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Making the Most of Lamb
Scotland produces over three million lambs each year, less than half of which will be slaughtered in Scotland. For those that are slaughtered here and therefore qualify as Scotch Lamb, less than half will end up being consumed by Scots. Margaret Stewart examines why the rest of Britain is out-eating us Scots when it comes to Scotch Lamb…
Despite descriptions and labels of "spring" lamb, Scotch lamb is at its best now.
Lambs need the sun of summer to thrive and grow so that by August the meat will be succulent, tender and tasty. According to tradition it is autumn when Scotch Lamb is "in season," but that is in fact just another label with questionable accuracy.
Chefs and caterers will have an important role to play to help make this increase in consumption possible. QMS have recently undertaken substantial research into the lamb market and the lamb consumer. As far as retail sales are concerned, the only sector to record increased sales over the last year is that of the local butcher. Could this exceptional 20% hike be due to the fact that they interface with the consumer, talk about the product and how to make the best use of it, and that the lamb consumer is listening?
This could well be the case; ABC1 consumers account for 50% of fresh lamb purchases, and 75% of these are from households of 45 years and over. Over 60% of lamb purchasers have a lifestyle described as "post-family", and a substantial percentage said that they ate lamb when out but not regularly at home. The type of product preferred by these customers is generally from the traditional and finer food categories. This should all ring bells with restaurants and medium to top-of-the-range catering outlets. Their customers are often the over-45s who enjoy eating out, are traditional but forward-thinking and have above average disposable income. There is evidence to suggest that such customers could successfully be tempted to eat more Scotch Lamb.
On a recent trip to the Trossachs with some overseas visitors, they were keen to try some of the products from the farms we passed along the way. With lamb and beef top of their lists they were very surprised and I was equally embarrassed to see that neither was present on the menu. What a missed opportunity!
We believe that visitors to Scottish restaurants expect to see dishes described as Scotch, local and in season - all perfect adjectives for lamb in autumn. The lamb consumer is more discerning and may already want to increase consumption - but lamb must feature on the menus and the description must be mouth-wateringly tempting!
September is Scotch Lamb Month in butchers, UK retailers, a chain of restaurants in the Netherlands and even a supermarket group in Belgium - make the most of it here!
This article has been edited from its original version. For the complete feature please see Catering in Scotland magazine September/October 2006.
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