RECIPE: Sichuan-inspired lamb chops, no wok required

Cumin lamb is one of my favorite dishes to order at Sichuan restaurants. The spicy, earthy flavor of the cumin perfectly complements the slight gaminess of the lamb.

I’ve taken these flavors as inspiration for a lamb chop dish that’s easy to achieve at home with minimal ingredients and without a wok.

I like to use lamb loin chops for this recipe. They’re cheaper than rib chops and, because of the bone and layer of fat, are more forgiving to cook. Overshoot the doneness a bit and they’ll still be tasty. Lamb shoulder chops can work here, too. However, they contain so much connective tissue that you may want to simmer them in the sauce them a bit longer than is written in the recipe below.

To streamline what is normally a lengthy ingredient list, I trimmed down the sauce to its key components: cumin, of course, plus spice from red pepper flakes, and salinity and umami from soy sauce. For deeper flavor, I add a splash of Shaoxing, a type of Chinese rice wine; this is easily found at Asian supermarkets, but you can substitute dry sherry if you prefer.

While cumin lamb is normally prepared as a stir-fry with slivers of meat, here I’m choosing to sear the chops whole and then let them simmer, relatively gently, in the sauce. This helps to infuse the flavor of the sauce into the meat and makes it easier to achieve a medium doneness in the meat’s interior.

Cumin Lamb Chops