New year Scotch Lamb promises a culinary sensation

Consumers are being invited to enjoy a new year “culinary sensation” by trying some seasonal Scotch Lamb perfect for warming recipes to fight off the winter chill.

Compared to autumn when lamb has a lighter flavour, the ‘late-season lamb’ now coming to butcher shops and supermarkets is typically characterised by a more robust and richer flavour, perfectly suited to warming stews and pies to help fight off the winter chill.

Laurent Vernet, Head of Marketing for red meat promotion body Quality Meat Scotland, said: “The great thing about a truly seasonal product such as Scotch Lamb (PGI) is that it goes on a culinary journey throughout the year, and the flavour now is perfectly suited to the kind of robust, flavourful dishes we all love to eat this time of year.

“The turn of the year sees more mature lamb coming to the shops. This has had a bit more time to develop and lambs have foraged on a wider variety of feeds over the winter so the meat has developed a fuller, more complex flavour.

“Personally, I love the fuller flavours and it is the perfect time of year for the real Scotch Lamb flavours to come through. Casseroles are obvious in winter but a good Scotch Lamb  leg at this time of the year is as delightful as it is good value-for-money. From Dumfries to Shetland and from Barra to Perthshire, Scotland is lucky to have so many flavours and choices.

“These days when it’s easy to get uniform tasting products any time of the year, buying Scotch Lamb enables you to experience a genuinely traditional, seasonal product perfectly suited to warm you through the winter.”

To compliment the fuller flavour and the crop of winter vegetables available Quality Meat Scotland has raided the culinary history books and revived some of the best classic warming winter dishes.

Three of these recipes are now available to download at here - including a warming Scotch Lamb and Turnip Pie, a Haricot of Scotch Lamb, which gives a nod to the French influence of the Auld Alliance, and a Scotch Lamb Broth that was the talk of the 18th Century cooking schools.

Laurent added: “Scotland’s world renowned breeds of sheep all carry their own distinctive tastes and different diets - grass, flowers, turnips, hay, heather - bring their own subtle flavours to the meat. These revived classic recipes enable you to go on a culinary sensation without having to resort to adventurous cooking methods such as ‘cook over ashes’!”