Do I roast leg of lamb differently when shank is still attached?
I am going to avoid using the terms american or frenched because I don't fully understand what they mean.
But I am going to be roasting a full leg of lamb, including the shank. Most of the recipies I am looking at don't really make any distinction, they just say leg of lamb. In general, do I need to prepare anything differently when I am roasting a full leg of lamb vs just the upper part of the leg?
Best Answer
Lamb shank (lower leg) is best served by long, slow cooking. (It is my favorite cut of lamb.) The upper leg is, in my opinion, best roasted until just pink, although it does not suffer unduly from longer and slower cooking than does, e.g., its beef counterpart. BBC Food, e.g., has a couple of brief discussions on shank and leg.
The trick with cooking both together is to marry the times and temperatures so that both are at their best. My suggestion (I have not tried this) would be long and slow braising with both, then, when the shank completes, remove the shank and liquid and finish off the leg at a higher than normal roasting temperature to give it a nice surface. I don't think it will quite the pinkness I like, but it should still be a tasty meal.
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Which way do you roast a leg of lamb?
Place the lamb, fat side up, on a rack set in a roasting pan; spread garlic paste all over lamb. Roast in oven until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 135 degrees, for medium rare, about 2 hours.Do you roast leg of lamb fat side up or down?
If it's ridiculously thick, you can take some of it off. (OR, cut shallow cross hashes in the fat layer\u2013NOT so deep that you go down into the meat\u2013so that it renders faster.) But I always leave a layer on and roast it fat side UP. This helps keep the meat moist, and bastes it as it cooks.Should lamb shanks be trimmed?
In order to get juicy, tender meat, make sure to trim the 'silverskin' from the lamb shanks \u2013 this is the white, silvery skin on the outside of the meat. If your shank is particularly fatty, be sure to remove any excess fat too.What is the difference between lamb shank and leg of lamb?
Leg of Lamb. It is easy to confuse a lamb shank with a bone-in leg of lamb because they both come from the lamb's legs. The difference is that lamb shank is the portion just above the knee and usually contains less meat and more sinewy fibers than a leg of lamb which is adjacent to the sirloin and flank cuts.How to Cook a Leg of Lamb | Jamie Oliver
More answers regarding do I roast leg of lamb differently when shank is still attached?
Answer 2
No, just carry on as normal. If you find the 'shank' over cooking, cover it with tin foil.
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