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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