I wanted a leg to roast, studded with garlic and rosemary, but they only had a shoulder
What's the chance I can roast it and it won't turn out tough or do I have to slowly cook it, I keep reading that it will take 4 hours to cook...I really wanted my lamb leg lol
Any suggestions, I need to try and marinate it tonight?
Thanks.
I love shoulder. In fact I think I like it better than leg. It's certainly more tasty and succulent as it has a little more (but not too much)fat.
Unless it was a VERY big sheep or you're going to roast it slowly, 4 hours seems a bit excessive to me.
What I do is bone it (or get the butcher to do that for you. It's not essential but makes it easier to carve when it's off the bone) You can either ask him to roll and tie it or you can take it home and stuff it and roll and tie it your self. Weigh it before cooking (if stuffing it weigh after the stuffing and rolling.) I like an apricot and herb stuffing in lamb but you probably have your own favourite recipe
I like to make little slits in the meat and ease in slivers of garlic or rosemary (or both). I like to roast mine in an open dish, not a covered one, for 15 minutes at 425F then turn down to 350F for the rest of the time worked out on the weight of the piece of meat - 25minutes per lb (including the first 15 minutes) if you like it medium or 30mins per lb if you like it well done. (I like my lamb pink so usually cook for 20mins to the lb)Let it stand for 15 minutes to rest when you take it out of the oven and it should be succulent and delicious.
In summer I like to serve mint sauce with lamb - It's a thin sauce used as a condiment rather than poured all over the shoulder of lamb - Strip the mint leaves off a bunch of fresh mint, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and chop finely. Place into a jug, add the a level tablespoon of sugar and pour over 4tablespoons boiling water, stir and leave to cool. Stir in 4 tablespoons vinegar and taste. Add more water or vinegar and adjust seasoning to suit your taste. The slight sharpness of the mint sauce goes well with the richness of the lamb.
In winter when there isn't any mint in the garden, a lot of people in Britain have a pour on onion sauce with lamb. Sweat chopped up onions in butter with salt and pepper, without browning. When soft add a spoonful of plain (or AP) flour and cook without browning, stirring all the time as if making
a roux, add milk gradually (you are making a béchamel sauce) still stirring. When the sauce is smooth cook on low heat, still stirring, until the sauce thickens and there is no floury taste left. This doesn't take long and you can do it while the meat is standing. It's SO much better than any sauce you can get in a packet and it's so easy to do.
That's the way I do it anyway. Others may have other ideas. You can braise it if you like but with the young lamb we get here it isn't really necessary.