The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 790

That’s right We eat more than 100 pounds of chicken per year each, but, we eat only 0.8 pound lamb per year, and the amount is getting smaller every year—in the 1970s, it was a larger, but still woefully tiny, 3 pounds per year Not only that, but the vast majority of Americans don’t eat a single bite of lamb all year Most of this per capita consumption comes from minority communities—Greek, Muslim, Indian—who eat a ton of it, bringing up the overall average Even more distressing is the fact that lamb is what economists call an “inferior good,” which means that its demand is inversely proportional to average consumer income: when people have money to spend, they’d rather spend it on beef and chicken breasts A 2001 study from Kennesaw State University in Georgia found that for every 1 percent increase in consumer income, there was a corresponding 0.54 percent decrease in lamb consumption It’s an odd dichotomy, because while in many communities, lamb is seen as the “cheap” meat—the meat to buy when you can’t afford beef—in high-end food and fancy supermarket circles, it’s often far more expensive, and desirable, than beef I’m with the latter camp I can think of precious few situations when I’d rather have a steak than a fatty, musky lamb chop Or when I’d rather have a pot roast than a rich, slightly funky braised lamb shank And when it comes to holiday roasts, prime rib may be the king of the table, but roasted leg of lamb is his wilder, more fun cousin Lamb marketers who have long known of the trouble with selling their product to consumers reluctant to leave the safety of their beloved chicken and beef, have responded by carefully breeding and raising lamb that is more suitable for the American palate, as well as selling it in forms that are increasingly easier to cook Indeed, if you haven’t attempted ... of the table, but roasted leg of lamb is his wilder, more fun cousin Lamb marketers who have long known of the trouble with selling their product to consumers reluctant to leave the safety of their beloved chicken and beef, have responded by... is seen as the “cheap” meat? ?the meat to buy when you can’t afford beef—in high-end food and fancy supermarket circles, it’s often far more expensive, and desirable, than beef I’m with the latter... I’d rather have a steak than a fatty, musky lamb chop Or when I’d rather have a pot roast than a rich, slightly funky braised lamb shank And when it comes to holiday roasts, prime rib may be the