Grilled Sheep Tails – Skaapstertjies is part of my heritage!
Posted on September 21, 2017 by nerinatimm in lamb
Grilled Sheep Tails – please do not be freaked out. They are beyond delicious. Of course if they are cooked the correct way.
Grilled Sheep tails are normally eaten around Spring, when sheeps’ tails are removed for a very good reason. You can read all about that here.
As much as I would like to think that I am a farm girl, I could not eat sheep tails in the traditional way. Traditionally they are grilled with the wool still on. I get my sheep tails cleaned and vacuum-packed from my butcher. Sheep tails do not have a lot of meat on them, so we enjoy it as part of a BBQ or as a snack or if we have a lot, even in green bean stew. However, what you lack in bulk meat, you definitely are getting back in heaps of flavor. Grilled to perfection with just salt, pepper, coriander and a last minute squeeze of lemon, is the best way to enjoy sheep tails.
Here are a few pointers:
Do ask your butcher in advance, it is a meat cut that they have to source from their suppliers.
Ask for sheep tails with as little as possible visible fat.
Sheep tails freeze very well.
Grilled Sheep Tails – Skaapstertjies
serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 kg cleaned sheep tails
fresh sprigs of thyme or rosemary
salt and pepper – about 1T/15 ml of each
250 ml water
OR
30 ml biltong spice – you can buy it from most supermarkets these days – I buy the Hunters® Biltong Spice from Freddy Hirsch
1 – 2 lemons
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Season the sheep tails with salt and pepper or use the Biltong Spice. Place in a oven casserole with sprigs of thyme or rosemary. Add the water, place the lid on and cook for 1 – 1½ hours or until the meat comes off the bones easily. This can be done the day before. You can also cook the sheep tails in your pressure cooker for 30-40 minutes. This is the only way, the meat will literally fall off the bone if you eat them.
Light a fire and when the coals are medium heat, slowly grill the sheep tails to perfection. They must be a deep, golden color. Just before serving, squeeze some lemon over the meat. Serve piping hot with warm clean face cloths for the dripping fat.
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4 Responses to “Grilled Sheep Tails – Skaapstertjies is part of my heritage!”
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December 21, 2017
[…] I think. I don’t know about you, but we eat a lot of red meat during our holiday in Hermanus. Lamb, pork, beef, whether we cook it or BBQ it, it still is meat. So after about 2 weeks, we start to […]
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Sticky yummy spatchcock chicken was fantastic, though not one of your recipes does not work
I love sheepstail, braai’d like the above recipe or with a nice basting sauce on it.
For the best experience, go to the Hantam Meat Festival in Calvinia.
The Hantam Meat Festival is definitely on my food bucket list.