Sacrificial Lamb

The traditional food eaten at Easter is lamb. I am not a Christian, but I am happy to observe food related customs. The traditional way of cooking a rack of lamb is to sear it first on the stove top and then finish the cooking in a hot oven. Instead, I prefer to cook the lamb in a more modern manner, namely sous vide. I use the recipe by the British chef Heston Blumenthal, which consists essentially of four parts. First, place the rack of lamb with some olive oil and herbs in a plastic bag, seal, and cook in 60 degree Celsius water for one hour.

Second, lift the bag out of the water bath, discard the herbs, remove the rack from the bag, and pat dry. Third, season the lamb and pan-fry the lamb on all sides with some olive oil. Traditionally one is taught to leave the protein on the hot pan and just flip it once. However, I do the opposite and flip the lamb every 20 seconds or so. Frequent flipping actually allows one to brown the meat quicker and more evenly. Fourth, remove the rack from the pan, rest, coat with tapenade, slice, and serve.

While I personally don't associate lamb with being a sacrificial agent, nevertheless, the lamb was killed for my lunch. I hope I cooked it with the respect it deserves.