Racks of Lamb with Cilantro and Mint Crust
 

By Billy Crandell

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I like a little sipping whiskey when I cook.

When my daddy used to cook, his whiskey of choice was moonshine. See, near our little North Carolina town, they had moonshine stills up in the hills. They're all gone now. The bootleggers are into making designer drugs in methamphetamine labs hidden up there where the stills used to be.

That's how things changed. I never was into drugs myself, maybe a little pot back in the day, but I'm basically a whiskey man now. My whiskey of choice is Jack Daniels.

Sipping whiskey while you cook is just a way of keep from tasting, because tasting ain't 'cause you're hungry it's just 'cause you're impatient. My momma was the one who taught me to cook so I wouldn't have to be beholden to women. Not that it helps much because if it's not cooking that you're beholden to then it's something else we need just as much, if you know what I mean. I guess the good Lord made it that way.

They say that cooking is the shortest way to a man's heart but it's a shorter way to the heart of a woman. I haven't met a woman yet who don't love a man who cooks. Now, I'm talking like a bachelor but I been married for twelve years, got three kids. Still, if you take care of your woman, most of the time you get rewarded.

I'm a long-distance furniture trucker by trade. As you know, they make a lot of furniture around here, and I have runs all up to New York and New England and out as far as Detroit and Chicago. So I spend long stretches away from home.

I don't cook for the family all that much. My wife does most of it, unless we're out in the yard barbecuing. But I do a lot of cooking just for the two of us on those romantic evenings when we leave the kids over at Nanna's house for the night.

Half the time, I don't even know what I'm gonna cook until I get down to the farmer's market. Choosing what to cook is like choosing the right mood music. That's what the sipping whiskey is for--getting in the right mood. You don't know what music you want until you sipped a little Jack.

Still, when you choose what you want to cook you should be stone sober. You don't wanna start sipping and get into the mood before driving down to the farmer's market. Do that and you can waste a lotta time just looking at cabbages and green beans, if you know what I mean. Like making love, cooking is all a matter of timing.

After work and on weekends the market can be crowded, but with my schedule I can get down there during the day. I can take my time, talk to the farmers I know, and select the best of everything. My wife, Linda Mae'll just be doing her guidance counselor thing at work down at the high school, knowing that the evening is in capable hands. I know she can hold up her end of the deal later, so I have to hold up mine.

Actually I'm a gourmet cook. I can throw together some tuna casserole or Italian spaghetti, some black-eyed peas or down-home style smothered chicken as good as the next man. But on those nights when the kids are over driving Nanna crazy, I usually cook something special.

In the market sometimes the lamb chops look good--expensive little devils, but finger food is great for the loving mood. And with the French cut, you got that bone sticking out that you can pick up with your fingers, and get to that little piece of tenderness down on the end.

So I get six racks with four chops each. What the heck? If I got the time I marinade the lamb, but if Nanna waits 'til 3 PM to tell us that she can keep the kids then you gotta make due.

I think Nanna (who is my mother) don't tell us sometimes 'til late because she knows her baby boy is up to no good. When my wife calls and tells me that Nanna has got the kids, I tell her "lamb don't take long." She says, "All right. That's when I start sipping that whiskey."

I usually start cooking about 4 o'clock, but we pull down the shades so we can get night started early. She sits there on the kitchen stool watching her man at work. She don't sip straight whiskey, so I mix up a little Amaretto Jack for her. 'Course I do go slow.

We might take the time to put on a little George Strait, and dance to that song "You'll Be There." The one with the line, "Hope is an anchor and love is a ship, time is the ocean and life is a trip . . ."

That song always gets me feeling real good, and we just keep on into the evening. Just being together.

When the lamb is looking good and the dipping sauce is just the right temperature, you can put a few little roasted vegetables on the side of the plate. And after you finish the food, you might want to put on a little Waylon Jennings. Try that song, "Come with Me" where's the lines go: "We'll get on a cloud girl, and ride it high. Say hello sun, as we sail by. I'll take you where, you've never been before. Once we're there, you'll cry for more."

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INGREDIENTS:

6 racks lamb (3 or 4 chops each),

2 tsp butter

2 tsp mustard

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tsp lemon juice

6 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves

Pinch of salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

Trim all of the fat off of the lamb. Mix the butter, mustard, garlic and lemon juice and spread the mixture over the lamb. Then sprinkle the mint and cilantro over that and rub it all into the meat. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 400, stand the racks of lamb up in a baking dish or pan and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. The drippings make a good gravy if you add yogurt.

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