Topic: Tesco frozen diced lamb

[Gareth]

After more than just a bit of searching I realise that I missed the obvious source for cheap diced lamb: the local supermarket!

Tesco sells frozen NZ diced lamb - 500g - for about ?1.68 which is very good value for money. The odd thing about the lamb (and also the frozen diced chicken they sell) is that it can be cooked from frozen.

It's very good value for money and the 500g bag of diced lamb (or 400g bag of diced "Grade A" chicken for about ?1.98) can easily service 2 people.

I actually spent months looking at expensive butcher prices and was coming to the conclusion that it isn't possible to get good value for money lamb in the UK.

Gareth.

[Graeme]

I used the same minced lamp from the same store,
cost about ?3.80 for a large own brand pack.

I used it for kabab's and will use it again.
I simply mixed the lamb with the spices and tested.
After a few adjustments the kabab's was spot on.

I still can't emulate the mint Raita that comes from the
take away though:-( some one told me to use Colemans
mint sauce, yet to be tryed.

I cooked the Kabab's on the BBQ, they were moist,
not oily, fatty or to dry. With a nice texture, most of the
fat ran out.

However I used the same minced lamp for a pie, and it was horrid,
with the mince sitting in a pool of fat, even after boiling the mince
and draining, I poured boiling water over it too!

But for Kabab's etc great stuff.

[Gareth]

However I used the same minced lamp for a pie, and it was horrid,
with the mince sitting in a pool of fat, even after boiling the mince
and draining, I poured boiling water over it too!

But for Kabab's etc great stuff.

Yuck! That doesn't sound good at all.

The diced lamb, which I haven't yet used, does look very good though - especially so for the price. The cut isn't described in detail (leg, shoulder...) but this is at least probably honest - I suspect it's a bit of everything. It does look very nice however. The only criticism is that the cubes are a bit artificial looking as if cut by machine calibrated to cut in literal cubes.

Gareth.

[Gareth]

I used the same minced lamp from the same store,
cost about ?3.80 for a large own brand pack.

The Tesco diced lamb was bloody awful - I used it yesterday and I won't be buying it again. So much for simple solutions ;-)

The problem is that there's a large amount of visible fat in the cubes and when the lamb cooks the fat breaks the cubes in 3 or more bits so that you end up with tiny parcels of browned lamb. It isn't possible to remove the fat before cooking because it forms such an integral part of the cubes.

Oh well, it was worth a try.

Gareth.

[Mark J]

Did you precook it? I suspect meat like this would need about an hour to get tender

[Gareth]

Did you precook it? I suspect meat like this would need about an hour to get tender

Tenderness wasn't a problem - it was actually very tender and only required 45 minutes of cooking. Having said that the flavour wasn't great - I should have at least marinated it over night.

I used Kris Dhillon's recipe (4 tablespoons of green onion sauce and turmeric in oil and simmered with the lid on for 40 to 45 minutes).

The problem is that the fat in the meat (big wedges of fat in each chunk) tends to break up thus breaking the chunks in to 3 or even more tiny bits.

Maybe boiling the meat in water would be a better bet.

Gareth.

[Graeme]

This lamb is only good for the grill
or BBQ. The high heat should remove
most of the fat etc.

Yes, It does look like crap raw to
the eye, however I suspect the take
aways use worse.

The idea is that most of the unwanted
bits run out. The spice's do the rest.

Gareth,?It's ideal for the BBQ, just as good
or as bad just like burgers pls dont forget
it's part of a meal.