I empathise with your dog. When I lived on the Isle of Mull on the north west coast if Scotland, I went regularly down to the shore to gather dulce to bring home to eat. Your dog was a discerning one. I'm relieved the dog survived.
I marinate my lamb, like you, for several days.But when I wrote for Gourmet and the Washington Post, they were horrified at that length and would edit my copy to fewer days. Reading about your cooking processes is reading about such a joyful activity. I wish I were at your table.
Wonderfully evocative piece, Julia--thank you! Here's a question: samphire, sea purslane, glasswort--are they all the same thing? Relatives? Siblings? I ask in part because I'm constantly perplexed by the Italian spring vegetable called agretti, which is translated in various completely unsatisfactory ways, but is salty, is said to grow best close to the sea, and has the plump texture (crisp when raw) of succulents. Any ideas?
Later sometime I'll tell you all about a farmer in Maine who raises the tastiest lamb I've ever experienced--not in a salt marsh but in an extensive pasture of mixed grasses that probably benefit from Maine's acid-rich soil and go on to benefit the sheep that graze thereon. It was a great Easter treat, épaule d'agneau à la boulangère. Gosh, maybe that's my next Substack column. You are inspirational!
I'm tickled pink by your generous words - thank you! I should have been clearer about those sea vegetables. They're all coastal plants and similar, but each is slightly different from the other. Samphire is an umbrella name for a group of them that are related but different - golden samphire, rock samphire, and marsh samphire. That last is also known as glasswort. Sea purslane is a different succulent. In the UK, we know agretti as Monk's Beard, particularly popular at this time of year.
I look forward, with saliva already flooding my cheeks, to your piece on Maine lamb!
I will attempt this with salt marsh lamb because, being on the marsh, my favourite farm shop for their own reared meat sells it as just 'lamb' and nothing special (and very good it is too!)
No salt marsh sheep here, but I moved to Maine with an Australian Shepherd, to a house on a salt water river. Said Australian Shepherd slipped out of the house one day, unbeknownst to us, and headed down to the shore, where she found seaweed, which she must have found absolutely delicious and gorge-worthy. When she finally returned home, her belly was taut and distended. Long story short, the mass of seaweed refused to move either up or down her digestive tract, and she required surgery to open her stomach to remove the contents. Years later the veterinarian who performed the surgery was still commenting to us about the ghastliest smell he had ever encountered in his long career.
On a more appetizing note, my favorite way to treat lamb was inspired by a meal many years ago at Dar Maghreb, an elegant Moroccan restaurant in West Hollywood. I was served lamb skewers that were the most tender and flavorsome I'd ever had. I inquired about the cooking method and was told the lamb was marinated in yogurt and fresh mint for several days before being grilled. I generally add onion, garlic, other fresh herbs and pieces of lemon to the marinade. I have a zip-lock bag full of loin chops and yogurt marinade in my refrigerator as I write this, with another couple of days to go for optimum flavor. Yogurt is an ideal marinade--its lactic acid is more gentle than wine, vinegar, or citrus. That many days in another acidic medium would turn the meat to mush. During this past winter, when we've had our wood stove burning almost constantly, on several occasions we've timed the fire in the stove so that there is just a good bed of glowing coals at dinner time, and grilled the marinated chops to medium rare on a grill set directly into the coals. There's something so primevally satisfying about eating meat cooked on burning wood, and the long soak in herbed yogurt has imbued its flavor down to the bone, and the meat is juicy and tender.
What a delightful romp through the salt marshes. Growing up in southern Oklahoma, lamb wasn’t available and still scarce now. The Middle Eastern spices resonate. Your lunch sounds delightful. So identify with the forgotten salad. How do you get food from your subterranean kitchen to diners above? Must be an ordeal coming and returning! Vast pulley systems? Dumb waiters? Always inviting a young guest with young knees?
For our springtime lunch I cooked a spatchcocked chicken. Spatchcocking sounds more visceral and satisfying than butterflying! And more nearly reflects the effort!
I’m a born again atheist. My husband is a very loosely educated Episcopalian. He asked me decades ago why Easter was never on same date every year. When I explained it involved spring equinox and full moons, he was shocked!! Baa baa indeed! Happy spring. Hope you had wonderful leftovers with your salad the next day.
I'm pleased you enjoyed the salt marshes. I remember living in Washington DC that it wasn't all that easy to get hold of lamb and it didn't seem as popular among the people I cooked it for as beef or pork. It can be a love it or hate it meat...As to getting it up from my kitchen, there are only 5 steps between the two levels, though I must admit, writing that, it's very hard to picture.
Spatchcocked chicken is delicious! In Russia I used a wonderful iron pan with a stupendously heavy lid which weighted it down really flat. The chickens were served Georgian style with a walnut sauce. Yummy.
So true about salt marsh lamb having the best flavour - I look for it in butchers whenever I am on the coast. I was in Cornwall last week and watched sheep graze on seaweed in the pools around the beach at Chapel Point. It not only tastes much better but there is research to show that sheep that graze on seaweed produce less methane, so it's better for the planet too.
As to fat separation, I place it in a gravy boat & put it in the freezer for a few minutes. The fat will solidify at the top. I scrape that off & reheat the juice.
I empathise with your dog. When I lived on the Isle of Mull on the north west coast if Scotland, I went regularly down to the shore to gather dulce to bring home to eat. Your dog was a discerning one. I'm relieved the dog survived.
I marinate my lamb, like you, for several days.But when I wrote for Gourmet and the Washington Post, they were horrified at that length and would edit my copy to fewer days. Reading about your cooking processes is reading about such a joyful activity. I wish I were at your table.
Wonderfully evocative piece, Julia--thank you! Here's a question: samphire, sea purslane, glasswort--are they all the same thing? Relatives? Siblings? I ask in part because I'm constantly perplexed by the Italian spring vegetable called agretti, which is translated in various completely unsatisfactory ways, but is salty, is said to grow best close to the sea, and has the plump texture (crisp when raw) of succulents. Any ideas?
Later sometime I'll tell you all about a farmer in Maine who raises the tastiest lamb I've ever experienced--not in a salt marsh but in an extensive pasture of mixed grasses that probably benefit from Maine's acid-rich soil and go on to benefit the sheep that graze thereon. It was a great Easter treat, épaule d'agneau à la boulangère. Gosh, maybe that's my next Substack column. You are inspirational!
I'm tickled pink by your generous words - thank you! I should have been clearer about those sea vegetables. They're all coastal plants and similar, but each is slightly different from the other. Samphire is an umbrella name for a group of them that are related but different - golden samphire, rock samphire, and marsh samphire. That last is also known as glasswort. Sea purslane is a different succulent. In the UK, we know agretti as Monk's Beard, particularly popular at this time of year.
I look forward, with saliva already flooding my cheeks, to your piece on Maine lamb!
I will attempt this with salt marsh lamb because, being on the marsh, my favourite farm shop for their own reared meat sells it as just 'lamb' and nothing special (and very good it is too!)
Is that the farm shop coming away from Camber Sands? Rumour has it, it's up for sale. But rumours in Rye are very Mapp & Lucia…
On the road back into Kent - Old Tractor Shed - they're the people behind Marsh Produce who supply lots of the local restaurants on the Kent side!
Thank you for the tips! And all your terrific recipes...
No salt marsh sheep here, but I moved to Maine with an Australian Shepherd, to a house on a salt water river. Said Australian Shepherd slipped out of the house one day, unbeknownst to us, and headed down to the shore, where she found seaweed, which she must have found absolutely delicious and gorge-worthy. When she finally returned home, her belly was taut and distended. Long story short, the mass of seaweed refused to move either up or down her digestive tract, and she required surgery to open her stomach to remove the contents. Years later the veterinarian who performed the surgery was still commenting to us about the ghastliest smell he had ever encountered in his long career.
On a more appetizing note, my favorite way to treat lamb was inspired by a meal many years ago at Dar Maghreb, an elegant Moroccan restaurant in West Hollywood. I was served lamb skewers that were the most tender and flavorsome I'd ever had. I inquired about the cooking method and was told the lamb was marinated in yogurt and fresh mint for several days before being grilled. I generally add onion, garlic, other fresh herbs and pieces of lemon to the marinade. I have a zip-lock bag full of loin chops and yogurt marinade in my refrigerator as I write this, with another couple of days to go for optimum flavor. Yogurt is an ideal marinade--its lactic acid is more gentle than wine, vinegar, or citrus. That many days in another acidic medium would turn the meat to mush. During this past winter, when we've had our wood stove burning almost constantly, on several occasions we've timed the fire in the stove so that there is just a good bed of glowing coals at dinner time, and grilled the marinated chops to medium rare on a grill set directly into the coals. There's something so primevally satisfying about eating meat cooked on burning wood, and the long soak in herbed yogurt has imbued its flavor down to the bone, and the meat is juicy and tender.
What a delightful romp through the salt marshes. Growing up in southern Oklahoma, lamb wasn’t available and still scarce now. The Middle Eastern spices resonate. Your lunch sounds delightful. So identify with the forgotten salad. How do you get food from your subterranean kitchen to diners above? Must be an ordeal coming and returning! Vast pulley systems? Dumb waiters? Always inviting a young guest with young knees?
For our springtime lunch I cooked a spatchcocked chicken. Spatchcocking sounds more visceral and satisfying than butterflying! And more nearly reflects the effort!
I’m a born again atheist. My husband is a very loosely educated Episcopalian. He asked me decades ago why Easter was never on same date every year. When I explained it involved spring equinox and full moons, he was shocked!! Baa baa indeed! Happy spring. Hope you had wonderful leftovers with your salad the next day.
I'm pleased you enjoyed the salt marshes. I remember living in Washington DC that it wasn't all that easy to get hold of lamb and it didn't seem as popular among the people I cooked it for as beef or pork. It can be a love it or hate it meat...As to getting it up from my kitchen, there are only 5 steps between the two levels, though I must admit, writing that, it's very hard to picture.
Spatchcocked chicken is delicious! In Russia I used a wonderful iron pan with a stupendously heavy lid which weighted it down really flat. The chickens were served Georgian style with a walnut sauce. Yummy.
I’ve got the sudden urge to get a flock of sheep and some acreage on one of the many New England salt marshes and start a new turn of life…
Goffrit! You would probably have the US market to yourself! And they’d have an extra cranberry layer of flavour!
So true about salt marsh lamb having the best flavour - I look for it in butchers whenever I am on the coast. I was in Cornwall last week and watched sheep graze on seaweed in the pools around the beach at Chapel Point. It not only tastes much better but there is research to show that sheep that graze on seaweed produce less methane, so it's better for the planet too.
Gosh! I'd no idea! I wonder if that has something to do with the types of flower and grasses.
What a delightful article & wonderful recipe.
As to fat separation, I place it in a gravy boat & put it in the freezer for a few minutes. The fat will solidify at the top. I scrape that off & reheat the juice.