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By Jesús Fraguas, Principle of the Municipal School in Plasencia, Member of the Board of Directors of the Extremadura Cooks and Bakers Association, Member and Director of the Brotherhood of Extremaduran Gastronomy. Recognized and prized by institutions of great prestige, awarded third place in the National Cooking Championship in 1994.
When speaking of the P.G.I. "Lamb of Extremadura" CORDEREX lamb, it is important to keep in mind that we are talking about lamb with certain characteristics, that are: Females between 21 and 24 kg and males between 23 and 28 kg before butchering, which gives us carcasses that are 9 to 12 kg among females and 9 to 14 kg among males, all for use in the kitchen.
Although a priori they seem or are "sizable" animals, their meat is pink and has a very good grade of intramuscular fat penetration, which produces a tender and very succulent meat, with good results in the kitchen, both in quality and in fruitfulness. For its use and exploitation in the kitchen we can divide it into categories, and appropriate to clarify here that we divide them according to the traditional categorization of lamb, given that CORDEREX is considered a very high quality product through its being certified by Denomination.
Another very important topic in the kitchen are the "Guts" of the CORDEREX lamb that always have played a big role in the kitchen, overall in Extremaduran kitchens. From these "Innards" of the animal, excellent dishes can be created. One example of this is the exquisite dishes that are made from the sweetbreads, the pates from the liver, the stews made from the heart and lungs, farces that are stuffed with the kidneys or brains, etc., and also the blood of these lambs that is mixed with beef blood and other ingredients to give us tasty sausages.
The use of the "Bones" is fundamental for gravies and broths that allow us to create "Soups" and "Sauces" to accompany CORDEREX lamb dishes.
| Click on each part of the lamb to see a description. |
"EXTRA CATEGORY": the king of this category is Lamb chops, approximately 4 kg in weight, making up about 39% of the carcasses total weight, its uses in the kitchen include:
- "Roasted" whole or in parts.
- "Stuffed"
- "Chops" or double chops.
- Three types of "chops"
1. Rib chops
2. Blade chops
3. Loin chops….
- "Cradle" and "chair," with their different variations, sauces, both hot and cold dishes.
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"CATEGORY ONE": here we find "The Legs," the most meaty part of the lamb, in the kitchen yields about 1.5 kg more upon cooking, it usually accounts for 27% or more of the carcass’ total weight. As for its uses in the kitchen, we have:
- "Roasted" whole or in parts.
- "Stuffed"
- "Chops" or double chops.
- Three types of "chops"
1. Rib chops
2. Blade chops
3. Loin chops…
- Rib chops
- Blade chops
- Loin chops….
"Cradle" and "chair," with their different variations, sauces, both hot and cold dishes. |
| "CATEGORY TWO": This is the category occupied by "the shoulder chops", juicier than the leg, weighing about one kg, it comprises about 18% of the total weight and has identical uses as the leg. |
"CATEGORY THREE": Here we encounter the less glamorous parts of the lamb in appearance, but of great culinary importance and use and they are: "The breast and loin," weighing about 800 grams, about 8% of the total weight, and the "Neck," about 750 grams or 7% of the total mass.
Their traditional principle uses are: stews, boiled, broths and soups, though with a little imagination one can use them for different recipes as well (various cold cuts, gelatins, appetizers, etc…) |
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