As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to increasingly appreciate lamb. When I was quite young and discovering all the deliciousness that existed in the world of food, lamb was slightly gamey for my virgin tastes. This pretty much all changed when I was seventeen and worked as a server at a spa resort in northeast Tucson. Every 10th day was lamb chop day, and we would serve each nutritionally apportioned lamb entree with 2 frenched rib chops per plate – topped with a herbed dijon “sludge”. Since we would have anywhere from 200-325 guests showing up for dinner on any given day, the kitchen would make enough chops to serve the high end number of potential house covers.

The result is that at the end of the night there were pans and pans of uneaten lamb chops – sometimes enough for a greedy starving teenager to eat as much as a dozen and take a few home as well. I would scape off the sludge, which left behind a subtle dijon and herb essence, and top the chops with low sodium Kikkoman. I did this for 2 years. And this wasn’t only lamb chops either – this applied to nearly everything. The spa was pretty posh and had a clientele of east coast stock brokers and the Hollywood elite. So while the menu was definitely geared towards lean and healthy preparations (we would memorize the calories, fat and sodium stats for every item each shift — they gave us cheat sheets we taped inside of our books), the ingredients were top shelf. In college, although we were broke (and often resorted to scraping together change to attend “silver coin drink night” at the local college binge drink warehouse) my roommate and I often ate lobster tail in our Maruchan and Top Ramen.

There is hardly anything has delicious as the lamb loin chop, which is the T-bone steak of lamb. The only drawback is that the chops I encounter are quite spartan in terms of flesh preponderance. There’s only a few bites of meat you can negotiate with a knife and fork before you pick up the chop and go full on neanderthal on the bone — this act being one of life’s unrivaled joys.

Here’s a quick and simple preparation that doesn’t do too much – you don’t want to mask the loin chop’s natural flavor. It’s almost imperative that you use a cast iron pan to really get a good char – if not grill these on a high flame.

Lamb Loin Chops with Tamari, Black Vinegar, Garlic Chives and Fried Shallots

• 3 lamb loin chops. You could trim the fat, but lamb fat really does taste delicious.
• 1 Tablespoon tamari
• 1 Tablespoon Chinese Black Vinegar
• Kosher salt and coarse cracked pepper
• Fried shallots
• Chopped garlic chives

Pre-heat a cast iron frying pan over medium to medium high heat for five minutes.

Sprinkle both side of the chops with salt and pepper. Sear the chops, about 4-6 minutes per side. Remove and let rest for 3 minutes.

Top with tamari and vinegar. Sprinkle on chives and fried shallots (you can fry the shallots yourself and keep them around – or you can buy pre-fried shallots from an Asian store). Eat.