
Chef Nyel and The Lamb Roast! April 17, 2022
It seems like I’ve been hankering for lamb for four or five years now — leg of lamb, lamb chops, rack of lamb… you name it. Lamb chops, especially, were a staple in this family. Broiled with a dash of salt, pepper and dredged in oregano flakes! Yummm! The best.
But then the local butchers said lamb was costing too much to keep it in stock. CostCo held out for a while but then said they could only get it from Australia and supplies were limited. And then came Covid and we just stopped looking. Mostly.
But yesterday I found THREE loin lamb chops at Freddy’s! Count ’em: one, two, three. Tucked way out of sight, they were, almost like they didn’t want to be found. I do so wish my closest girlhood friend, Joanne Bruner, were still among us. I’d call her and ask her to come up from California for a meal!
I so clearly remember when we were Freshmen or Sophomores in high school and I asked her over for dinner. “We’re having lamb chops!” I enthused. Her face fell — just a little. She’d never tasted lamb. Her folks “didn’t believe in it” she said. Something about them being from Colorado and “beef country.”

At Gulley’s Butcher Shop, Astoria, 2022
Huh? I didn’t get it at all. I still don’t — probably have the state wrong. But she came to dinner and I have to say, one bite and she was hooked. We had her to dinner on lamb nights many times after that…
I also remember that I was seven or eight years old before I really understood that beef and lamb were different from one another. They both tasted great to me. It must have been about the time that we tried horse meat that I noticed all meat wasn’t the same. (It was during World War II and meat was rationed so you managed the best you could.) I remember that mom used it in a stew — the chewiest stew ever! From then on, I paid a little more attention to just what kind of meat we were eating and I realized that I liked lamb the best.
Last year, Nyel wanted to do a lamb roast for Easter. We ordered it from Gulley’s Butcher Shop in Astoria. Four pounds boned and rolled! . “Money is no object,” Nyel said. And it wasn’t. I’ve totally forgotten what it cost but I’ll never forget the pleasure Nyel had in cooking it and our subsequent enjoyment at Easter dinner. I haven’t had lamb since. But, soon!
…And everywhere that Sydney went,
Some lamb was sure to show!