822-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 25, 1991
Joyce Bupp
York Co. Correspondent
WEST FRIENDSHIP (Maryland) Novice entrants
carted off two of the top three placings in the Grand Lamb
Cook-Off, a highlight of the Maryland Sheep and Wool
Festival held May 4-5 at the Howard County Fairgrounds.
And, the lop two cooks in the annual lamb cook-off not
only serve up winning lamb dishes, they raise and care for
their own flocks as well.
Cook-off winner Michelle Humphries lugged recipes,
ingredients and her favorite crackpot on a 11 hour-plus
drive from her farm in Campbellcroft, Ontario, Canada.
Her “Rosemary and Mint Lamb Stew in Cream Sauce,”
beautifully presented on glossy black serving dishes,
snagged the highest points and a $ 150 cash prize from the
contest’s trio of judges.
Michelle claims she taught herself to cook during a
three-year stay in Australia. Lamb dishes arc highly popu
lar “down under,” and her winning recipe was an adaption
of a family favorite from there.
The Humphries tend a flock of 50 ewes, including Kara
kul, known for their “persian lamb” fleeces, registered
Oxfords, English Leicester and mixed colored breeds.
Michelle decided to enter the cook-off after helping
friends exhibit sheep during last year’s festival.
Anne Mane Meyer, Pennsylvsma’s only finalist in the
cook-off, earned second-place honors with her “Work-
Week Lamb Chops,” marinated in soysauce and a blend of
herbs and spices and panbroiled. The lamb chops, which
can be marinated well ahead of time and cooked in just a
few minutes, is a favorite method for serving their home
raised lamb.
Meyer and her husband Ray tend a flock of 40 ewes at
their Seven Valleys R 2 farm. They raise and sell commer
cial and youth project market lambs and breeding stock.
Anne is a soils technician in York County for the Soil Con
servation Service.
Taking the third-place award was contest veteran
Richard Douville of Columbia, preparing an oriental-style
dish, “Chinese Hunan Lamb.”
Douville, who began cooking at age 22 in “self
defense,” and who docs all his family’s food preparation,
first tasted a version of his winning recipe in a restaurant.
A lamb cookoff competitor for the past five years, he has
won several high-placing awards.
Fourth place went to Beth Hines, a sheep producer from
Elyna, Ohio, who prepared “Easy India Curry.”
Sue Atkinson, a Baltimore nurse, claimed the fifth
place spot with a favorite from her Hindu heritage, “Cur
ried Lamb.”
Contestants were point-scored in four categories
taste, 40 points, appearance, originality and ease of prepa
ration, 20 points each and ranked on combined point
totals, according to cook-off chairman Sharon Prison,
ThurmonL
Judges for the contest were Robert Dinsmore, Jeffer
son, who raises Hampshires; Karen Hcvner, a Frederick
County 4-H leader for cooking and nutrition projects and
whose son raises lambs; and Sandy Comdon, Frederick
County extension home economist.
Other featured events at the Maryland Sheep and Wool
Festival included shearing demonstrations and competi
tion, sheep dog herding, spinning seminars and demon
strations and type judging of some 900 head.
Rosemary and Mint Lamb
Stew in Cream Sauce
* A variety of cuts of lamb may be used for this recipe. Pre
fer upper leg roast. 8 mealy good sized chops, leg roast,
chump, forequarter, or loin cuts. Approximately 3 lbs. of
meal.
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup hot water
1 beef cube
1 ounce butter
3 /. cup dry white wine
1 clove garlic minced
2 teaspoons flour
1 tablespoon French mustard (prepared)
3 tablespoons heavy or thickened cream
2 tablespoons rosemary (dry)
1 teaspoon parsley (dry)
A of a bottle mint sauce (about A of a cup)
2 tablespoons mint jelly
Salt and pepper to taste
♦Extra dry mint leaves may be added for extra flavor,
Trim off fat and de-bone the meat then cube. (Save the
marrow bones). In a fry pan, add oil and lightly brown the
meat. Remove from the heat. In a deep casserole dish, dis
solve beef cube in hot water and add the remaining ingre
dients and combine well.
Add meat and its juices and any marrow from the bones
(discard the bones) to the casserole dish. Cover and let
marinate as long as possible, at least 2 hours.
Bake covered for 40 minutes at 350 F (180 C). If sauce
is not thickening after 20 minutes add a bit more flour dis
solved in some of the casserole juices. The sauce should be
smooth but not super thick.
Serve over nee or noodles.
Maryland Sheep And Wool
ront n n?f ia n« M ho!!w H . eHumph ?®f- right * tooktop honors in the Maryland Grand Lamb
J and to pr , e !® nt the award was Maryland Lamb and Wool Queen Paula
Davis, Middletown, at left, and cookoff chairman, Sharon Pilson.
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