In a culinary landscape of nearly limitless choice, we can find pretty much any ingredient we want, whatever the season. That said, many Southern chefs make a point of marking spring by putting lamb on their menus. “I still think most everything is better in its season,” says Stephen Wynne, sous chef of 1799 restaurant at the Clifton, a historic boutique hotel on one hundred bucolic acres just outside Charlottesville, Virginia. “It’s like how store-bought strawberries just aren’t as good in the winter. Same thing with lamb—what you get in springtime is so far superior.”
While lamb has a reputation as a special-occasion meal, Wynn contends that home cooks can easily cook it to desired doneness. “Lamb chops are even more manageable than pork,” he says. “Then, when you put those pretty chops on a plate, they brighten everything up.” Just like spring.
