The corn strikes me as a little strange as well, but still looks delicious.

So does that rigatoni

any suggestions on how to pull the most flavor out of a consistently disappointing piece of lamb? any cooking method that gets the most from bad cuts/quality? which cuts should be the most flavorful if all options are well worse than what they ought to be?

theres only one place we can get lamb here and its lackluster and dull at best based on our times attempting to use ground, cutlet, chops to make dishes

my gf from the uk raves about lamb in general but says what we have available tastes closer to pork and isnt worth the trouble and disappointment

despite our attempts cooking what we can get id still say my only experience with it is gyros at bartime in college and id like that to change

I'm also interested in learning more about lamb....like I mentioned previously my buddy grilled a boneless leg of lamb from Costco the other day and it was fantastic. I don't think he used a marinade and simply seasoned the heck out of it and grilled it low and slow.

I'm doing the same boneless leg of lamb and prime for xmas eve dinner. Prime rib is easy but for the lamb I'm thinking about marinating in olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, rosemary, other spices overnight and then put it on my rotisserie spit on my grill and let it go low and slow spinning around to baste in its own juices...I'm pretty sure it will be pretty bomb.

Prime rib is going in my smoker low and slow and then crisped up in a hot oven right before service.

Also service twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, shrimp cocktail and grilled artichokes....should be a solid spread

There's a braising recipe itt that works great for a boneless leg of lamb from Costco. I have done it many times.

The tastiest lamb cuts are (as usual) ones that require the most cooking. Shoulder, leg, neck and shanks are the ones i go for. I used to have roast lamb cooked to a nice medium but personally i think its much better when cooked low and slow until it falls off the bone. I think this works well because its such a fatty meat. I love lamb rack too but its just such poor value for money I refuse to buy it.

A few ideas that i like to do:

Brown shanks and braise in onion, leeks, carrots, celery, a whole bulb of garlic, rosemary, thyme, red wine and chicken stock. Serve with celeriac and potato mash and reduced cooking liquid.

Crispy mongolian lamb is also really good and packs big lamby flavour like crispy peking duck does.

Lamb cooked in hay is quite unusual and really delicious too but I've only cooked it once.

Lastly, for a super easy and impossible to mess up recipe, this is excellent:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sl...ked_lamb_26033

Thinking of all this, I think I'm going to try and make some pulled lamb in the smoker when the weather warms up.

I don't really cook lamb. My friends Jewish mother cooked us leg of lamb for Christmas dinner one time. She just roasted it in the oven to medium rare. Real simple I want to say there was rosemary and cherries. Served with mint jelly, it was so good.

well someone didnt get the damn peas that much is for sure.

Seems weird to me to braise leg? Not that it'd necessarily be bad (because braising makes most things amazing), but the meat is already pretty delicious and tender just roasted. Braised shanks though OMG!

Of course Costco is sold out of boneless leg of lamb today at four locations that I called

Hope the lamb from Safeway is decent...doubt there's too much difference in quality of lamb right?

Just price probably

Anyone have thoughts on the best cookbooks of the year?

My nominations:

Heritage by Sean Brock

North: The New Nordic Cuisine Of Iceland by Gunnar Karl Gislason

Top round pastrami and bacon for gifts.

Durango,

Sounds like you're doing something like this: http://www.bbqu.net/season2/210_4.html which I bet will be delicious.

Jack,

Wow

I love Sean Brock, but only know him from Mind of a Chef and various videos and such. I hear his book is excellent, and hope to get it soon. I am interested in getting Prune, by Gabrielle Hamilton.

Jack's back! nice work as usual amigo

I'd recommend the following books:

Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques 100 Recipes A Cook's Manifesto

Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

Ideas in food so sick I need I get that book.

As far as not-2014 cookbooks get cooking by hand by Paul Bertolli it's just excellent.

I also asked for flour water salt yeast by Forkish and the bread bakers apprentice by Reinhart following current interests of mine.

Anybody got ideas for a Christmas Eve menu?

Don't wait until the last minute?

Guanciale is done, it came out a bit salty and I'm a little concerned about the black spots. I'm not sure if they occurred during the smoking process or they're black mold. I don't recall if they were there when I pulled them from the smoker but they have been that size for weeks so I'm inclined to think its not mold.

Any recommendations on pulling temperature of leg of lamb and smoke prime rib?

I believe they are both in the same neighborhood to get a med rare to med (cooking for family trolls)

Thinking about pulling prime rib off smoker around 127-128 and rest and sear off to get to final temp around 136 hopefully

Lamb on my rotisserie I am think roast until about 130-132 and pull and end up about 136-140 to be safe for people

First time on lamb so all suggestions welcome thx

pre cook pics.....about a 4.5 lb prime rib and a 3.5 boneless leg of lamb

prime rib rubbed with coarse mustard, salt, pepper, garlic parsley powder and onto smoker with hickory/cherry wood mixture around 225 degrees



boneless leg lamb was marinated for about 3-4 hours in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic cloves, rosemary and then put back in the little butcher stretch bag (not sure what to call in). I left some of the garlic and rosemary in the middle of the roast and then seasoned the outside with salt pepper and garlic parsley powder and then will be put on rotisserie closer to dinner and basted once or twice during cook time





should be able to get some finished pics

christmas candy: sea salt caramels

Recipe for this?