The best way to greet the cold winter rains is with hot pot.
Lamb is by far my favorite meat to enjoy with hot pot. But I only enjoy it super thin, the way it is served at “steamboat” (hot pot) restaurants, shabu-shabu, and Korean BBQ.
Since Alex and I are not willing to add another kitchen appliance to the kitchen counter, we’ve experimented with how to slice the lamb as thinly as possible without a meat slicer.
3 Tips For Slicing Lamb For Hot Pot
- Sharpen your knife. To get a slice as thin as possible, make sure your knife is razor sharp.
- Freeze then defrost. Start by freezing the entire leg of lamb. When completely frozen, defrost the lamb for a day in the fridge. The lamb stays semi-frozen and therefore easier to hold and slice. Completely defrosted meat is mushy and hard to control.
- Rotate the lamb leg. After every few slices, turn the lamb leg to keep the end flat. It helps you get more even slices.
Now, these tips are not magic tricks. You won’t get paper thin slices like a slice of Parma ham. That requires a real meat slicer. But this is 20% effort for 80% benefit for those of us who don’t want to hoard another kitchen gadget on an already crowded countertop.
Bonus Tip?
Start with a boneless leg of lamb. You can get a great deal from Costco on a boneless leg of lamb from Australia (gasp!!! I know, I know, supporting Australian agriculture, the worst).
It’s a reasonable price and the lamb is grass fed. Yay!
If it seems like too much meat, then slice it all up in one go and then freeze the rest for eating later.
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The hot pot framing is what makes the slicing technique worth learning — thin lamb is the difference between a good pot and a chewy one. A kaomoji on a dinner note can flag the prep step.
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