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Joined: Oct 2009
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My local grocery store had a fantastic sale on Australian lamb last week, so I went nuts and basically cleared out their entire stock. Included in my haul were two whole legs, which is just about my favorite cut.
I decided to make one of them this past weekend, and do it up Old School. I went back to the year 1966, to my copy of "The Graham Kerr Cookbook, by The Galloping Gourmet".
For those of you who have only seen Mr. Kerr's TV programs or books of the last 20 years, those are nothing like what he USED to be. Before becoming a low-calorie, no-alcohol, healthy living proponent, he was a swashbuckling bon vivant young TV chef who cooked with meat and booze in abundance - usually imbibing a fair amount on-air as he did so. And his stuff looked GORGEOUS.
But the important thing for me this time was: he was a Scotsman who cooked in English hotels before moving to New Zealand then Australia to do more. I figured if Graham was a whopping success at each of THOSE locations, he must REALLY know lamb.
I wasn't disappointed. His recipe for leg of lamb was spectacularly simple, but it also produced spectacular results. If you ever want a no-fuss recipe that brings out the pure, sweet, unsullied flavor of lamb, I suggest you try this long-forgotten gem:
The Galloping Gourmet's Roast Leg of Lamb
(directly quoting from the book here)
Comment on Method: In accordance with ancient tradition, many gourmet authors and leading chefs prefer to cook their roasts at a high initial temperature and then reduce the heat to roughly 400 degrees (f). I am not a traditionalist. It has been proven time and time again that a stable temperature of 300 - 325 degrees throughout cookery produces a tender, succulent, and above all economic result. The time has now gone when we can afford to let such expensive meat cuts evaporate.
Ingredients:
A 5-6 lb. leg of lamb
2 garlic cloves
salt
pepper
flour
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
1. Peel garlic cloves and cut into thin slivers
2. Dry meat with clean cloth
3. Pierce the leg all around with a small knife and insert slivers of garlic
4. Rub the leg well with salt and ground pepper, then dust it all over with flour.
5. Place the joint directly on the rungs of your oven shelf with a roasting dish on the shelf underneath. In this way you get all-round circulation of hot air, and it definitely improves the quality. Always put joint in fat side uppermost. Roast for approximately 30 minutes per pound until an internal temperature of 168 degrees is reached.
(in other words, do not put the leg in a roasting pan, cookie sheet, or container of any sort. Lay it right on the bars of the oven rack. The pan underneath catches rendered fat.)
6. Unless the joint is very lean do not baste during cookery. You can also add vegetable to the roasting pan to cook along with the meat, and fit a lot in there as well.
7. Take the leg out and let rest for at least a half an hour before slicing.
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That's it! It was so simple, and so good. The flour dusting gave a slight crust that not only added texture but also kept a lot of the juices in. And he's right: cooking it on low heat right on the rack made for a very even roast.
BTW, in my roasting pan underneath I piled Russet potato wedges that I tossed in a tiny bit of olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. I knew there would be fat dripping down from the roast, so I used less oil than I normally would. And when there was about an hour left to go I added whole small carrots and whole mushrooms. They all glazed and roasted wonderfully.
While the lamb was resting I removed the veggies from the pan, partially degreased it, and added flour to make a roux. Then I deglazed with red wine, added stock and a little thyme, and made a quick sauce. Finish it with a nob of butter, a scrape of nutmeg and a small shot of red wine vinegar (just a French chef tip from my youth.)
Finally, red Burgundy and Bordeaux are THE classic match with lamb. I didn't have any ready to open, but I did have a nice inexpensive Spanish red that went smashingly with it. As Graham would say.
:)
Oh ewe.
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Sherpat
10-29-2009 @ 9:56 AM