El Barbudo wrote:And? We're on tenterhooks here. Come on, spill the beans, which steak did you go for in the end?
Didn't go over the top, just went for the 10oz rump, rare and very nice it was too.
Then had to eat half of the wifes well done rump steak too, you know me, can't see food go to waste, don't know how people can eat meat cooked to hell though.
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I'm intrigued as to how they say that one cut of lamb (shank) is in season but another cut (steak) isn't.
Except that, if my local butcher is typical ... he only sells Dales lamb and he maintains that English cuts don't include shanks and that shanks come frozen from New Zealand, hence he doesn't sell lamb shanks. (I like shanks but he is very sniffy about them because of the frozen NZ aspect ... I do suspect that some butchers will cut British lamb in styles other than English cuts and he's just being a bit narky about it).
Anyway, IIRC, the main season for fresh English lamb runs up to about September, Scottish up to November, so, maybe, Piccolino had simply run out of fresh Scottish lamb steaks and were using frozen NZ shanks ... hence the "seasonal" excuse. Or maybe it was all bollox anyway.
Remaining question ... can anyone out there confirm/refute what my local butcher says about lamb shanks i.e. they're all (or mainly) frozen NZ lamb?
I'm intrigued as to how they say that one cut of lamb (shank) is in season but another cut (steak) isn't.
Except that, if my local butcher is typical ... he only sells Dales lamb and he maintains that English cuts don't include shanks and that shanks come frozen from New Zealand, hence he doesn't sell lamb shanks. (I like shanks but he is very sniffy about them because of the frozen NZ aspect ... I do suspect that some butchers will cut British lamb in styles other than English cuts and he's just being a bit narky about it).
Anyway, IIRC, the main season for fresh English lamb runs up to about September, Scottish up to November, so, maybe, Piccolino had simply run out of fresh Scottish lamb steaks and were using frozen NZ shanks ... hence the "seasonal" excuse. Or maybe it was all bollox anyway.
Remaining question ... can anyone out there confirm/refute what my local butcher says about lamb shanks i.e. they're all (or mainly) frozen NZ lamb?
Freedom without Socialism is privilege and injustice. Socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality.
Joined: May 10 2002 Posts: 47951 Location: Die Metropole
El Barbudo wrote:I'm intrigued as to how they say that one cut of lamb (shank) is in season but another cut (steak) isn't...
A perfectly good question. If, as you then note, it depends on imports, then the menu should reflect that.
I wouldn't normally want to be instrumental in someone getting the sack, but in this case, the manager was presiding over a series of quite deliberate cons, in the hope that people wouldn't check the bill again. Naughty.
I've no idea about the answer to your question on the shanks – it's not a cut I use very often. And in essence, I get whatever my farmers/butchers have available or can bring up if I order during the week.
"You are working for Satan." Kirkstaller
"Dare to know!" Immanuel Kant
"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive" Elbert Hubbard
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 298 Location: Western District
El Barbudo wrote:Remaining question ... can anyone out there confirm/refute what my local butcher says about lamb shanks i.e. they're all (or mainly) frozen NZ lamb?
Long time listener first time caller!
What your butcher says is pretty much true, NZ Lamb is butchered slightly differently in that they remove the shank /knuckle from the shoulder to sell separately but leave the neck fillet on. British lamb tends to be butchered the other way round so the shank is left on the shoulder for sale and the fillet removed. NZ lamb is not necessarily frozen, it is quite easy to transport fresh meat half way around the world in a refigerated container.
Howard wrote:Long time listener first time caller!
What your butcher says is pretty much true, NZ Lamb is butchered slightly differently in that they remove the shank /knuckle from the shoulder to sell separately but leave the neck fillet on. British lamb tends to be butchered the other way round so the shank is left on the shoulder for sale and the fillet removed. NZ lamb is not necessarily frozen, it is quite easy to transport fresh meat half way around the world in a refigerated container.
Thanks for that ! You've also cleared up another niggle, which was whether the shank was below the shoulder or the bottom of the hind leg.
I can see the sense in the refrigerated container rather than frozen, after all meat is hung for a few weeks to mature, so I guess it's a bit like that, just colder.
Cheers.
Freedom without Socialism is privilege and injustice. Socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality.
Joined: May 10 2002 Posts: 47951 Location: Die Metropole
Howard wrote:Long time listener first time caller!
What your butcher says is pretty much true, NZ Lamb is butchered slightly differently in that they remove the shank /knuckle from the shoulder to sell separately but leave the neck fillet on. British lamb tends to be butchered the other way round so the shank is left on the shoulder for sale and the fillet removed. NZ lamb is not necessarily frozen, it is quite easy to transport fresh meat half way around the world in a refigerated container.
You live and learn.
I had no idea of that. Thanks.
"You are working for Satan." Kirkstaller
"Dare to know!" Immanuel Kant
"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive" Elbert Hubbard
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde
Someday everything is gonna be different, when I paint my masterpiece ---------------------------------------------------------- Online art gallery, selling original landscape artwork ---------------------------------------------------------- JerryChicken - The Blog ----------------------------------------------------------
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