The other day, I was restocking my fridge with an order at FreshDirect. I’m not a huge fan of their produce, but they are convenient and they have a surprisingly well stocked selection of meat. I love browsing through the different cuts of meat and on this visit I came across something I’d never seen before. Lamb breast!
Craving lamb and curious as to the nature of this new find I promptly added it to my cart and was delighted to see the whole rack came in at just over $4. I’m not entirely sure why it’s called “breast” meat since it’s from the rib area and has more in common with spare ribs than with chicken breast. Being a rib meat, it’s packed with flavor, fat and connective tissue, so I decided to slow roast it to render out some of the fat and break down the collagen. I’d been toying around the idea of a curry encrusted roast leg of lamb for a while, so I just adapted the idea for this novel cut of lamb.
I started it a bit late and by 8pm we were both starving so we went ahead and ate it, but it could have probably used another hour for the collagen and fat to fully break down. The meat itself was tender, moist and the curry crust worked out just as planned: spicy, savoury and incredibly aromatic. Given my unemployed status, and the fact that this is a third of the price of lamb “stew meat” this is definitely my new go-to cut when I’m craving lamb. I think it would also do well braised or grilled/smoked.
To offset the intense spice, I served it with a raita using some Thai basil and toasted cumin seeds. For the starch I just made some cous cous and topped it with caramelized onions for a little balancing sweetness.
Units
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lamb breast
for rub
- 1 tbs ginger minced fresh
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)
- 1 teaspoon evaporated cane sugar
for curry crust
- 1 tbs garam masala
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- black pepper
for Thai basil raita
- 8 ounces yogurt strained ("Greek" )
- 2 tablespoons Thai basil minced
- 1 teaspoon cumin toasted
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
- Mash the garlic, ginger and salt together to make a paste. Rub this all over the lamb breast.
- Mix the spices together then sprinkle on both sides of the breast.
- Roast for about 3 hours or until the the meat is fork tender and pulls away from the bones.
- For the raita, just whisk the ingredients together and salt to taste.
Joanna says
Wow, this looks so good… I wonder if lamb breast is the equivalent of veal breast, another very cheap (and very tasty) cut of meat. The curry crust sounds amazing!
Marc Matsumoto says
Now I’m going to have to look for veal breasts. I don’t get why they’re so cheap.
Marc Matsumoto says
I met up with Giff, Stacey and Claire last week. Next time you’re down we should all get together and do a potluck.
Marilia says
I have a question,…..in your short exerpt you said it needed an extra hour, did you adjust that in the recipe that you put below your exerpt? I just bought a “breast” today for the same reason. I’m dying to try it and will let you know how it turns out
sabeena ibrahim says
I have a question,…..in your short exerpt you said it needed an extra hour, did you adjust that in the recipe that you put below your exerpt? I just bought a “breast” today for the same reason. I'm dying to try it and will let you know how it turns out
Marc Matsumoto says
I believe I adjusted in the recipe, but check it at 3 hours and see if it needs more time. You should be able to pass a fork or skew through it easily.
Marilia says
Just seasoned it up and letting it marinate overnight,….the spices smelled awesome with the garlic and ginger. AHHHH I can’t wait!!
sabeena ibrahim says
Just seasoned it up and letting it marinate overnight,….the spices smelled awesome with the garlic and ginger. AHHHH I can't wait!!