In a slight change of pace, today we will look at St Helensian cuisine, and in particular the national dish “Cremated Breast of Lamb”.
Breast of Lamb is an unpopular cut of meat in most cultures. In fact calling it “meat” at all is stretching things. It is essentially a roll of lamb fat with a scraping of meat on it. It has been described as “a strange joint which is pretty nearly inedible”. You will find some recipes using this roll of fat in the wider world, but these generally involve slow cooking the meat and serving as a roast with vegetables. This is not the St Helens way.
The St. Helener has a particular love of eating fat. In fact they often throw the meat away and just eat the fat. It’s an acquired taste for those not from the area. Anthropologists believe that they may be stocking up on fuel prior to winter hibernation.
The traditional Breast Of Lamb recipe involves putting it in to an oven on high heat and cooking the joint until it is rock hard (apparently this diamond hard crust is the best part). Once this is complete is is ‘plonked’ onto a plate with no trimmings or other food and immediately devoured.
Try it yourself! Bon appetit!
Previous Lessons:
Lesson 1 – Going to the Chippy
