Cooking Cuts of Lamb

Croxley Meats offer free cooking advice with our cuts of meat. Please ask our staff.
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Breast
It can be roasted on the bone, boned, stuffed and rolled, or when well trimmed, can be used for mince, burgers or skewers (kebabs).
Can also be cut in strips which are ideal for barbecues.

Neck
Used as Stewing lamb or made into mince (ground) meat. When sold in pieces it is only suitable for very long, slow, moist cooking. Although tough the flavour is very good so well worth the extra cooking. Best End of neck is traditionally used for Lancashire Hotpot.

Loin
It is from this area that loin chops come from as well as medallions, noisettes as well as roasting cuts. Suitable for roasting although the joints tend to be small unless you have a whole saddle which is made up of a double loin roast, from both sides of the backbone.
Frying and grilling are excellent for the smaller cuts.

Rack
A "rack of lamb" is the name given to the whole rib section on either side of the backbone between the shoulder and the loin.
A tender and flavoursome cut, it is also expensive and it is suitable for dry heat cooking such as roasting or grilling. This cut has a layer of fat which, although it can be trimmed down, is best left on when roasting as it melts and bastes the meat during cooking.
Racks are often "Frenched" which means that the upper ends of the rib bones are scraped clean of meat and fat thereby exposing the bones which sometimes have paper frills popped over the top. Once frenched, it can be used to create a "Crown" where two racks are tied together to form a circle, the middle of which is then stuffed or a "Guard of honour" where the two sides of the rack are stood vertically with the bare bones uppermost and rib ends interlocked to resemble soldiers' swords.
Racks are not large pieces: one rack of lamb is usually large enough to serve three people.

Leg
This is a prime cut with little fat which is excellent for roasting as a joint. It is often cut into lamb steaks suitable for frying or grilling or into cubes for lean kebabs.

Shoulder
Often sold as two separate joints, blade and arm (knuckle). The whole shoulder is also sometimes called "square cut" which consists of the arm, blade, and rib bones. Suitable for roasting, shoulder is a relatively expensive cut, even more so if you buy it boned and rolled although adding a stuffing before rolling makes it more economical.
Shoulder meat is also often trimmed of fat and sold as cubes for curries, kebabs and casseroles.
Shoulder chops are suitable for pan-frying, grilling or braising.

Scrag
Also known as scrag end or neck end, this is one of the tougher cuts and is therefore one of the cheaper ones. The meat from this area is often more fatty than other cuts and is usually sold chopped or diced for use in stews and casseroles.

Fillet
A lean and succulent cut, ideal for grilling or barbecuing.

Flank
Unlike other cuts from the loin area, the flank is much tougher and is usually sold as mince.

Foreshank
Also known as Lamb shanks, this cut is suitable for slow roasting, stewing and braising. It has become very popular in recent years especially when braised when a whole shank with the bone is served per person. It is a very flavourful cut of meat.