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Lamb Tastings
The feasts begin on Friday with the popular Cooking with Lamb workshop.
This year it will be held at CKs Real Food Restaurant in Hailey,
one of the area’s top eateries, with its owner and chef, Chris Kastner
as instructor. A long-time supporter of local lamb, Chris will share recipe secrets
and prepare inspiring dishes to encourage workshop participants to cook lamb at
home and enjoy the best in American lamb at their favorite restaurants. Advanced
registration is required at the Blaine County office of CSI College (788-2033).
On Saturday, at the Sheep Folklife Fair held at the Roberta McKercher Park in Hailey,
the lamb events continue with Lamb Tastings.
This chef/ranch family collaboration runs from 12 noon until 3 p.m. Four top chefs
will prepare and discuss recipes for selected lamb dishes from lamb ribs, legs and
ground meat to Dutch oven stews. At their side, members of the four ranch families
who provided the lamb for tasting will tell stories of their respective sheep operations
from which this local food comes, its headquarters, grazing landscapes, marketing
practices and stories from the generations of ranch families that make up its history.
The restaurant chefs for this project are Chris Kastner of CK’s Real Food
Restaurant in Hailey, Scott Mason of the Ketchum Grill
and Heather Rogers of Riccabona’s Restaurant (formerly Felix’s)
in Ketchum. These chefs provide dining experiences synonymous with fresh local foods
and inspired cooking. Allan Laudert, a highly-sought after caterer,
is the fourth chef. He is best known for his lamb grilled over an open fire and
dutch oven pots of succulent braised lamb dishes.
Chris Kastner will be working with the lamb and family of Lava Lake Lamb and
Livestock an amalgam of prominent southern Idaho sheep operations formerly
owned by Pete Cenurrusa and Jim Peterson (Carey), Louie Oneida, (Jerome) and
Bud Purdy (Picabo). In 1999, this new configuration began under the ownership
of San Francisco food and conservation enthusiasts Brian and Kathleen Bean. The
operation runs 6,000 ewes. Its headquarters office is in Hailey.
Scott Mason will be teaming up with the Flat Top Sheep Co. family,
John Peavey, his wife Diane and son Tom. This operation, four generations old, began
with John’s grandfather U.S. Senator John Thomas in the late 1920s. The ranch
is headquartered 22 miles north of Carey, on land that in 1960 John consolidated
to include the headquarters of renowned Scotsman and sheep rancher Jim Laidlaw.
The family moves its sheep between its summer range in the Pioneer Mountains and
its winter headquarters at the southern edge of the lava rock Kimama desert. Some
of its sheep winter and lamb on California pastures. The operation runs 3,500 ewes.
Heather Rogers will share her gourmet cooking skills working with the family of
the Siddoway Sheep Company. This sheep operation is five generations
old tracing its heritage back to James and Ruth Siddoway who registered their sheep
brand in 1898. Their ranch headquarters is Terreton and they move their sheep between
this high desert country and their summer range in the Targee National Forest of
eastern Idaho. They run 10,000 ewes. (The Siddoways will also be participating in
Saturday’s Fair at the Siddoway Wool Company booth.)
Allan Laudert will be working with the family of the Noh Sheep
Company. This sheep outfit was started by William Noh soon after he
arrived in Idaho by train with his family in 1908. Noh settled in the area near
Buhl where the family still has its lambing sheds. The sheep company today is run
by John, the son of former state senator and sheepman Laird Noh, and John’s
wife Julie. They are headquartered in Kimberly pasturing their sheep in the hills
south of Twin Falls. They have 2,700 ewes.
Also at the Fair, visitors will be treated to the St. Charles
Catholic Church’s famous Basque Lamb Dinner.
This feast has been a Valley-wide tradition since 1949 and continues to bring in
lamb aficionados from far and wide. It has been the featured food event at the Saturday
Folklife Fair since the Festival’s inception continuing a treasured Basque
tradition and a unique culinary experience.
Throughout the weekend the event will highlight its popular Lamb Dine-Around
at valley cafes and restaurants. Local chefs join in Festival activities by offering
American lamb specialties on their menus. From the elegant to simple, visitors can
enjoy such delicacies as shanks with gorgonzola polenta, lamb tacos, lamb meatballs
in spicy tomato roasted fennel sauce, Hunan lamb, lamb stews, a roulade as well
as an array of creatively prepared racks and chops. For a complete list of restaurants participating in Lamb Dine Around,
click here.
There is something to nibble on for everyone who joins in the Trailing of the Sheep
Festival fun but mostly there is the best in American lamb prepared lovingly by
chefs and meat experts who delight in celebrating this distinguished food.
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