain its juiciness and tenderness.

Hearty rack of lamb with potatoes in the oven in the sleeve

The highlight of this dish is the sauce, part of which is used to marinate the meat, and part of which is served with the already prepared lamb. If desired, potatoes can also be prepared before baking by rubbing them with salt and herbs, but in small quantities, since the side dish here should highlight the taste of the meat, and not argue with it.

Ingredients:

• rack of lamb – 450 g;
• potatoes – 400 g;
• rosemary (sprigs) – 3 pcs.;
• sour cream - 2 table. spoons;
• salt;
• dry red wine - glass;
• large pomegranates - 2 pcs.;
• large onion;
• olive oil;
• ground coriander - a pinch;
• ground white pepper – 1 teaspoon. spoon.

Cooking method:

1. Gut the pomegranates, pour the grains into a ceramic mortar and vigorously pound them with a pestle. If you are afraid that the idea will not succeed, just use high-quality pomegranate juice in an amount of 200 ml.
2. Squeeze the juice through cheesecloth and mix it with red wine.
3. Pour everything into a small ladle, add coriander and pepper. Heat it up and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
4. Chop the onion and fry in olive oil. When it becomes soft, pour in the sauce and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
5. Rinse the rack of lamb, cut into pieces parallel to the bones, pour half the volume of pomegranate sauce. Marinate for an hour.
6. Peel the potatoes and cut into thin cubes. Rub with salt and sprinkle with chopped rosemary. Add sour cream and mix everything with your hands.
7. Place the potatoes in the baking sleeve, then the meat, tie the free edge.

8. Bake for 45 minutes, oven preheated to 200 degrees.
9. Before serving, pour the remaining sauce over the hot meat or place it next to it in a small wide bowl.

How to cook in a slow cooker

If recently people wondered how one kitchen appliance can fry, boil, stew, and bake, today the presence of a multicooker does not surprise anyone. You can create almost any culinary masterpiece with it without much effort. Rack of lamb is no exception.

To prepare a hearty dish with rich aroma and bright taste, you need to have on hand:

• 900 g rack;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 5 g salt;
• ¼ tsp. ground pepper;
• 3-4 g rosemary;
• ½ tsp. khmeli-suneli;
• 15 ml soy sauce;
• 10 g Dijon mustard;
• 180 ml dry white wine;
• ½ cup each of olive and vegetable oils.