When it comes to eating meat, beef, pork and chicken are the overwhelming favorites for home cooks and barbecue pitmasters in America.
Other proteins we may find on barbecue-joint menus are turkey, duck, the occasional seafood dish, and lamb.
Lamb, or more generally sheep (mutton), has a long history in American barbecue. Domestic sheep are a hearty breed well-suited to the varied climates and geography of the Americas.
In the earliest history of Texas barbecue, starting in the mid-1800s, communities would gather to celebrate special occasions like crop harvests and political rallies. Local farmers would contribute cattle, pigs, goats and sheep to be cooked on grates over coal fires set into underground trenches.
As Texas barbecue commercialized, consumers voted with their wallets and proclaimed beef, pork and later chicken as their favorite menu items. Sheep and goat became also-rans in the great Texas barbecue boom.
Why? There are anatomical as well as cultural reasons. Beef and pork have milder flavors than sheep and goat. In general, the American palate seems to prefer milder, rather than gamier, meats. Also, sheep and goat have less meat per animal that can be sold for a profit. The “yield” of sellable meat from a sheep or goat is about 50% of the animal, as opposed to about 60-65% for cattle and pigs.
Lamb, of course, is a young sheep, specifically one that is less than a year old. Lamb meat tends to be more tender and mild than that of older sheep, whose meat is known as mutton. Similarly, young goats are known as “cabrito” or “kid” and are the preferred choice on restaurant menus, rather than older goats whose meat is also referred to as mutton in some countries.
You will occasionally see lamb as a special on barbecue menus. In greater Houston, chef Ara Malekian’s Friday special of smoked lamb chops (“lamb pops”) has become something of a cult favorite among the customers of his Harlem Road Texas BBQ restaurant in Richmond.
I can confirm they are worth the drive and price. Malekian sources his racks of lamb from New Zealand, a country famous for the quality of its grass-fed lamb. The rack is “frenched” meaning the rib bone is trimmed of all fat and meat so that it becomes almost like a handle that can be used to then eat the big disk of meat at the top of the rib. It’s a natural version of the meat-on-a-stick tradition.
Malekian marinates the whole rack in sweet onions for 48 hours, covers the outside in a salt-and-pepper crust and then smokes them until medium-rare. The resulting meat is a remarkable balance of flavors: the relatively lean lamb meat absorbs just enough sweetness from the marinade which is balanced by the sharper, spicier outside bark and then infused with the subtle flavor of post oak smoke.
9823 Harlem Rd, Richmond; 832-278-2101
Lamb on Fridays only.
Call ahead for availability
The anatomy of the lamb rib is like a mini version of a beef tomahawk rib-eye steak. There’s a sweeping piece of bone that is topped with a cut of meat that includes the “eye” or center portion of the rib-eye, which is wrapped with a fattier, darker piece of meat known as the “cap” or “spinalis.”
There’s some debate among pitmasters about which types of meat are best suited for the smoking process. The flavor of beef, in particular, pairs well with the mild fragrance of post oak for which Texas barbecue is known. I’d argue that lamb is a close runner-up, with the mild, tender lamb meat a perfect complement to the smoking process. That’s certainly the case with Malekian’s addictive lamb pops.
jcreid@jcreidtx.com
twitter.com/jcreidtx
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Lamb is a tasty addition to Houston barbecue menus - Houston Chronicle
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