A buddy of mine bought some sheep last year at an Amish auction. Unbeknownst to him, the ewes were pregnant. He offered me a lamb, and I gladly accepted.
A week or two ago he asked if I’d give him a hand with slaughter. He worked in a slaughterhouse as a youngster, and was a butcher for a part of his life. The slaughter went without a hitch, although he had watched these eight lambs be born and cared for them daily, and he was surprisingly touched.
He allowed them to hang for a little over a week, then I came back and picked one for myself and he butchered it. Beautiful legs of lamb, chops, shanks, various roasts, etc. I brought home the scrap and bones and made broth, letting it simmer overnight.
Question So, the leg of lamb is “bone-in”, while all the recipes I’ve used call for boneless.
What should I do??
ETA: by that I mean, should I roast it bone-in, or debone and roast? Are there pros/cons?
If you can get a hold of a copy of the cookbook *Julia Child and Company, * she has a recipe in there for a grilled butterflied leg of lamb and has nice clear instructions (with photos) of deboning the leg.
Please let me know what time to show up for dinner.
Use the drippings to roast some veg like potatoes, onion, carrot, and celery (lots of salt, pepper and rosemary and a good pinch of sugar).
People rave about stuff fried in dick fat but lamb fat is WAY better in my opinion. It really is heaven.
For all that is good and holy, leave the bone in when you roast the leg.
You don’t really need a ‘recipe’ to do a lamb roast. I’m a bit old fashioned in that I like my lamb medium, in which case, put it in the oven at 180-200 degrees (Celsius that is), for 30 minutes per 500 grams.
If you prefer the new-fangled way of cooking lamb to still be red in the middle, just make it for 20 mins per 500 grams.
For a bit of seasoning, I have a herb blend of Rosemary, Garlic, Marjoram, Thyme, Oregano, Mint, Basil that I liberally sprinkle on the roast before it goes in the oven.
Sorry, you’ll need to convert those weights and temp’s to USA’ian yourself
The legs I’ve roasted have been bone-in. I’m super lazy, though, and mine come frozen from the farmer. I cook them directly from frozen at 225F for an hour per pound, so I can’t really give you a non-frozen time. Just came in to wish you happy eating, I love lamb.
No kidding. My guys get no table scraps, so they have no interest in my food. Even if I try to give them some these days, they just sniff it with curiosity and then walk away! Even if I did give them leftovers and such, though, not the lamb!
Though I did have one cat who couldn’t control himself around shrimp, and would snatch it right out of my hand if I wasn’t paying attention. I miss him dearly.
