Grass Fed “Land Salmon” – Icelandic Lamb
If you’ve never tasted Icelandic lamb, you really should. When I was in my early twenties, I backpacked the South Island of New Zealand for two months and spent a portion of my time at Lilybank Sheep Station. I had my first taste of lamb and was unimpressed. It was gamey, a bit tough, and had a wild, fatty taste I didn’t care for. There was nothing about it I liked, even after not eating a real meal for weeks. You’d think after days of muesli bars, Lipton powdered soup packets, and snack foods, that lamb chops would have tasted fantastic, but no.
A few years later, I was trying to expand my diet and tried lamb again with the same result. Ugh. Tough, gamey, and fatty. How can something fatty have a tough, stringy texture? I had cooked it slowly into a soup with the aim of keeping it tender. I figured that if New Zealand lamb straight from the farm wasn’t appealing to me, then no lamb ever would.
Was I ever wrong! Tonight Jordan and I grilled grass fed Icelandic lamb rib chops and seasoned them only with minced dehydrated onion, Himalayan salt, and red peppercorns. We like our meat well-done (yeah, I know, people say we ruin it), and cooked it to 160+ degrees. When we cut it open and saw a hint of pink near the bone, we put it in the oven on broil. The meat should have been tough. But here’s the thing: it wasn’t tough at all! It was tender, juicy, and had very little taste. This is a good thing! It was not gamey nor greasy.
The reason that Icelandic Lamb is called “Land Salmon” is because the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of is closer to salmon than any other domestic meat. If you have not read about why this is significant, let me summarize: our modern diets result in an excessive amount of omega 6 fatty acids, which promote inflammation in the body and lead to many detrimental health conditions. Compounding the issue is the fact that our diets are also notoriously low in omega 3s, which are known to balance out the omega 6. Omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory, and salmon are rich in them. Omega 3 fatty acids boost the immune system, are healthy for the heart, eyes, and skin, along with a myriad of other benefits such as lowering cancer risk, balancing hormones, and alleviating depression.
Grass fed lamb is right up there with grass fed beef for health benefits. Domestic lamb that has most likely been raised eating grass but finished eating grain, is nowhere near as healthy as grass fed lamb, but is still healthier than conventionally raised beef, pork, or chicken. Indeed, these days it is even healthier than farmed or wild-caught fish because they graze on organic pasture rather than questionable waters.
If you are not consuming fatty fish on a regular basis, or if you eat foods prepared with vegetable oils like chips, nuts, or fast foods, your body will benefit from introducing grass fed meats to your diet. Lamb is an excellent choice if you can find it. Like anything seasonal, when you find it or order it, stock up your freezer while you can because it will sell out quickly.
