What to make with odd-sized lamb stew meat?

My local supermarket has a great deal on lamb stew meat packs. As far as I can tell its Niman Ranch lamb, but all random sized pieces, a lot of them with bones. (Not Cooks Illustrated/ gourmet- approved!) It's only $1.25/lb., which is awesome for cash-strapped lamb lovers (uh that sounds a bit weird, sorry) like me and my partner during a recession. I've made a bunch of soups (pasta e fagioli, white bean and kale, green chile stew...) with this stuff, and they've been great. The bones add so much to the soup. But I'm itching to make something new with it. I'd like to make a pie, or something Turkish-spiced (stuffed pitas?), maybe even tacos? The makeup of the pack means that whatever I make, I'll have to pick out the bones, cartilage, etc, at some stage after the meat's been braised, then season it more and work it into whatever I make. Sort of like pulled lamb? (Ugh, another weird turn of phrase for any kiwis/Aussies out there!) Any ideas? Cheers!

How fatty is it? My first inclination would be to toss in a roasting pan after rubbing the meat with a mashed garlic/salt/pepper paste. Cover tightly and let it go at 300F till able to "pull". The bones and cartilage back into a little pot with a bit of water to make a simple concentrated broth for use in the final dish. As to final prep - tacos would be easy just with the meat and various salsas. Since I just noticed frozen grape leaves in my fridge I would go that route with additional seasonings and a bit of rice.

Do you have a sous vide setup? You could go low-and-slow to melt all the connective tissue, then pick out the bones and cartilage when it's done.

Heidi, all those ideas sound great! The lamb is quite fatty, which I usually love, though recently I read that its indigestble? I do actually have jarred grape leaves in the pantry too. Never made dolmas before, but want to at some stage! Or maybe pulled lamb with some mint sauce, yogurt, and Harissa in a flatbread.. Or for that matter, maybe it'd be good on a turkish-style pizza/pide? Lots of ideas starting to brew...

Chris, I've got more of a lo-fi setup, preferring my Dutch oven for everything, but the sous vide idea sounds damn good.

Cheers for the ideas!

make some lamb stock!

What about a slow cook to break it down, then use the meat to fill a dumpling, say a manti, or a Uighur-style naan (the little Uighur food I've had has been simply seasoned and dripping in delicious lamb fat).

There is a dish in Beyond the Great Wall that would work well - a laghman noodle dish with stewed lamb (which I haven't yet made myself) that is probably made for odd-sized bits with bones. I don't have the book to hand at the moment, but it's quite simple as far as ingredient list goes. I suspect there are another one or two in the book which would also work well.

If you have the patience to cut out the bones from raw, you could mince it and turn it into kofta.

There's not much Aussie stuff that springs immediately to mind, other than maybe using the cooked meat in a pastie of some sort, or maybe a shepherd's pie.

First, I wonder how much you have. For lamb or pork or even beef of braising quality, I usually sear, add onion, garlic, herb sachet, appropriate wine and broth and move to the oven, with a paper lid, where I let it go at 275F for 4 hours or until it is fork-tender. Then I serve it up. Or you could have your way with it in the many treatments you suggested.

Think of ox-tails or osso bucco. The bones, fat and connective tissue are not drawbacks but plusses in the final dish.

Yep, Margaret, I agree - to me the bones are just about the best part, especially the little marrow chunks. We're not exactly fussy people either, so we have no problem picking out bone chunks or catriligious bits from our dinner.

Snadra, pasties are a great idea! I reckon I'll give it a go. I had my first attempt at making them recently and want to make many, many more. Meat pies/ meat in pastry is pretty much my favorite thing to eat. And since pasties are often made with leftover roast beef, braise/pulled lamb should work just fine!

Please, keep the ideas coming! They all sound great, and we horde the lamb packs every time we see them, since there appears to only be one a day, and if nothing else, we can throw some in the crock pot to add to the dogs' kibble. They're usually somewhere between 1-2.5 lbs.

Mmmm...soup! That would be Scotch Broth. The bones and fat are a plus for flavoring the stock, then you can easily pick off the meat to go into the soup.

how about an indian curried lamb , or you could go lateral on that idea , and do a jamacian curry and use lamb instead of goat.( I have done this before, it doesnt' have the depth of flavour goat does but still very good eats) Both are great served with homemade roti .. basmati rice with the lamb curry and maybe rice and peas with the curried goat/lamb

I'm very fond of lamb stew, based roughly on a recipe I got out of _Taste of Home_ eons ago. (Credit where credit's due: The original recipe is called Wyoming Lamb Stew. However, the recipe may have drifted a bit from the original.)

Start with chunks of bacon thrown into the stew pot and rendered. Pull the meat out if necessary to keep it from overcooking, but use the bacon grease for the rest of this dish.

Add chopped onions until they're softened.

Toss the lamb chunks with flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and any other spices you think are appropriate. Brown them in the fat.

Add chopped celery and garlic and carrots; cook until softened. If you time it so the carrots and celery brown slightly but the garlic only goes translucent, you've done everything right.

Add diced potatoes. I'm fond of red potatoes. My husband likes Yukon Golds. Let the potatoes warm up, maybe even brown a bit.

Add a couple or three cans of diced tomatoes, or even whole tomatoes (but then you'll have to cut them up). Add lamb or chicken stock to make up any necessary liquid and make sure all is covered. Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to boost the tomato flavor. Lamb and tomatoes are a good match.

Add a couple bay leaves, some thyme or rosemary or parsley, or whatever other compatible herbs that strike your fancy.

Put the bacon meat in, if you removed it earlier. You don't want it crunchy; you do want it to add flavor.

Simmer, simmer, simmer slowly until the lamb is fall-off-the-bone tender. Who needs to remove those bones? They'll remove themselves.

When the lamb is tender, adjust sauce as needed with things like Worcestershire sauce, more tomato paste, whatever.

Fish out the bones. Fish out the bay leaves. Enjoy with fresh warm bread.

Is it horrible that my first thought on reading this thread title was "make odd-sized lamb stew..."

This is exactly the type of meat I buy for Momos, a type of Nepalese/Tibetan steamed dumpling. I generally mince it myself (which means I end up with lovely chunks of bone and whatnot that I can boil up for Scotch Broth), then take that minced portion and lightly sautee in its own fat with onions, garlic, finely chopped mushrooms, and abundant hot peppers and cilantro. This gets mixed with cream cheese and a bit of breadcrumb to stiffen it up, and stuffed into barleyflour dough for steaming.

Sooo yummy. I can give you a recipe with proportions for the dough if this tickles your tastebuds. The filling is pretty much always just a wingin' it kind of thing, because there's no way to guarantee a set weight of lamb from any given packet of odd-shaped meat.

Funny that you should just ask - yesterday I had some bones and bits left from trimming some lamb so I made a lamb stew that I have call "Bone Soup".

Served with bones and all. Fun to eat and I have to admit -- very tasty.

The best lamb stew we have ever had was also the simplest, enjoyed at b&b in the high plateau of Provence, surrounded by an enormous band (thousands) of sheep.

The next morning at breakfast I asked for the recipe.

Lamb

Garlic

Thyme

White wine

Water

Salt and pepper

Carrots added in just enough time to cook through

It was served in a soup plate with mashed potatoes piped around the edge.

My husband has yet to tell me that I have duplicated it. Simplicity is elusive.

I can give you a recipe with proportions for the dough if this tickles your tastebuds.

I can give you a recipe with proportions for the dough if this tickles your tastebuds.

Oh, please!

Momo-wrapping dough:

4 C unbleached wheat flour

1 C roasted barley flour (look for either Tsampa or Machica. Tsampa should be in Asian specialty stores, and Machica in Latin American ones.)*

about 1/4 to 1/2 C cold cold water (how much exactly will depend on your flours.)

pinch of salt

Sift the flours together with the salt, then slowly add the water, mixing with your hands until a stiff dough forms. Add about 1 tbsp more water, knead until elastic, then rest 30 minutes. Roll out quite thin (think 1/8") and cut rounds for the momos. How big depends on you; I go with about 3" diameters.

I'll see if I've got the pictures for pleating them in the traditional manner, which makes them look like flower buds (I think I do have them somewhere) - if so, I'll start a thread on momos and momo-making. The technique is quite simple to learn and use, but very difficult to describe in words.

* You can not and should not substitute raw barley flour here - it's horridly bitter and will ruin your dough. Tsampa / Machica are made by milling roasted barley grains, and both flours have a sweeter, nuttier flavour that is ideal for this kind of dough (and traditional as well.) If you can't find the Real McCoy, you can make your own approximation by roasting raw barley flour in the oven in a dry metal pan - the final product should be a pale mocha colour and have an engaging aroma. Stir often to ensure an even toast.

Thanks, Panaderia! You've enriched not only my table but my shopping!