Homemade lamb bacon
Simple guide to making lamb bacon at home
4
Serves
30 mins
Prep Time
2 hrs 15 mins
Cook Time
Recipe author
Kate Fay
Ever wanted to try lamb bacon? Make it at home with Chef Kate Fay's incredible homemade lamb bacon recipe!
You can use lamb bacon in pretty much any dish you'd use standard bacon or pancetta for: Italian soups, potato salads, meat braises, pasta dishes, whatever.
The lamb should be brined the day before cooking. Doing so provides a greater depth of flavour and gives them a lovely tender texture once they are cooked. It also allows you to keep the lamb ribs for longer. Once the ribs are brined, you can then braise them and store in the fridge for 3–4 days.
This sticky and succulent lamb rib recipe is perfect for entertaining a crowd and guaranteed to get your guests asking for more. Smoked paprika coating adds great colour and flavour to the ribs – which are delicious, whether they’re eaten with your fingers or with a fork.
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Ingredients
Lamb Bacon
2-3 racks Quality Mark lamb ribs
water
Lamb Brine
1 ½ Tbsp black peppercorns
1 ½ Tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
275g brown sugar
170g sea salt
flaky
1 Tbsp Himalayan pink salt
6 garlic cloves
smashed or sliced
sprigs fresh thyme
4 bay leaves
fresh
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 ½ Tbsp La Chinata smoked paprika bittersweet
1 tsp cayenne powder
4L water
cold
Method
Brining Method
To braise Lamb
To make Bacon
1
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2
Using a fry pan that can also go in the oven, dry roast the black peppercorns, coriander seeds, fennel seeds and cumin seeds over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes.
Start Timer
3
Place the frying pan in the oven until the spices become fragrant (this will take about 4–5 minutes).
Start Timer
4
Remove the spices from the oven and add to a large pot along with 1 litre of water, the brown sugar, flaky sea salt and pink Himalayan salt.
5
Bring the brine mixture to the boil whisking to dissolve the salt and sugar. Once they are dissolved add the remaining ingredients.
6
Remove from the heat and add the remaining 3 litres of cold water and allow to cool to room temperature.
7
Place the lamb ribs in a plastic container (do not use a metal container), cover with the brine and marinate in the fridge for 24 hours.
8
Remove from the brine and cook the ribs using the braising method.
