Butchering a Ram

Saturday was the day we butchered and wrapped one of our katahdin rams.

We started out by enjoying the hangar steak, the heart and part of the liver for breakfast.

Stirfried with mushrooms and onions.

Topped with havarti. That will stick to your ribs.

And some of our ribs need more sticking than others. We were delayed by necessary and unexpected errands in the morning, but Evie and Daddy got there about 10-o-clock.

We were a lot faster and more efficient this year than we were last year. This was largely because we have done it before, but also because Uncle was available to watch Seppi, and Winnie was helping Mommy take Ellie to a birthday party (a.k.a. crashing a birthday party).

Drawing from our experience with last year’s lambs we changed the cuts a little bit. Last year we used boneless rolls more than anything else, followed by roasts. We did very little lamb stew bones, and used very little lamb stock.

For that reason, I prioritized boneless rolled roasts, and larger roasts. Instead of cutting chops I portioned out the ribs as standing rib roasts.

The flank is our favorite part.

I tried two methods for splitting the ribs into a pair of standing rib roasts. The first method was the cleaver method. Brandon Sheard makes it look so easy, but alas, it was not. It mangled the vertebrae rather than cleanly chopping.

Instead, I used a meat saw that belonged to Jerry’s grandpa. LAst year I tried using a saw that I bought on amazon, and that was a pain. It skyved badly, no matter how I adjusted the blade. So I tried a surgical bone saw, and that worked well enough. But when I tried this old saw from three generations ago, it flew through the bond like it was its job. I’ll be hanging on to that saw for a while.

It took a few wraps for Evie to remember the technique, but once she got it down we were rocking and rolling.

All together it took about two hours to wrap and get the whole thing in the freezer.

Finally, the leg of lamb for lamb prosciutto. (I have since learned that salt cured leg of lamb is called “fenalar” and is a traditional Norwegian cuisine).

4Lbs 12 Oz starting weight. Dredged in salt.

Taking extra care to salt the ball of the femur, particularly packing the hole in the end of the ball that the ligaments attach through.

It will cure in here for a week, and then we will rinse it and repeat it for another week, before hanging it in the basement to age.

Seppi’s reading material for the ride home. Never too early to learn.