How to achieve fall-off-the-bone lamb with browned bits in oven? [duplicate]
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I am trying to replicate a method to cook lamb I experienced in a North African restaurant in Paris. The dish was called "mechoui" (which is a whole-hog ... hmm... lamb outdoor roasting tradition), but when I asked the chef he said all he did was cook the lamb pieces at 300F (180C) for 1hr in the oven with no fat, just some coarse salt.
The lamb (typically a sub section of lamb shoulder with some bone) was served just about fall of the bone tender, with plenty of delicious browned bits. It was clearly roasted and not braised.
Each time I have tried to replicate this I end up with a messy & disappointing situation: plenty of liquid released in the pan, no browning, and tough meat.
What would people recommend?
Best Answer
That temperature is fine, but is never, ever going to produce “fall off the bone” in one hour. That requires hydrolysis of collagen into gelatin, which takes significantly longer. It’s possible the chef was describing how he finished the lamb, after a longer (and possibly wetter) cook at a lower temperature.
Don’t worry too much about losing liquid. That is absolutely going to happen with long, slow cooking, even if you’re boiling the meat. The “moistness” of long-roasted meat comes from rendered gelatin, not from hoarding the juices. With very long dry cooking you do run some risk of drying out (this will manifest as a thick dry 'bark' on the meat, not as dryness throughout), but just tenting the meat with foil should avoid that.
Try three hours at 180, covering with foil until the last half hour. This will probably produce more fall-off-the-bone than you'd like, but it's a good starting point.
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At what temperature does lamb fall off the bone?
Best Temperatures to Cook It Here are the best temperatures to cook: For a 7-9 lb. leg of lamb at a medium internal temperature of 135\xb0 F <-> Cook at 350\xb0 for 15-20 minutes per pound. For fall off the bone internal temperature of 203\xb0 to 205\xb0 <-> Cook at 325\xb0 for 45-50 minutes per pound.How do you get lamb off the bone?
Run the tip of your knife under the bone and cut back toward one of the joints. When you get to the joint, cut around it and loosen it from the meat. Now take your knife and repeat in the other direction until you reach the other joint. Cut around it and remove the bone.How long do you cook lamb for?
Half leg, whole leg, boneless leg and part-boned shoulderDoes lamb take longer to cook on bone?
Bone-in can be more flavorful but trickier to slice and serve. It also takes longer to cook. Boneless does have a quicker roasting time and is easy to carve, but this cut might be more expensive.Easy, Fall-Off-The-Bone Oven Baked Ribs Recipe / Pork Ribs
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