CookEat Recipe
Fried Lamb Head Meat
Prepared lamb head meat, simmered until tender, coated in a light egg batter and fried, with lemon to serve.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: About 500 g raw boneless lamb head meat, professionally cleaned and trimmed for human consumption by an inspected food supplier; no brain in the main version; Salt and black pepper; 3 heaped teaspoons plain flour, about 20 g, for the batter; 2 teaspoons olive oil; 2 whole eggs; About 30 g additional plain flour for dusting; About 700 ml suitable frying oil, or enough for the pan; plain lard is an alternative; 1 lemon, cut into wedges; Water for simmering.
Step 2
Use already prepared edible head meat from an inspected supplier. Cover with water, add a little salt, bring to a simmer and cook gently until fully cooked to 74°C and tender, starting checks after about 60 minutes and allowing up to 2 hours or longer for the cut. This completes the source preliminary boiling rather than leaving partly cooked meat to wait. Drain and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Step 3
As soon as cool enough to handle, cut the cooked head meat into pieces slightly larger than a walnut, about 4 cm. If frying later, cool promptly in a shallow container and refrigerate at 4°C or below; do not leave cooked meat on the counter.
Step 4
Mix the three heaped teaspoons of flour with the two teaspoons of olive oil. Beat in the two whole eggs and a pinch of salt to make a flowing, cream-like batter. Put the additional dusting flour in a separate dish.
Step 5
Heat the frying oil to about 170°C. Dust the meat pieces with flour, dip them in the batter and fry in small batches for roughly 3–5 minutes, turning as needed, until golden and hot throughout to 74°C. Drain and serve promptly with lemon wedges. Plain lard can replace the oil.
Step 6
For the source version with brain, replace about 100 g of the head meat with already prepared lamb brain sold specifically for human consumption by an inspected supplier where available. Simmer it separately in lightly salted water until fully cooked to 74°C and firm enough to handle, roughly 10–15 minutes depending on size, then drain, season and cut into walnut-sized pieces. Flour, batter and fry it by the same method, alongside the slightly larger head-meat pieces. Do not substitute spinal cord or pet-food products.
Step 7
For the full stewed alternative, use one edible lamb head professionally cleaned and split lengthwise by the supplier. In a wide pan lightly colour 1 chopped garlic clove and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley in 2 tablespoons olive oil, then add a ladle of broth, about 150 ml. Add the two head halves, salt and pepper, cover and simmer gently, turning carefully and adding broth to prevent drying. At about halfway to tenderness, after roughly 45–60 minutes, add 15 g butter and 100 ml tomato sauce, or 1 tablespoon tomato paste diluted in a little broth. Continue until the meat is fully cooked to 74°C and tender, about 90–150 minutes in total or longer as needed. Use about 500 ml broth in all, adjusted to the pan. Serve with its sauce; omit the batter, coating flour, frying bath and lemon garnish for this separate stew.
Cooked it? Rate it.
Cooked 0 times