To mint or not to mint...........

Easter means lamb in the Scooterbug household. Many of my food habits were formed at a tender age, so I still commit the culinary sin of liking mint jelly w/ my lamb. It drives Scooterbro nuts (he's a chef). Anyone else?

It's not a culinary sin, it is a flavor preference. Scooterbro doesn't have to use mint if he doesn't want to - Judge Not!!!;-)

It doesn't drive me nuts. I just don't eat mint jelly with my lamb. Mint jelly, as many sauces, was used to mask the taste of bad meat. Today, we don't tend to have spoiled meats, and don't really need any sauces if the meat is well-prepared, but we still see some sauces or flavored butter on top of meat. If you like mint jelly, by all means eat mint jelly on your lamb.

Mint pesto is a great option. Lamb and garlic love each other!

mmm, pesto. Haven't tried mint pesto, but I love regular pesto.

I like a dry rub of rosemary, sage and thyme on lamb. It is very earthy, much like the earthiness of lamb.

They usually do a garlic/rosemary/spices marinade on a rack of chops, then grill it to rare/medium rare. Papa Scooterbug is a huge fan of Sam's Club lamb (and he is PICKY about his meat).

My version is Publix chops w/ fresh rosemary (one of the few things I can grow) and a sprinkle of white wine broiled.

Scooterbro grumbles, then buys the jelly for me anyway - part of being a brother!

I wish I could find the recipe for the best mint sauce I ever made for lamb (then I would post it here to share)!. It was vinegar based, had a little sugar and mint, maybe a pinch of salt and few if any other ingredients (maybe water to dilute the tartness?). Very thin, and the tartness of the vinegar was a great complement to the rich fattiness of the lamb. It was in an English coffee table book about growing and cooking with herbs, before herbs got so all-fired stylish, LOL. It was written by Arabella Boxer, and somehow that book has escaped my shelves.

Here's my fave thing to do with drippings from lamb (always loaded with garlic the way I make it) -- add olive oil and/or butter as needed/desired, prehaps a bit of white wine, seas salt and fresh black pepper; toss with angel hair pasta and lots of fresh parsley.

mmm, pesto. Haven't tried mint pesto, but I love regular pesto.

I like a dry rub of rosemary, sage and thyme on lamb. It is very earthy, much like the earthiness of lamb.

Your dry rub is a heavenly combination of herbs for lamb. :clap:

The only place I eat lamb is in Barcelona at El Gorria. It's one of the best things I've ever eaten. Everywhere else it tastes so odd. They definitely don't use mint with theirs. Not an option there.

My review:
"Dinner was at El Gorria, a Basque-styled restaurant. The restaurant has the wonderful atmosphere of an old, established institution where one is treated like a club member. We began our meal at the bar with a Castillo de Sajazarra Rioja (what a beautiful bouquet!), accompanied by tapas of pan con tomato (bread with tomatoes) and Parma ham. At the table our tapas continued with some fabulous lightly-salted fried green peppers, much smaller than our green peppers in the States. We also had some sausages and a lobster salad. Next a dish consisting of prawns, squid, and octopus in a lemon/butter/parsley sauce. The specialty of this restaurant is roasted lamb that I was reluctant to order because I am not accustomed to eating lamb. However, hubby assured me that it was not-to-miss, and I'm so glad that I took his advice because it had the most wonderful flavor. After so much food, I opted for a dessert of a tiny, strawberry-looking fruit called frambuesa. BTW along the way we had several great Riojas - a '95 Valle de Roncal, a '94 Muga."

Of course, on a different trip, El Gorria was also the site of the infamous daughter-swallowing-a-huge-staple-in-her-dessert-and-having-to-go-to-the-ER-with-no-panties-on-with-Mom-and-Dad-there incident. Thank God, she spoke Spanish.:rolling:We have a permanent invitation to dine there free.

In Britain they use a "mint sauce" they either buy or make <as mentioned above> using malt & white vinegar, fresh mint, and sugar...then again they like cooking their meats till they're grey, which sucks most of the flavor <flavour> out of them.

Personally, the night before cooking a leg of lamb, I poke it all over with a knife and put slivers of garlic in the slits, then make a rub of chopped garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and olive oil and smear it all over; wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Next day I take out of fridge at least an hour before putting it in the oven; place on a "rack" of long-cut carrots & celery & chunky onions <to flavor the gravy, but toss away>; and cook till it is med-rare (after a 10 minute rest). I serve it with the gravy I make from the drippings in the pan. If there is a good deal of fat in the pan, drain it off, toss with cut potatoes, salt & pepper; and roast in a HOT oven for about 30-40 minutes (depending on size of potatoes), tossing occasionally to brown all over.

I'll be spending next month in the UK, so I guess I'll have to get used to the grey meat again :roll: but the clotted cream teas will help make up for it.

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The only place I eat lamb is in Barcelona at El Gorria. It's one of the best things I've ever eaten. Everywhere else it tastes so odd. They definitely don't use mint with theirs. Not an option there.

My review:
"Dinner was at El Gorria, a Basque-styled restaurant. The restaurant has the wonderful atmosphere of an old, established institution where one is treated like a club member. We began our meal at the bar with a Castillo de Sajazarra Rioja (what a beautiful bouquet!), accompanied by tapas of pan con tomato (bread with tomatoes) and Parma ham. At the table our tapas continued with some fabulous lightly-salted fried green peppers, much smaller than our green peppers in the States. We also had some sausages and a lobster salad. Next a dish consisting of prawns, squid, and octopus in a lemon/butter/parsley sauce. The specialty of this restaurant is roasted lamb that I was reluctant to order because I am not accustomed to eating lamb. However, hubby assured me that it was not-to-miss, and I'm so glad that I took his advice because it had the most wonderful flavor. After so much food, I opted for a dessert of a tiny, strawberry-looking fruit called frambuesa. BTW along the way we had several great Riojas - a '95 Valle de Roncal, a '94 Muga."

Of course, on a different trip, El Gorria was also the site of the infamous daughter-swallowing-a-huge-staple-in-her-dessert-and-having-to-go-to-the-ER-with-no-panties-on-with-Mom-and-Dad-there incident. Thank God, she spoke Spanish.:rolling:We have a permanent invitation to dine there free.

BR - frambuesa is Spanish for raspberry! Can't help you with the swallowing staples while commando issue. :rofl:

BR - frambuesa is Spanish for raspberry! Can't help you with the swallowing staples while commando issue. :rofl:

:floor: Thanks for the correction!:wave: Our hosts obviously translated it incorrectly, and my taste buds must have been overwhelmed. I was required to learn German and French for my doctorate because Spanish wasn't considered a research language in the sciences.;-) Now I really wish I knew Spanish -- not knowing the language is a huge deterrent to having a truly meaningful experience in another country.

Believe me, there are much better sauce's to pair with lamb. I do remember as a kid eating at the buffet. Roasted Leg o Lamb with Mint Jelly or Creole Mustard.

If you like the mint Flavor, why dont you just do this.

Grilled Lamb chop's marinated with Rosemary, Garlic, Cracked Pepper and EV
with Mint pisto( which is just chopped fresh mint with EV, Salt, Pepper. You could add a little Honey if you like the sweetness.)

Serve with Lemon Herb Basmati and Blistered Brussel Sprouts.

I will definitely have to try one of those mint pestos, as they sound yummy! :drool: Plus mint is one of the few things I can grow (almost 50% of the plants have survived to date). Maybe this is the key to overcoming my tacky habit!

It's not that I don't know a better recipe, it's that I have been eating my lamb w/ Wizard of Oz Emerald City Green mint apple jelly for almost 3 decades - and the culinary inertia/habits override the taste buds. I don't eat mint or anything mint flavored at any other time. :blush:

Go to Fresh Market and get a large rack of domestic lamb, Colorado if possible. (ask the butcher, he has them in the back) It's more expensive but well worth the extra. Season, par grill, lightly rub with dijon then make a crust like SJ suggests with some panko thrown into the mix for texture. Finish in an oven until done to your liking, remove, let it rest for about 15 mins then cut into chops.......absolute heaven. And for the love of all things proper, don't use mint jelly!! Scootrbro is rightly offended.

You guys are making me hungry. Shelly, bless your heart. (Cover your ears, MerMan) Those Brits don't have many tastebuds. Better pack you some Cheetos or something. Any country which boasts that their best dessert is Spotted D_ck, is lacking in the food category.