Photo:Igor Savkin Choosing a lamb First of all, let's define the concepts. If you decide to cook a steamed leg of lamb, say, for the New Year, and not for Easter, then you shouldn't even dream of a young lamb. The fact is that lambs are born after five months of pregnancy only at the beginning of the year. Here, in the Northern Hemisphere, this usually happens in January – March, and in northern countries - closer to spring, which helps babies to avoid the harsh winter conditions. In the Southern Hemisphere, the cycle is naturally reversed, so that lambs are born in Australia and New Zealand starting in September. Therefore, milk lamb meat is a purely seasonal product. This means that the choice is not great: either you accept that the leg of lamb bought on the market is about a year, two or even three (which, by the way, is very good - lamb meat remains tender and tasty until three years old), or you are looking for an Australian chilled lamb two to three months old (excellent, but expensive), or buy frozen leg without age. The defrosting technique is well known to all of us, not spoiled by steamed meat: on the lower shelf of the refrigerator, preferably in pieces of 450 g, for 5 hours or at room temperature for about 2 hours. As a last resort, if time is running out completely, you can put the meat under a stream of cold water, but this "rush" will certainly affect the taste. What kind of meat to prefer - young or adult? No one will definitely answer this question. Some prefer the most tender milk lamb, others like the more characteristic meat of one-year-old lambs, and still others give their heart to ripe lamb with an established taste. The French, for example, value lamb for its richness and brightness, but you won't find any more sheep over two years old in gourmet stores. Lamb from Pauillac is considered one of the best in France - now you can also find it in our stores. The French call the leg of lamb a beautiful and musical word "gigot", apparently because of the similarity with the medieval stringed bowed instrument "gigue". The connection between food and music is symbolic - after all, we are getting ready for the holiday! The lamb leg is usually cooked whole with the bone. If you have a "manche-a-gigot" lying around in your kitchen cabinet - a special device that savvy Frenchmen came up with for the convenience of cutting a finished leg, then screwing it to the bone will be more convenient if you cut the meat on the shin bone with a knife and saw it off a little higher joint. In addition, the leg without the pelvic bone will be easier to cut into thin slices.
Mutton recipes Mutton fat - not the mosttasty in the leg, so its better to cut clusters. The dish will not have a specific lamb flavor if there are no films, no excess fat, or veins on the surface of the meat. Those who are concerned about the unpleasant smell of lamb, you just need to remember that in the world there are seasonings and spices. Any herbs from the family of Labiaceae - thyme (aka thyme), savory, marjoram and oregano, combine well with lamb. Try crushing dried herbs in a mortar with salt, pepper and a head of garlic, add a drop of white wine, mix and rub your leg with this spicy paste - not bad at all. Well in harmony with lamb and quite a sharp smell of rosemary, unless, of course, this grass is not too carried away. The French, preparing one of the traditional dishes of gigou with a pisto, cut the leg of the lamb to the bone, fill the notch pistou (with a mixture of garlic, basil, parsley and bacon), sew the edges, smear with butter and bake in the oven. As a side dish for such a dish is usually served chips, and the leg is decorated with sprigs of rosemary. In the province of Bordeaux, Gigot Bordeaux is made differently — they are stuffed with bacon and anchovy fillets, first rolled them in parsley, pounded with garlic and onion, and then tied with a string, fried then another half hour stew in wine. The finished leg is cut and served with vegetables or potatoes. By the way, the great chef Alain Dukas advises with garlic to be more careful. He never stuffs mutton with them, but rubs the head of garlic, puts it in good olive oil, withstands it for two days, rubs it with herbs, of which thyme and savory (and not rosemary) consider the most important, and only after that does it bake the oven. But the British served lamb leg with mint sauce, which has obvious oriental roots. Continental Europeans in this predilection are not seen, for example, the French use this herb extremely rarely, but the British have mint sauce and mint jelly - the classic accompaniment of lamb and lamb. It is possible that the English seasoning should be added to us, the benefit of mint from us is more than enough, and by the way, it perfectly discourages the taste of mutton fat. It's easy to make such a sauce - dissolve a couple of tablespoons of sugar in four tablespoons of boiling water, cool the syrup; 50 finely chopped fresh mint leaves pour vinegar, wait a few minutes and add sugar syrup. If you bake a leg, such as garlic, rosemary and juniper berries, before baking, it will acquire the taste of deer meat and, accordingly, will be called “jigo” like hunting. By the way, vegetable oil will not interfere with which you can lubricate the leg from all sides (after marinating, naturally) - the oil will not only give me additional taste and aroma, but will also retain moisture during cooking.
Cooking leg
To achieve crisp crust, startbake in a very hot oven, then reduce the temperature. Mutton baking time is indicated in all cooking textbooks - juicy pink meat will turn out in an oven heated to 230 ° C, if the total cooking time is 20 minutes per kilogram of weight (multiply by 4-5 kg the approximate weight of a standard leg of lamb). If you prefer meat with blood, you can reduce the time to 12-15 minutes. And, finally, if you do not like raw meat, increase the time to 40–45 minutes per kilogram, only a few minutes after 5–10 lower the temperature a little - 180 ° C will be quite enough. If the meat starts to burn, just cover it with foil so that the air circulates freely (but do not wrap the lamb in foil - the meat will not be fried, but stewed). Remember one thing - in no case is it recommended to overcook lamb meat, to this account there is a saying: “Eat beef with blood, and lamb - bleating”. Readiness of meat is checked by piercing with a fork and pressing: if red juice is released, it means that the meat is still raw, if it is light, it can be served on the table. And do not forget to water your foot every 10–15 minutes with exuded juice so that its surface remains wet all the time. If the juice is not enough, you can pour a little hot broth or water. By the way, the lamb's leg is not always baked — for example, the same French cooks it often (in Normandy — in vegetable broth with calvados) or stews — this is how the famous seven-hour gigot is prepared, so soft that you can eat it with a spoon. By the way, what is not an option?
And now - we serve
Do not immediately grab the knife! It is necessary to hold the prepared leg for half an hour in a warm place - for example, wrap it in foil and put it in the switched off oven with the door ajar. Cooks say that juices are distributed over meat flesh evenly and do not flow when sliced. If you have a mansh-a-gigot in your arsenal, screw the device to the tibia stump (if not, just wrap the bone with a napkin or put a papillo on it so that it is more convenient to take it), lift the leg in a slightly inclined position, and cut the meat into thin slices with a sharp flexible knife almost parallel to the bone (some cooks evenly roast meat cut along the bone, and meat with blood - across and slightly obliquely). If you are unlucky and the butcher has cut off the tibia (and most often it happens), then you cannot do without a long cutting fork and wooden board. Claude Terrais, the owner of the famous Parisian restaurant "Silver Tower", likes to repeat: "When you cook a leg of lamb, please improvise!" How not to agree with him? Especially when it comes to the holiday table. Therefore, improvise, not only when cooking, but also when serving.
Deli board
A leg of lamb can be done without bones.In addition, a leg without bones can be stuffed. Another option is to spread it out and then fry it like a huge steak. And of course the leg can be cut into pieces - it is much easier to deal with them in a technical sense. Cooking a lamb leg entirely requires not so much imagination as accurate knowledge of technology, namely, how the weight of a piece relates to the time of its heat treatment. The weight of commercially available lamb legs varies quite a bit depending on the country of origin of the meat. So, New Zealand ones can weigh from 2 to 2.5 kg, and domestic ones - from 3.5 to 4. If the leg is large, that is, more than 3.2 kg, it must be cooked based on the ratio of 10-13 minutes for every 450 g weight. For a leg weighing up to 3.2 kg, the ratio is different: 8-9 minutes per 450 g. The recommended degree of roasting of a leg of lamb is medium. The leg of lamb contains three bones: the thigh, the drumstick, and the pelvic (also sometimes called the unnamed). If you plan to cook it whole, ask the butcher to remove the pelvic bone, so it will be easier to chop the cooked leg. If the butcher for some reason remains indifferent to your request, remove it yourself. Place your leg on a cutting board with your hipbone facing up. A small bony process in the shape of a sickle can stick out on the side of the leg - this is the caudal process. Cut it on all sides with a knife and break it off. The pelvic bone, as a rule, protrudes from the leg, it is large and has the shape of a lobe. Begin to release it by making cuts along the edge. In this case, the knife blade must be pressed against the bone. Continue until the joint shows up. Then the pelvic bone needs to be lifted up and bent back to the side of the leg. It is necessary to bend it until the spherical joint comes out. Cut the tendons around and inside the joint and then remove the pelvic bone. It is recommended to chop the cut meat with wooden skewers so that the leg cooks evenly. In addition to bones, the leg of lamb contains other inedible fragments: films and fat. It is they who give the lamb an unpleasant smell. You can remove them as follows. Take a knife and insert it under the layer of fat at the wide end of your leg. Moving the knife from side to side, look for the point where the fat is separated from the meat in a single piece. Grasp this fat flap with your hand and pull it upward, while cutting through the film that attaches the fat to the meat with a knife. Try to only touch the film with the knife, not the meat. Gently scrape off the remaining thin layer of fat while keeping the knife blade parallel to the meat. If the lamb is young, you can still leave a few strips of fat; if not, it is better to stuff the leg or put lard on it.
Lamb leg stewed with 40 cloves of garlic
- 10 servings
What do you need
- 1 prepared leg of lamb weighing up to 3 kg
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. mixes "Provencal herbs"
- extra virgin olive oil
- 40 unpeeled garlic cloves
- 8 sprigs of thyme
- 5 juniper berries
- 1 bottle of white dry wine
What to do Rub the leg with a mixture of salt, pepper andOlive herbs, grease with oil on all sides, cover the film loosely and put in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, get your foot out of the fridge, clean the solid marinade residues; Allow to warm to room temperature. Pour the oil in a refractory form with a layer of 2 cm, put on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the unpeeled garlic cloves, warm for 1 min. Place the leg in the roaster and fry it on all sides until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove the roaster from the fire, remove the meat and garlic, drain the fat, and, after cooling, wipe the pan slightly and dry it. Then put 4 thyme sprigs and half garlic cloves on the bottom of the roaster. Place a leg of lamb on top, scatter the remaining thyme and rosemary, garlic cloves and juniper berries around it. Pour the wine so that it covers the meat with a layer of at least 1 cm. Cover the roaster with a lid. Put in the oven, preheated to 130 ° C. Cook for 6 hours. Tip Lamb leg can be stewed not only in white wine, but also in red. Stronger drinks work well - dry and not very sherry, rum mixed with the same lamb broth and even brandy. Juniper gives the dish a specific game flavor, and if you don’t like it, just don’t put it on.
Baked Lamb Leg
- 10 servings
What do you need
- 1 prepared leg of lamb weighing over 3.2 kg
- 1 tbsp. l freshly ground black pepper
- 2 small chili peppers
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 small sprigs of rosemary
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 3 tbsp. l extra virgin olive oil
What to do Stir black pepper with salt;rub the wide part of the leg (open part of the cut) half of the mixture. Peel the garlic, cut into long strips. Just chop the chili. Rosemary disassembled into leaves. In the meat, make 15–25 cuts with a knife about 1.5 cm deep and fill them with strips of garlic, chili and rosemary leaves. Grate the meat with oil and the remaining spices. Heat the oven to 230 ° C. In a refractory chafing dish, put the grate and put the leg on it with the fleshy side up. Put the mold in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 160 ° C. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, depending on the size and desired degree of roasting. Wrap the prepared leg in foil and leave for 20 minutes. Tip The best way to determine the readiness of a large piece of meat is to use a special thermometer. It should be inserted into the thickest part of the preparing piece and leave for 5–6 minutes. In the case of a leg of lamb, a temperature of 51–54 ° C means that the lamb has reached the average degree of roasting with blood (in our opinion, this is exactly what is needed); 57–63 ° C - medium degree of roasting. Higher temperatures do not mean, of course, that the meat is gone, but its best taste, alas, will be lost.
