The price of lamb

In September last year I wrote about the price of lamb and how I thought it was likely to affect sales.  Today there is an article in Stuff talking about the price of lamb and how it is driving away customers: Lamb sales suffer from higher prices. It includes this classic paragraph:

Buyer resistance to lamb's high price was only being talked about by Silver Fern's other customers. In New Zealand, research showed that price was the biggest impediment to sales.

Hardly surprising really. 

In my original article I said the price of a full leg of lamb was at least $35.00.  About a week ago I was looking at buying a leg of lamb and was fairly stunned to find the price of a full leg was over $50.00, something also pointed out in the article.

That's just under a 50% price increase in about 6 months.   Fucking outrageous!

While I'm on the subject of lamb, a particularly disturbing trend has begun to appear on the supermarket shelves.  The lamb legs are being stripped of the outer fat layer and membrane that sits over the outer fat layer.  This makes it impossible to get that beautiful, crisp, wonderfully browned outside layer on the lamb when roasting it.  I'm very, very disappointed by this move.

Not sure how this will work.

According the NZ Herald, farmers have lost $50 million through the deaths of some 500,000 lambs thanks to the recent storms.  This is likely to cause the price of lamb to rise. Personally I can't see how this is going to work.

Lamb is already outrageously priced.  A full leg costs at least $35.00 locally, usually more.  Shank ends are around $15-20.00.   Even a couple of shanks cost $10.00 or so.

Camille and I can be considered well off compared to the majority of New Zealanders and we very rarely buy lamb because of how much it is these days.  We only buy lamb when it is reduced in price: Lamb racks when they are reduced to $10 - $12 each; legs when Silverfern farms has a special on them; rumps when I can find them frozen on special; and so on.

I can't see how raising the price further to offset $50 million in lamb deaths is going to do anything other than cause fewer people to buy it.   Does this mean they are going to have to raise the price further to cover those lost sales?

A recent dinner

Lamb rumps seared, rubbed in a thyme,salt,pepper mix and then roasted for 10 minutes, left to rest for 10 then sliced and left in its own juice. Accompanied by a cucumber/mint salad, tomatoes and basil in olive oil, rocket/spring onions/a soft goat cheese tossed with olive oil, avocado in pepper and lemon juice, small jersey benne potatoes roasted quickly in olive oil.

mmmmmmm.... Lamb

It's Saturday and Camille was working about 1.5 hour away from home. 1.5 hour doesn't sound like much but when you think open road travel it changes the distance a bit. I decided to do her a nice meal as she was going to be getting home late.

I got a leg of lamb from the local butcher - $19.00 for a frozen leg which is pretty good considering they go for $30+ fresh in the local supermarket. I thawed it and then boned it out. This wasn't an easy job as a) I don't do this very often, about once or twice a year is my limit and b) it was still partially frozen which I discovered when I realised the bone I was following by touch (running the blade up it) wasn't actually a bone.

So the boning was a bit of a hack job and the end result bore no resemblence to a butterfly at all. Slight change of plans. I mixed up a thick paste of lots of rosemary and garlic with a bit of avocado oil, salt and red wine and palate knifed this all over the inside the leg. I then folded the leg back in on itself and skewered it into place. Nice. A round lump about the size of child's head - so I kicked it around the kitchen for a bit to tenderise it.

No I didn't. I just rubbed it with salt and pepper and then left for a couple of hours.

I cooked it on the barbecue grill on a low heat but with the burners to either side of the grill on high heat. With the lid down the temperature got up to 150 celcius max. Lots of basting with lemon juice to start with and red wine towards the end of cooking. I made sure that the basting ran down the sides and dripped onto the flame guard so there was quite a bit of smoke to help flavour the crust. There was quite a bit of turning done.

After about 1.5 hours, perhaps a bit less, it was taken off the barbecue and left to rest while its accompaniments were completed (new potatoes with butter and asparagus with coarse salt and olive oil).

It sliced easily once I remembered to pull the skewers. It was just off pink in the centre and a good amount of juices accumlated as I carved. These were poured back over the meat. The crust was excellent and the lamb was nicely flavoured throughout. The simple accompaniments complimented the lamb well.

I enjoy a nice bit of lamb.