I’m a big fan of romaine, so that’s usually what I go for when something calls for lettuce. I like that it has the crunch, like iceberg, but actually has flavor and nutritional value.
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I mostly don’t want a yard. It’s maintenance. But I do get jealous of people who can keep herb gardens. And of course, grilling is the other thing I miss out on. (Neither of these things is doable in my current apartment. Unless you count a countertop grill, and apparently that doesn’t count.)
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Nice! I’ve made it four times now. I have 50% success, 50% scrambled eggs and pasta. I currently have some guanciale airdrying for the next batch. No idea when that’ll be though, as my son has developed an egg allergy in the meantime…
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I’ve never seen a place that sells goat meat. I like ground lamb a lot for burgers, and I’ve seen burger places that offer that, as well as occasionally buying ground lamb for my own use; but lamb is definitely not “lean.”
In contrast, ground turkey, which I often use, does run lean and is in danger of drying out. It really needs to be kept covered. I typically apply ground black pepper and basil to it, since discovering that combination at Burger Lounge in San Diego (a really first-rate small chain; we never found a place in Riverside that was quite as good, and we haven’t been able yet to search for one in Lawrence).
Goat is quite rare even in the UK (it’s not one of the British standard food animals, which not counting fish would be beef pork lamb chicken turkey [ETA: duck]), but it tends to be available in areas with Arabic or West Indian immigrants. We’re fortunate in High Wycombe to have both (and plenty of Poles who first came here after the war, which means excellent sausage too).
I’m distracted by the sight of the French fries. Between the browned surfaces, and the occasional blackened spots, I wouldn’t even consider eating them; I have very little tolerance for burnt flavors. The buns look dubious too with those toasted surfaces, and I don’t think I would eat them either.
That’s what we have in the US too. I’d like to find a place that sells rabbit; I haven’t had that in years.
When I used to travel to the US, even lamb was quite rare - I know I’ve met Americans who’ve never eaten it and regard it as strange and exotic.
You are absolutely right! Yet another misconception based on the fact I can see sheep’s out my window.
I blame Thomas Harris
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I’ve only lived in three metropolitan areas as an adult—San Diego, Riverside–San Bernardino (the Inland Empire), and Lawrence. Supermarkets in all three have had lamb as an option, though a minor one next to beef and pork. And I’ve eaten it since childhood. The meats I didn’t encounter till adulthood include duck, rabbit, and goat.
(“Duck season!” “Rabbit season!” “GOAT season!”)
That’s sometimes available frozen in supermarkets here. Ducks are fairly readily available, goose takes effort.
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I mean, you do you. But they were yummy and not burnt-tasting at all by my standards.
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I’m pretty sure I’m abnormally sensitive to burnt tastes. I wouldn’t dream of telling you not to enjoy them. But I wouldn’t even taste a French fry that was that dark.
As a Canadian growing up in Ontario, there was a chain of grocery stores that specialized in “exotic” foods that isn’t around any more (snapped up by one of the much bigger chains, probably Loblaws since those billionaire bastardes acquire everything). My mom used to shop there, and they would always have rabbit (and fresh octopus, which is still weird to me)… she shopped there a lot, since “exotic” animals/cuts in Canada usually meant dirt-cheap.
Nowadays, most large Canadian chain grocery stores carry fresh beef, pork, chicken, and some fresh turkey, and lamb, as well as frozen ducks, rabbits, goose, and additional pork, chicken, and beef. Goat is a 50/50 shot most of the time (bigger stores will carry it), and it can be very hard to find specific cuts of any meat (English cut short ribs, for example, are basically impossible). Fish is also hit-and-miss, but I live in a landlocked city about a thousand kilometers from the closest port, so that’s not really a surprise either.
Made fresh pizza last night, using Matt’s favourite pizza dough recipe from… 8 years ago? Whenever he did the SU&SD review of Skull, in the comments he talked about his favourite pizza dough recipe (not the one he used in the review). It uses half water, half beer… results were pretty good. Still not as “light” as I like my doughs, I guess? But as close as I’ve ever come. Bottoms were too flour-y, though, since last time I had a heck of a time transferring the dressed-but-raw pizzas to my piddly little pizza stone.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen rabbit, duck or goose in stores here. And all three animals are all over the city, wild, so it’s not like it’s the wrong climate for them. Lamb, I can barely find. Goat is probably sold in the city (we have a decent sized Middle Eastern/African immigrant population, with halal markets) but not anywhere near me.
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I track goat and lamb down where I can and in the US that usually means finding a Spanish language grocery store or a halal butcher. Happily Little Rock has two halal butchers now. Also the Indian restaurants in town feature lamb and goat.
Goat Barbacoa tacos are a favorite food of mine yet to make it to broader US awareness.
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We’ve eaten crispy duck tonight. It’s really easy to get in the UK.
Welsh lamb is world famous, so very easy to source in the capital.
Goat and mutton are harder to get, I think we’ve found them in food markets or specialised butchers online.
There is a farm near where my parents live in Cambridge that does stuff like ostrich and alligator. Alligator is great if you ever get the chance.
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Ah, actual mutton as distinct from lamb is very hard to find.
The reason is apparently WWII - afterwards, the UK was exporting everything it could to pay off the debt to the USA, which included much of the meat worth eating, so “mutton” came to mean “nasty tough old meat, best stewed or avoided”. Also, lamb’s cheaper to produce - you just grow the sheep for one year and slaughter it, so less food bill and less wastage to disease etc. (But mutton has much more flavour than lamb.) So while there are a few people producing it again now it’s a bit of a specialist market, people who aren’t believing what their grannies told them, high-end restaurants, etc.
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My grandmother used to say of disappointing ‘lamb’, “That sheep chased many a man up a tree” .
Good mutton is excellent, ditto the half-way house of hogget (which sounds dubious, along Harga’s House of Ribs lines)
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For lunch today I made an invention of mine that I call atomic tuna salad. One can of albacore tuna in water; one stalk of celery, cut in eighth-inch slices; two inches of Anaheim green chili pepper, cut in fine strips; two or three tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise; juice of one-half lime; one-half teaspoon cumin; if you like it spicier, California chile powder to suit your taste. Mix together and spread on whole grain bread. Serves two.
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