UMAMI LAMB LOIN CHOPS
RECIPE: Umami Lamb Loin Chops
Makes 2, easily multiplied.
Ingredients
2 lamb loin chops
1 teaspoon salt-cured capers
1 silver anchovy
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 small garlic clove, minced or sliced see-through thin
Wedges of lemon
Directions
Make the umami dressing: Rinse the capers under running water; squeeze dry gently. In a small skillet, over medium heat, sauté the capers and the anchovy in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, smooshing the anchovy with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula, until the anchovy breaks down, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook it until aromatic and just cooked through, about 90 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside, moving the solids to one side.
Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat and, when very hot, film it with the other 1 tablespoon of olive oil and as much of the oil that you can scoop out of the caper-anchovy mix that is in the small skillet. Lower the heat slightly. Pan-grill the chops for 5 minutes on the first side, then another 5 minutes on the flip side. (However, depending on the chops' beginning temperature and thickness, total time in the skillet may be up to 12 minutes.) An instant-read thermometer, inserted at an angle and not touching the bone, should read 130 degrees for medium-rare.
After grilling, remove to a board to rest for 5 minutes. To serve, warm the dressing, stirring, and plate the chops with the lemon wedges and "painted" with some of the dressing; the remainder, to the side.
Wine Pairings and why: In the early 1900s, the Japanese isolated a fifth “taste” that they call “umami,” a savory taste high in pleasure-stimulating glutamates. This recipe is off the charts with umami (due in no small part to the anchovy, even the cured capres). Other foods replete with umami are aged cheese, aged wines, braised meats and ripe tomatoes. To best pair umami with wine, keep away from highly tannic reds because glutamate accentuates tannin’s bitterness. Other than those, many wines match up deliciously with umami. Fermentation itself creates the umami taste; aging wine heightens it. Wines with slight sweetness matched with umami ought to carry an NC-17 rating. Try many a Pinot Noir, especially an older one, for their impression of “sweetness,” the plushness of a GSM from Australia or the West Coast, especially one with a bit of age to it, or—what the hey!—a sparkling Brachetto d’Acqui from Northern Italy.