These sweet and sticky lamb ribs were served on top of mint labneh. In Blackouts & Boerewors the recipe is called potjie BBQ lamb ribbetjies. The small ribs should be cooked over the open fire in a three legged pot. I however adapted this and cooked my ribs in a Dutch oven using our gas braai.
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Lamb Ribs ♥
Various cuts of meat and cooking lamb
Depending on where you live, various cuts of lamb meat are available. Most common would be leg of lamb, which will feature on many a Christmas table, or as a Sunday roast. Leg of lamb is also served on Easter Sunday as well as Passover. Lamb shanks are used for slow cooking and are perfect when you want to serve up individual portions of a hearty dish to guests. Most common would be lamb chops which can be from the rib, loin and shoulder. Shoulder chops are not the best so look out for loin chops which are my favourite, or rib chops. For an impressive meal, ask your butcher for a rack of lamb. And for something sticky and messy to eat, marinated lamb ribs are the best. For stewing you can use the chump or neck chops.
Other parts of the lamb you can eat
Lamb tongue is used in the Middle East, cooked into stews, or served cold. Lambs liver is served with onions as a traditional pub meal, or used with the lungs and heart to make haggis. Kidneys, which is one of my favourite offal, are cut in half and cleaned, before being cooked and served with a sauce. I also enjoy eating sweetbreads which I have yet to try cooking at home. One thing I probably won’t eat are the testicles, even if they are considered a delicacy.
Take a look at this inspiring recipe for ♥ lamb ribs ♥ from Lavender and Lime #LavenderAndLime Share on X
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Lamb Ribs
Ingredients
for the labneh
- 250 g thick yoghurt
- 1.25 mls fine salt
- 1 lemon, zest only
for the mint labneh
- 5 g mint leaves, chopped
- 2.5 mls ground cumin
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
For the marinade
- 30 mls hoisin sauce
- 30 mls tomato sauce
- 30 mls Worcestershire sauce
- 30 mls chutney
- 30 mls lager
- 15 mls sriracha sauce
- 1 lime, zest and juice
for the lamb ribs
- 250 mls lager
- 500 g lamb ribs
- olive oil to drizzle
- braai spice for sprinkling
Method
for the labneh
- Place the yoghurt into a bowl, add the salt and lemon zest and and stir to combine
- Line a sieve with muslin, place over a bowl and spoon the yoghurt into the sieve
- Cover and place into the fridge for the whey to strain off for 24 hours
for the mint labneh
- Remove the bowl from the fridge, discard the whey and spoon the labneh into a clean bowl
- Add the mint, garlic, cumin, lemon zest and juice and stir to combine
- Season to taste, cover and refrigerate for the flavours to develop
For the marinade
- Place the hoisin sauce, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chutney, lager and sriracha into a small saucepan
- Heat over a medium temperature, whisking to combine while you do so
- As soon as it is hot, remove from the heat and add the lemon zest and juice
- Whisk to combine
for the lamb ribs
- Pour the marinade and lager into a Dutch oven, place onto your braai and bring it to a simmer
- Remove from the heat and set aside
- Drizzle the ribs with the oil and season with the braai spice
- Place onto the braai over a medium hot temperature and cook until caramelised on both sides
- Remove from the heat and add to the pot you cooked your marinade and lager in
- Place the pot over a medium to low temperature with the lid on and simmer for 45 minutes
- Remove the lid and continue to simmer for 20 minutes
- Remove the meat and leave it to rest for 10 minutes while you reduce the sauce
- Place the labneh into a serving dish and spread it out
- Place the lamb ribs on top of the labneh
- Drizzle with the reduced sauce and serve some extra on the side
See the links below for blog posts I published on January 16:
- 2022: The Night She Disappeared
- 2019: La Perla
- 2017: Oat And Nut Bars
- 2014: Focaccia
Absolutely and utterly love lamb – yes, lamb’s fry and tongues also (tho’ I do prefer veal liver and beef tongue if available) . . . both of these are very popular in Australia tho’ a little hard to get these days. I very much like your riblet preparation here but may actually try this with the somewhat cheaper chops – much flavour being there . . . thanks heaps!
I wish we could get veal liver here. Funnily enough, lamb ribs are quite a cheap cut here. Have you tried lambs tails? We can get them here but I find them too fatty.
Tandy – I have not heard or seen such . . . yes, they probably would be both somewhat stringy and fatty! Australia supposedly lived on the back of a sheep – now a couple of small cutlets will set you back around 10 dollars for about 2-3 bites of meat on each !!!
That is ridiculously expensive!
i like the sound of the labneh! we are not lamb eaters tho 🙂
This labneh goes well with a lot of things 🙂
I love eating lamb but I’m a bit scared of cooking it – it’s so expensive and I’m always scared I’ll stuff it up! These ribs look like they’d melt in the mouth and reading the list of ingredients for the marinade literally made my mouth water! Yum!
You get such great lamb in Britain (not the New Zealand one!) so if you can find some that is reasonably priced I hope you will give this a go 🙂
Oooh these ribs look so good, especially accompanied with this mint labneh!
Thank you Ben 🙂
Oh my god I would devour these.
Wish I could have you over to make them for you!
Oh yum I would love these. I’ve never cooked lamb ribs, but we often eat other lamb cuts. The labneh looks perfect too Tandy.
Is there a reason you have never cooked lamb ribs?
These look so delicious Tandy.
Thank you Pauline 🙂