Roast lamb with saffron honey | Bibbyskitchen recipes (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep lamb moist when roasting? ›

For lamb that oozes exquisite scrumptiousness you should baste your meat every 15 minutes while it is cooking in the oven. Basting is when you pour the juices and fat that have escaped from the meat back over the meat to keep it moist and add flavour.

For the perfect roast lamb, we recommend seasoning the surface of the meat, and then searing it, especially fat side down in a pan before roasting. Why bother with searing? Contrary to some stories, searing is less about locking in moisture, and all about improving the flavour!

Roast lamb should be served pink in the middle. If overcooked, it is dry, chewy and unpleasant. To decrease the cooking time, you can ask your butcher to remove the bone running down the middle of the leg, a technique known as butterflying.

Slow-cooking lamb

Slow cooking in liquid transforms tougher cuts of lamb into fork-tender meat. Neck, shoulder and belly, either diced or as whole joints, are the best cuts for slow cooking and need to be cooked for at least 2 hrs at 150C to soften the meat.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place lamb in a roasting dish fat side up and season well. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes per 500g basting occasionally or until internal temperature is 55°C for rare, 60°C for medium rare or 65°C for medium.

The USDA recommends cooking roasts to 145 degrees F. Avoid cooking your lamb beyond this temperature as the meat can become dried out and tough.

Fattier cuts of lamb should be roasted long and slow at a low temperature, while leaner cuts of meat should be cooked at a high temperature for the first several minutes and then at a lower temperature the rest of the time. Braising is a popular technique for cooking less-tender cuts of lamb.

Lower temp = more succulent meat – Tough cuts like lamb shoulder need slow-cooking to tenderise them. The lower the roasting temperature, the less total moisture evaporation and thus juicier meat. 3-hour lamb is cooked at 180°C/350°F, while the 12 hour lamb is cooked at only 100°C/212°F.

Before you begin the cooking process, be sure to remove your lamb from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. This helps to ensure that the lamb cooks evenly and that you get an accurate temperature reading.

Fresh rosemary, fresh garlic, lemon zest, black pepper, and salt are simple but amazing flavors that pair amazingly with the lamb! Each of these ingredients adds its unique warmth and depth to enhance the flavor of the dish.

Why was my roast lamb chewy? ›

Cooking It When Its Too Cold

However, this adjustment often results in unevenly cooked meat with a cold, chewy inside and a tough, burnt outside. Instead, let the lamb come to room temperature for about an hour or two, so you have a much easier time cooking the meat evenly.

Leg of Lamb on Bone

It is a spectacular roast to look at, and is full of flavour. You will want to wrap the Lamb loosely in foil for the first 20 minutes in the oven, then remove the foil and cook for the rest of the remaining time.

Tenderising lamb meat

Baking soda / bi-carb and cornflour/cornstarch are the secret ingredients that tenderise the lamb meat.

Whether boneless or bone-in, the perfect leg of lamb should be either oven-roasted until blushing pink on the inside (with an internal temp around 130°F) or roasted long and slow for several hours until the meat is very tender and falls apart to internal temp around 175°F (I often use the slow cooker for that).

Add beef broth/stock and water into the pan (keeps everything all nice and moist + makes pan juices for gravy), cover then slow roast for 5 hours until tender and fall apart. For an incredible hands-off version of this slow roast leg of lamb, try the Slow Cooker Roast Lamb!

Lower temp = more succulent meat – Tough cuts like lamb shoulder need slow-cooking to tenderise them. The lower the roasting temperature, the less total moisture evaporation and thus juicier meat. 3-hour lamb is cooked at 180°C/350°F, while the 12 hour lamb is cooked at only 100°C/212°F.

Baste meat every 30 minutes while it cooks to keep it moist.

This should help keep it from drying out and make it more flavorful. This is especially helpful for larger selections of meat, like roasts, but you can also use it on steak, pork chops, or even a simple chicken breast.

When cooking a roast in the oven, keep it uncovered until roasted to the desired doneness. After removing from the oven, tent with foil and let stand 15 minutes before carving. This allows the juices to redistribute, preventing them from draining out during carving—and preventing dry, disappointing meat.

Some cuts of Lamb are good for quick-cooking on the grill, but others do much better with a low-and-slow braise or roast. OVERCOOKING THE LAMB. The more you cook it, the more it dries out. Scientifically speaking, meat fibers contain water and connective tissue that turns into gelatin as the meat cooks.