Lamb Inventory

I haven't been able to cook, or even eat much, these past few days. I've been stuck in a soccer referee class with Sen Jr. 7:45 til 6:00 on Saturday and then 8 - 5:30 on Sunday. It was cold cut subs and Mack Donalds all weekend.

Not only was I not able to cook or eat as much as I would like, I was so tired I had to kick She Say and My Neighbor's Daughter out of my chambers at midnight as they refused to let me get to sleep.

One of the great joys of eating whole beasts is discovering exactly what it is you get from the butcher when you pick up your whole beast. When you order your whole beast, you have to fill out a 'cut sheet' to let the butcher know how you want it cut up, but I'm not sure whether they ignore the cut sheet, or if there's often extenuating circumstances that force their hand to give you a different cut than what you asked for.

Here's what my 2 lambs yielded:

Shoulders - 2

Ground Lamb - 7 lbs

Rib Chops - 4 packs with 4 ribs each

Boned and Rolled Leg - 2

Lamb Breasts - 2

Arm Chops - 4 packs with 4 ribs each

Rack of Lamb - 2

Loin Chops - 4 packs with 4 ribs each

Kidney - 2 packs with 2 kidneys each

Shanks - 4 packs with 2 shanks in each

Heart - 2

Leg - 4

Leg of lamb chops - 4 packs with 4 ribs each

Lamb stew - 1 lb

Loin roast - 2

I was surprised to see the racks and the small amount of stew meat. I'm pretty sure my cut sheet did not include any racks, and I'm pretty sure I wanted the shoulders ground as stew...I guess I could dig up my cut sheet as I usually save a copy, but...it's kinda fun wondering whether the butcher saw something in the particular lamb that would lend itself to an exceptionally tasty rack, or whether the shoulders looked so good whole he didn't want to cut them up for stew....kinda zennish...

I haven't inventoried the pig yet as Friday was so hot I was worried he'd start to thaw if I didn't just throw him straight into the freezers. I did happily discover they gave me the piggie's whole head for the first time.

I think I'm going to make loin chops tonight. She Say and I are going to a New Parent Wine and Cheese party at Sen Jr.'s school tonight, so I'm thinking an early dinner of lamb chops and whatever I can scrounge up at the Grocery Store From Hell. I was unable to hit the Takoma Park Farmer's Market on Sunday as I was stuck in the ref class. Usually my Farmer's Market Girlfriend will bring me a box of produce if I don't make it to the market, but she didn't stop by. I hope everything is okay with her.