A couple of basic questions about meat...

[IWillOnlyEatBeans]

I'm vegetarian, but want my two boys (nearly 4 and nearly 1) to grow up eating and enjoying meat. I am happy to cook it for them, but I am fairly clueless as I've never cooked meat for myself (DH is happy to eat veggie most of the time, with the odd steak thrown in as a treat!)

So I have a couple of quite random questions...

Firstly - is turkey nice? I tend to gravitate towards chicken, because in my head people only eat turkey at Christmas, and if it was delicious they would eat it all the time. However, I keep spotting minced turkey in the supermarket and thought it might be nice made into little burgers...would that work? Or would turkey burgers be horrible?

Secondly - do beef and lamb taste different? I make big batches of Bolognese sauce. Could I do something similar with minced lamb? Or would it taste pretty much the same as beef Bolognese? Is there something I could do it make it a bit different? What else could I do with minced lamb (apart from shepherds pie, neither of my children will eat mashed potato!)

I HATE being a picky eater, I wish that I enjoyed meat!

Thanks!

Turkey : yes, its yummy and very versatile but NOT as a burger because all poultry should be evenly cooked
turkey meatballs in a tomato sauce would be nom nom
or buy the breast steaks and mentally treat them like quorn or tofu for baking or into sauces

Lamb / beef : yes, very different but both work fantastically in tomato sauces

there is a very old but great Delia book called Frugal food that might give you some simple ideas

the other thing to do is find a good independent local butcher and get them to help you
each piece of meat will cost more, but you should be able to check provenance to get 'happy meat'
and they will be able to help you and the kids choose things you are all happy to try.

So turkey is ok in meatballs but not as a burger? What's the difference? When I say 'burger' I kind of mean a meatball that I have squashed flat - so a toddler sized burger rather than something more substantial.

I had a fab butcher in London who would cut all the fat off the meat for me, mince chicken breasts etc. We have moved to Durham now and I don't have a local butcher - or at least not one who is very helpful!

Does anyone have a recipe for lamb in tomato sauce that I could use with pasta?

Meatballs tend to cook slowly in the sauce, or be made from cooked meat - basically poultry has to be cooked right right through.

Lamb in tomato sauce ....
www.bbc.co.uk/food/lamb_mince

Burchers in Durham
www.cityvisitor.co.uk/durham/butchers.html
no idea which one might be right for you - but look for a range in age of staff and well prepared show of bits of meat (stuffed chicken parcels etc) and a range of home made sausages (which means they are cutting themselves rather than buying in)