Lamb is trending
In the major cities of Europe, lamb is an indispensable part of many restaurants and all street food festivals and is becoming increasingly popular. Grilled lamb is a real treat for the palate. Sensationally tender and aromatic at the same time, whether prepared as pulled lamb, lamb ribs or saddle of lamb and roast with fresh seasonal side dishes. Served as lamb burgers or sandwiches, these delicacies are finding favor and fans among more and more young people. That's why we set out and paid a visit to the Allmendinger sheep farm. This sheep farm, which has been run by the fifth and sixth generation and whose origins date back to the 16th century, combines sustainable landscape management and animal husbandry with direct marketing.
The sheep farm is idyllically located in the 1400-person community of Heutensbach in Baden-Württemberg, more precisely in the Weissacher Valley near Backnang near Stuttgart. The shepherd Bernd Allmendinger is one of the last of his kind who still does this job full-time. With 900 Merino ewes and the same number of lambs kept on pastures all year round, there is no chance of getting bored here. A working day begins at dawn and usually doesn't end until late at night. Seven days a week, all year round - a hard job that takes up a lot of time and requires a lot of love for animals and nature. Allmendinger uses several old German shepherd dogs as herding dogs. These are particularly robust and very loyal dogs that are indispensable when moving the flock of sheep to new pastures. Since the pastures are not all close together but are spread out, longer tours are sometimes on the agenda. But despite this enormous amount of work, Allmendinger cannot imagine doing any other job. It is not just the way he deals with the animals that makes the job of shepherd so attractive to him. It is more the whole package - and that includes his love of nature, the preservation of the region and the Weissacher Valley with its difficult-to-access meadows, steep slopes and orchards, which make careful grazing absolutely necessary. The direct sale of meat is the shepherd's main source of income, and the lambs are available either as half or whole animals. A kilo of meat costs him nine euros. The sheep's wool is now only a by-product and economically of secondary importance. Once a year - at the end of April - all the sheep are sheared. A 20-person shearing crew comes to the Allmendinger family for this, because this immense work cannot be done alone. But the subsequent proceeds from the sale of the wool do not even cover the shearing costs. The family still does the slaughtering themselves, mostly lambs between five and six months old, but also ewes aged five or six years. About twice a week or depending on orders. The direct marketer's customers include numerous butchers and the local Edeka market, but it is mainly private customers who buy the meat directly on site and appreciate its high quality, good taste and tenderness.
One of the last full-time shepherds, Bernd Allmendinger
The health aspect of lamb is also not insignificant. It is considered an "anti-aging food" that, with its fat content of 3.7 percent per 100 grams, is very low in fat and is a good source of the important vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12 and niacin. Vitamin B12 in particular is relatively rare in the rest of our diet, and lamb provides plenty of it. It is considered an important weapon against high homocysteine levels and is said to strengthen the heart and circulation - just 100 grams of lamb covers an adult's daily requirement of vitamin B12. Of greatest importance, however, is the orotic acid in lamb, which has the highest proportion of this of all types of meat and is said to protect the individual body cells against environmental pollutants and us from premature aging. That sounds very promising, and so we have a delicious lamb recipe from Adrian Peller for you to grill afterwards!
Lamb ribs with sweet potato leek puree and smoked chimichurri (recipe by Adrian Peller)
Ingredients:
• 2 ladders of lamb ribs
(if possible, order with plenty of meat)
• 100 ml olive oil
• fresh herbs for the herb bed and the marinade
(e.g. rosemary, basil, thyme and curry plant)
• Salt
• Pepper
For the sweet potato leek puree:
• 1 large sweet potato
• 400 g floury potatoes
• 1 leek
• approx. 100 ml milk
(depending on the consistency you want)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Nutmeg
For the smoked chimichurri:
• 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley
• 1 fresh garlic bulb
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 leek
• 4 red pointed peppers
• 1-2 tsp smoked jalapeños, depending on preference
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• Olive oil
• 200 g pistachio nuts
• 50 ml lemon juice
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cherry smoking chips or pellets
Preparation:
If possible, prepare the smoked chimichurri a few days before grilling. To do this, prepare the grill for indirect grilling at 100 °C and smoke the spring onions, leek, the previously halved garlic bulb and the peppers for about 2 hours with cherry wood. Then roughly chop the parsley together with the pistachios in a blender. Take the vegetables off the grill and put them in the blender with a little olive oil. Blend until the desired consistency is reached, season with salt, pepper, sugar, lemon juice and the smoked jalapeños.
For the lamb ribs, finely chop some of the rosemary, thyme, basil and curry plant and mix with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and rub the ribs on both sides. Marinate overnight in the fridge.
Prepare the grill for indirect grilling at 120 - 130 °C. Remove the silver skin from the lamb ribs. As soon as the grill temperature is reached, put some of the cherry smoking chips or pellets in the grill, cut the herbs off the bottom of the stalk and spread them out on the grill as a "bed". Place the ribs with the meat side down on the herb bed and cook in the cherry smoke for 2 hours. Then spread out butcher paper or aluminum foil and wrap the ribs, including the herbs, in it. Put the packages back on the grill for 1 - 2 hours, checking after an hour whether the lamb has pulled back a little from the bone. Simply leave the ribs on the grill until the desired consistency is reached, as tastes differ on this point.
For the sweet potato and leek puree, cook the sweet potatoes, floury potatoes and leek in a pan until soft and then mash with a masher. Pour in the warmed milk until the desired consistency is reached. Stir in the butter and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Serve all components together.
Author: Martin Seibold