Lamb belly, also known as breast of lamb, is rich and flavoursome, yet an underrated and thus inexpensive cut of lamb, due to its small size and higher fat content, yet providing excellent results when oven-roasted or barbecued with herbs, lemon and spices, if correctly prepared beforehand, so here’s a simple and delicious way to prepare it in advance.

The lesser-known cuts of meat such as lamb breast, which many butchers literally just throw away, has a higher fat content than some other lamb cuts but when slow-cooked, much of the fat is released during cooking and tenderizes the meat.

I always find that these cuts of meat are available every summer season. It is half the price of other lamb cuts, such as chops, ribs or leg of lamb, yet equally delicious. The meat and fat are still attached to the bone and the pieces are always small, weighing about 85 grams each, before cooking and 70-75 grams after cooking, and let’s not forget the bones that weigh about 20-25 grams each so each cooked strip will provide about 45-50 grams of meat. You’ll need about 1 kg of raw lamb to feed 2 people and 2 kg for 4.

The ideal way to prepare it is by first marinating the meat for up to 24 hours, then sealing and steaming it in the oven for 60-90 minutes and finally when all that is done, a quick broiling or barbecuing to crisp it and give it a golden caramel hue.

Accompanied with some lemon slices and parsley stalks, it’s great, or you can decide to get fancier and prepare a tabbouleh salad (see the latest recipe here) and perhaps some roasted potatoes or other vegetables to make it a delight. 

This is definitely hand-held food to be enjoyed during the summer months, so enjoy … :)