Topic: which cut of lamb?

[jamieb728]

Hi all

Just wondering which cut of lamb use went into the asian meat shopand they had diced mutton but it looked fatty i will be pre cooking it so that will break some of it down but dont know how much. the lamb in the achari ghost at my local is so soft also the meat place by me sells a shoulder of lamb but dont know if it would be mainly bone what do you lot use?

P.s just found a shop that sell mr naga pickle for ?1.99 so no more paying nearly a fiver on line

Jamie

[curryhell]

I use frozen boneless mutton from a local restaurant wholesalers Jamie.  When i last cooked it I used CBM's method and it turned out superb.  Would highly recommend this.  Glad to hear you've found  a cheaper source for your Mr Naga.  I think I pay

[jamieb728]

Cheers ch ill pick some mutton up and try its ill be using cbm's pre cook from his ebook aswell

Jamie

[Ader1]

Where I helped out they were using leg of lamb.  It was cut along the lines of the different muscles.  I watched it a couple of times.  Some pieces were used for making lam tandoori and others were dieced.  The leg bones was then smashed using the blunt side of a knife.  There was still some meat joined to the joint.  This was then bagged until I suppose they had enough pieces of bone with meat attached and was used to make a delicious staff curry.

[wikiwawa]

Much as mutton might look fatty (and is!), I find it really doesn't end up that way when slowly cooked for a curry. Most fat will cook off, leaving you with deliciously moist, tender meat that is waaaay better than more expensive lamb which can dry out of you're not careful.

[Adeypayne]

Rule of thumb in restaurant cooking is boneless shoulder for pre-cooked curry lamb and leg for tikka 

[wikiwawa]

It's not just in Asian cooking, but I'm a firm believer in the fact that the cheaper the cut of meat (eg: shoulder vs leg) the better the flavour and and the more "melt in the mouth" it is. Don't run any kind of restaurant unfortunately, but if I did, I could see that being a problem with customers perceiving chicken thigh, lamb shoulder, beef shin etc to be "inferior", "fatty" ingredients when in reality they are superior and the reduced cost is just a bonus.

If I eat out, I avoid anything with chicken breast like the plague (Indian and Chinese tend to not be so bad)- almost always cooked to within an inch of it's life!

[976bar]

It's not just in Asian cooking, but I'm a firm believer in the fact that the cheaper the cut of meat (eg: shoulder vs leg) the better the flavour and and the more "melt in the mouth" it is. Don't run any kind of restaurant unfortunately, but if I did, I could see that being a problem with customers perceiving chicken thigh, lamb shoulder, beef shin etc to be "inferior", "fatty" ingredients when in reality they are superior and the reduced cost is just a bonus.

If I eat out, I avoid anything with chicken breast like the plague (Indian and Chinese tend to not be so bad)- almost always cooked to within an inch of it's life!

wikiwawa,

You're obviously going to the wrong restaurants.... I make chicken breast so tender in the Uni, it's always a winner....

I do agree with you on the Mutton though. When I put on a lamb curry at the Uni, I will probably buy around 30kg of, "Diced" Mutton. It's a cheaper cut than lamb, but the flavour surpasses the Lamb, tenfold.

I would normally make my Mutton Bhuna or a lamb, "Mutton" Madras with this, and I can always guarantee, we will never have any left at the end of service

[wikiwawa]

The Uni food sounds good

I agree that chicken breast "can" be tender and moist (as I said, Indian and Chinese cuisine isn't so badly affected by it) and certainly when I use it myself, it's always fine, but sadly that's not always the case elsewhere.

I think a lot of it is the 'elf and safety brigade convincing both restauranteurs and customer alike that chicken needs to be more cooked than it needs to be just to be "on the safe side".

Oh well ... that's why I cook for myself and rarely eat out!!!!

[mickdabass]

Rule of thumb in restaurant cooking is boneless shoulder for pre-cooked curry lamb and leg for tikka 

The Warmest of Welcomes to the forum Adey. 


Im thinking of using minced leg of lamb for seekh kebabs/ keema mince.

What do you use?

Best Regards

Mick