For many of us, Easter is the time we enjoy lamb. And about the only time. Each year Americans eat about 30 million cattle, 110 million hogs, but only 2 million sheep.
In other nations with different culinary cultures, lamb is far more of a staple protein. In the far northwest corner of China is Xinjiang Province, five times the size of Texas. The population is heavily Muslim, so pork is not eaten but lamb and goat are frequently used. This dish began in that northwestern corner, but now has spread across China and to the United States.
In his lovely cookbook A. Wong: The Cookbook, chef Andrew Wong does an American riff on the recipe. In China, the recipe is made with diced lamb that is marinated and then skewered, alternating with chucks of fat, and finally grilled. Andrew likes his meat on the bone. The ribs are fatty so a slow cooking technique, braising, is employed to tenderize the meat without drying.
The cooking technique here is a bit of restaurant style: the ribs cook covered in oil then are charred with a chef’s torch. My suggesting, fire up your grill the way they do in China. Use low heat and let the ribs take some time. Test for doneness to match your preferences. Either way you choose to cook, the spices will render this possibly the fieriest lamb you’ve ever tried.
Xinjiang Cumin Lamb Ribs
Yield: serves 4
Ingredients:
- 3 ¼ pounds breast of lamb on the bone, separated into individual ribs
- 3 tablespoons white rice vinegar
- 3 ½ ounces Xinjiang spice mix, recipe follows, plus extra to serve
- 2 quarts lamb fat (but vegetable oil will have to do if you don’t have a freezer full of solidified lamb fat)
- 2 tablespoons chile flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground toasted Sichuan peppercorns
Preparation:
Place the ribs in a nonreactive baking dish and add the vinegar and spice mix, rubbing it vigorously into the meat. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Cover the ribs with the fat (or oil) and cook in the oven for 2 hours or until the meat becomes tender and begins to fall off of the bone.
Remove from the oven and let the ribs cool in the fat.
When you are ready to serve, remove the ribs from the fat and, using a chef’s torch, char the outside of the ribs, rendering down the fat (basically simulating a barbecue).
Sprinkle with more spice mix, the chile flakes, and the ground Sichuan pepper before serving.
Xinjiang Spice Mix
Yield: ½ cup
Ingredients:
- 1⁄4 cup cumin seed
- 2 tablespoons dried Szechuan chile flakes
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons sea salt
Preparation:
Toast Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant. Toast cumin until lightly browned.
Grind Sichuan peppercorns, cumin, chili flakes and black pepper in a spice grinder.
Stir in remaining ingredients.