Well, back in March, as winter ended in the Ozarks, I got some lamb ribs
out of the freezer and took them over to my dear wife's. Her friend had
given her a rosemary plant for her birthday ... but that was back in
January so the rosemary plant was dead. She didn't water it. So I ground
some of the "leafs" and rubbed down the ribs with that and a little salt
and pepper. Stuck them on her grill (a weber, I think ... about 24 inch
diameter kettle kind of thing) over to one side with the coals on the
other.

I really don't do a good job driving a charcoal grill. The fire was too
hot so the ribs cooked through in well less than an hour. They tasted
pretty good but were not particularly tender. I have an "electric fired"
smoker at my place and I can control the temperature nicely in there ...
and smoke them ... I usually use a dry rub and treat them like pork
ribs. Jill McQuown was scandalized by that, so I did my experiment on
the wife's grill. I guess I could try putting some lump charcoal in my
smoker and control the temperature. Maybe that would work. Who knows? Or
I could spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on a fancy grill that I
probably would never learn how to use properly.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago my lamb guy showed up at the opening of
our Farmers Market and I scored a couple more racks of ribs and some
shanks. Only these shanks were mutton and he had sawed them in 1/2 to
3/4 inch chunks. So yesterday I made mutton soup. I googled for a lamb /
mushroom / leek soup recipe but didn't find anything. So I winged it.

I had a bit less than a pound of mushrooms left over from Sunday
morning's brunch. I went out and picked up a bundle of three rather nice
leeks, sliced them rather thinly, saute'd them in some leftover chicken
fat (Schmaltz? I scooped it off of some broth I made a couple of weeks
ago) along with a couple of ribs of celery and a good size carrot.
Meanwhile I seared the mutton and then put it in just enough water to
cover and simmered it to make a pretty tasty broth. Dumped the sliced
mushrooms in the pot with the now tender veggies and then added the
broth and the meat off the shanks. On a whim I added a couple of cups of
milk to the pot (it looked like it needed more liquid) and then, having
now lost my mind completely, added about 3/4 cup of cheap port that I
thought I needed to get rid of.

Threw the pot in the car and drove it over to my wife's (stopping at the
pub to drink a bit of wheat beer on the way). Reheated the soup and fed
it to my wife ... she appeared pleased with what I had created.

Tonight it will be leftover soup.

Regards,
Dave W.

--
Living in the Ozarks
For email, edu will do.

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth
becomes a revolutionary act. - George Orwell, (1903-1950)

Dave W. wrote:
> [snip] Reheated the soup and fed
> it to my wife ... she appeared pleased with what I had created.
>
> Tonight it will be leftover soup.
>
Talk about imaginative -- mutton soup with milk and port, who woulda
thunk it? I guess you liked it, too, if you're having it again, but
the question of the day is, would you serve it to the new Pope? -aem

In article .com>,
"aem" > wrote:

> Dave W. wrote:
> > [snip] Reheated the soup and fed
> > it to my wife ... she appeared pleased with what I had created.
> >
> > Tonight it will be leftover soup.
> >
> Talk about imaginative -- mutton soup with milk and port, who woulda
> thunk it? I guess you liked it, too, if you're having it again, but
> the question of the day is, would you serve it to the new Pope? -aem

Dunno. From what I hear he's pretty conservative. My soup is pretty
radical ... I think I'll call it "liberation mutton soup."

Regards,
Dave W.

--
Living in the Ozarks
For email, edu will do.

Regardless of what doesn't happen, there's always someone who knew it wouldn't.
R. Henry

Dave W. wrote:
> I really don't do a good job driving a charcoal grill. The fire was
> too hot so the ribs cooked through in well less than an hour. They
> tasted pretty good but were not particularly tender. I have an
> "electric fired" smoker at my place and I can control the temperature
> nicely in there ... and smoke them ... I usually use a dry rub and
> treat them like pork ribs. Jill McQuown was scandalized by that,

I wasn't exactly "scandalized", but lamb ribs don't (IMHO) require the same
type of rub as pork ribs and certainly not BBQ sauce. Again, IMHO.

so I
> did my experiment on the wife's grill.

You already said the coals were too hot. Let them die down a bit more or
shove them off to the side for "indirect heat".

Jill