Tonight's meal: (thick) lamb shoulder chops, "semi-roasted" potato,
broccolini and tossed green salad.

I'm not taking back any derogatory thing I've said in the past about
Australian lamb, but do you remember I said that NZ lamb is almost
indistinguishable from American? I bought thick cut shoulder chops
from Safeway the other day and cooked them tonight. OMG - they were
great! Tender and delicious, no odd mutton/gamey flavor. I wouldn't
be able to tell them from NZ and I'm not sure if I could tell either
from American at this point (remembering what a big difference there
was between ranches with grass fed beef when ChrisD and I did that
tasting together). If this continues, I won't need to go to a
different store to buy lamb anymore!

Added benefit: you sure can't argue with the price! Don't
know/remember what you paid, but mine was $4.99 lb which is a mere
shadow of the $11.99 I pay for lamb T-bone chops.

I still haven't found a shoulder roast (the lamb equivalent of pork
butt), but I hope they become more available. I think I'll ask the
butcher next time I'm in and see if I can buy one whole. I've seen
recipes that use a (boned) shoulder roast whole that I'm interested in
- but of course their lamb was from la-tee-da from a stand alone
butcher shop (or even more rarified) instead of the grocery store
butcher counter.

--
A kitchen without a cook is just a room