Cuts for making ground lamb

[Mark J]

I am looking to make a tapas dish with ground lamb meatballs. Unfortunately there is not a good deal of lamb to be found in the local super markets and butcher shops. Hence I will have to ground my own lamb from what I can find. My question is what cuts of lamb are best for turning into ground meat? And are there any cuts that I should stay away from? Thanks.

Take care,

Mark J.

[pdswife]

We get a lamb every year and have all the meat except for the legs ground. It all tastes wonderful.

(oh, the heart and the liver we leave whole too) Yummers!

[Andy M.]

Have you ever asked the butcher or manager of the meat department for ground lamb? I have had very good luck asking for items not in the display case but available for the asking.

Ground lamb is usually made with the less tender cuts and should be less expensive as a result.

[Ellen]

I would be inclined to grind the shoulder roast.

[Gretchen]

I would do as someone said and ask. I get a lamb every year also and get ground lamb from trimmings. You could ask your butcher for lamb stew meat and grind that. Alternatively, you could use ground pork for your tapas.

[Barbara L]

I've never had ground lamb, and you have gotten good advice here, but I would add one thing (just from my experience, which isn't extensive!). I found some lamb stew meat at my meat market once (I usually have chops or roast) and thought I would try lamb stew. The meat was pretty fatty. I trimmed a lot of it away. The stew turned out terrible and the dog had a nice supper that night. So based on my tiny bit of experience with that meat, I would suggest you trim as much fat from the meat as possible before grinding it.

Barbara

[black chef]

i would use a cut that's got a good, but not overwhelming, fat content...

[buckytom]

i agree with ellen, a shoulder roast, or shoulder blade chops would work, and would be the least expensive but still be flavorful.

[YT2095]

shoulder and neck is what I use, it does have quite a high fat content (most of the flavour is in the fat), I tend to use this for kebabs/sashlik I mix it with a special blend of herbs and spices (over 40 of them) and shape them onto the skewers then cook them on a wire rack in the oven.

the end product is like a Long meat ball :)
so perhaps you could adapt this and make meatball shapes and oven cook those on a wire rack also?
I see no reason why that shouldn`t work just the same for you :)

[Gretchen]

Grind all but the legs? Oooh. What about the rack!! What about the loin chops!
Anyway, shoulder is good for stew. And if the lamb stew wasn't good, you may just not like lamb. It is a meat that there is little to no middle ground--love it or hate it.
For stew, while I try to trim a lot, I just cook the stew and then de-grease before serving.

[YT2095]

de-greasing/fatting is easy with a stew also, since most stews are better next day (In my opinion) I make mine a day early, leave to cool overnight and the fat solidifies on the top.
using a spatula or fish slice it`s quite easy to then remove this solid waxy fat and dispose of it (or render it for roast potatoes later) :)