Generally lamb chops come from our shops in three different cuts: mid-loin, shoulder (sometimes called BBQ chops) and chump chops. The attributes of each of these cuts are varied and ultimately due to their position on the animal.
Mid-loin chops are essentially the T-bone of a lamb; on one side you have the sirloin (aka, strip, porterhouse on a steer) and on the other side you have the much smaller fillet. Both of these muscles are prime. The sirloin has a small amount of fat and is tender. The fillet on the other side is leaner and more tender still. With mid-loin chops butchers tend to leave a long strip of fat along the sirloin side of the chop. This fat helps us greatly when it comes time to cook as it will add flavour and protect these temperature sensitive cuts.
Another chop you will find in our shops is the shoulder chop, these are cut off the back end of a lamb's shoulder where the shoulder meets the rib cage. Why do we love them? they are absolutely full of flavour. We recommend asking your butcher to cut these thinly, so that they cook quickly on the BBQ, also consider marinating for tenderness.
Lastly we have chump chops, these are cut from the rump cap and can be thought of as the same as a rump steak in Beef. A good chump chop will be tender and full of flavour. This is my personal favourite chop as its an excellent balance of flavour, fat and tenderness. The chump chop is pictured below, made up of up to four muscles and has a long strip of fat along the outer edge - as with the mid-loin this is just what we want. Most chump chops you will also find a small bone on the opposite side to the fat.
When it comes to cooking the chops listed above they can be roughly sorted into two categories: the chump and mid-loin in one group, and the BBQ chops in the second. Today I'm going to share a few tips on how to cook a Mid lion or chump chop.
If you have room for the ice gel packs in your freezer, hold onto them as they come in very handy, particularly throughout picnic and bbq season! They last twice as long as bags of ice, they are leakproof and have minimal condensation so your picnic items won’t be spoilt or damaged. We understand that if you're doing your online shop once a week, that you may have too many reusable gel packs for your freezer to handle.