LavaLakeLamb.com
Bigger Pastures
Guilt-free lamb from Lava Lake Ranch
March 26, 2009
Read the full article below or at TastingTable.com
We'll always think fondly of our childhood spent hunting buffalo and surviving cholera on the Oregon Trail (the computer version, of course), but we'd travel the real thing in a heartbeat to visit Idaho's Lava Lake Ranch, where some of the best pasture-raised lamb outside of New Zealand is produced. Luckily, the Ranch's certified-organic meat, a longtime favorite among chefs, can now be shipped directly to the rest of us.
Located in Idaho's Pioneer Mountains, the ranch uses predator-friendly practices (to protect the wolves that share the land) and focuses on conservation. The lambs feed on their mothers' milk and graze on endless acres of diverse farmland, producing lean, flavorful, antibiotic-free meat. There's even an on-site biologist, and 100 percent of the profits from meat sales funds Lava Lake's eponymous research institute.
Lava Lake now sells a dozen dry-aged cuts online, just in time for an Easter roast ($58 for four pounds) or a springtime barbecue. Better yet, go for the whole beast: $459 buys two racks, eight chops, two sirloin roasts, two boneless legs, four shanks, lots of short ribs, one shoulder roast, two pounds of stew meat and three pounds of ground lamb. Un-baa-lievable.
