LAMB CHOPS THREE WAYS
More about the Lamb Chop follows the recipe.
Three pan-seared Lamb Chops. Photo By Bernard Tuck on unsplash.com.
RECIPE: Pan-grilled lamb chops three ways
Serves 3.
Ingredients
6 rib, loin or sirloin lamb chops, each 1-inch thick (except for the Greek variation which best uses 6 shoulder chops, however thick)
Olive oil
Various other ingredients depending on variation (see below)
Directions
Each variation stipulates “Cook through.” That means to reach an internal temperature reading on the chops of 135 degrees for medium-rare. In a very hot cast iron skillet, grill the chops for 4 minutes on the first side, then 3-4 minutes on the flip side. Film the skillet just before grilling with 1 tablespoon olive oil. (However, depending on the beginning temperature of the chops and their thickness, total time in the skillet or over the grill may be more than 7-8 minutes and up to 12-14 minutes.)
Emerald Isles: Make a paste, using a mortar and pestle or food processor, of 2 peeled garlic cloves, the needles from 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Rub the paste over the chops and let them rest, at room temperature, for 1 hour before grilling. Cook the chops through.
Liar’s lamb chops: “Oh no, there’s no anchovy here,” you say. But, yes, no fishy flavor remains; just buckets of umami. They’ll be wowed and won’t know why. Sauté 3 teaspoons salt-cured capers, well rinsed, and 3 oil-preserved anchovy filets in 3 tablespoons olive oil until the filets break down, 2-3 minutes. Remove this sauce from the skillet then cook the chops through.
Move them to a board to rest. Put back the anchovy sauce and combine, stirring over medium-high heat, with 2 finely minced garlic cloves. Top the chops with the sauce.
Greek to you: (Particularly suited for shoulder lamb chops, as distinct from loin or rib chops.) Marinate the chops overnight in a dressing of 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons oregano (Mediterranean preferred; Mexican OK), 1/4 cup lemon juice, the zest of 1/2 lemon, 3 cloves minced garlic, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper and 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt. (Make sure the marinade gets in and around all the chops.) Cook the chops through.
After grilling, remove to a board to rest 5 minutes. You may make a sauce of any leftover marinade, a knob of butter and a few tablespoons of broth, red wine, juice or water. Scrape up any brown bits in the pan, reduce the liquid a bit and serve with the chops.
Cook’s note: You may use these flavorings on other cuts of lamb as well, for example a whole bone-in or boneless leg, or thick long cuts from either, or parts of the loin. As a cooking method for sections of lamb loin or leg, you might choose grilling over coals in place of using the stovetop skillet, or, if a whole leg or large section of loin, certainly roasting in the oven. Modify each recipe’s ingredient amounts by the size of the lamb that you’re cooking. Take the amount of meat in six chops as the basis.
On the Lamb Chop:
“OK, Boomer” alert. “Lamb Chop” was the moniker of a cute sock puppet who got her start on kids’ shows in the 1950s and ‘60s. During those same years, we rarely ate the meat to which the name referred, mostly because what lamb we could buy at the butcher’s just wasn’t that tasty. Plus, it cost.
Now, “lamb chop” means one of a few cuts of lamb meat, all of which we appreciate for both their flavor and sometimes (even more greatly) their texture. The most prized are the save-it-for-a-date lamb rib chops, those lollipops of super-tender meat at the end of very long, thin rib bones.
“Lamb chop” also may mean the loin chop, looking like a wee T-bone or porterhouse beefsteak and, like them, with a pillow-tender piece of meat to one side of the bone and a slightly chewier but still quite delicious strip of meat on the other. Loin chops come from the area between the animal’s ribs and the leg.
“Lamb sirloin chops,” so named, are cross-section cuts from the leg of lamb. You can recognize sirloin chops by the round piece of leg bone in their center or at their edge. The meat is generally tender, as leg of lamb is overall.
These three lamb chops—rib, loin and sirloin—cook most profitably over dry heat such as a grill or in a cast iron skillet.
The fourth and final “lamb chop” is called the “shoulder chop” (sometimes called a “shoulder blade chop” or an “arm chop”), by a long shot the least expensive of lamb chops, but also the largest.
Shoulder chops consist of different muscles, some of which are tougher than the others. Consequently, they benefit from a marinade, rub or brine to help soften up the tough musculature, well in advance of cooking in a pan or as a braise.
Read about the name "Colorado Lamb" here.