I accidentally purchased a large 11-12 lb bone-in lamb leg (I thought I bought a medium size one, but clicked the wrong link). It will arrive from the online vendor next week and I am emptying my fridge to store it.
I have no prior experience with whole lamb legs or large cuts as such and would appreciate your help. My questions:
I see that some recipes call for wrapping the leg in cotton netting and some don’t. What should I do? I don’t even know what size of cotton netting I will need for such a large cut.
I have a tiny family and for sure there will be lots of leftovers. I prefer medium-rare lamb. Will medium-rare meat stay well in the freezer and in the fridge, assuming I eat it soon? I don’t want to get food poisoned, but don’t want to eat overcooked red meat either.
Can you provide tips about how to cook it so that the whole leg gets cooked as evenly as possible? I am worried that the outside will get overcooked while the innermost part is rare.
Shall I roast it on a rack or on a roast pan? I don’t have a V-shaped rack but a flat rack with holes.
Well, if you could cook it sous-vide, that would solve the temperature problem. If that is not possible, you could cut out the bones (not that difficult, if you go slowly, with a sharp knife) and then cook part of it and freeze the rest. Otherwise you could cook the whole leg in a moderate oven, say 300℉, until it reaches your preferred temperature, and then cut it into portions. One to serve, the rest to freeze.
For a tiny family you’ve certainly got your work cut out for you. I agree that you should bone it as best as you can. Cook some and freeze the rest in portions. Since you don’t have a saw, hopefully someone will come along and let you know what to do with the bone.
I would hope to be able to bone it first and divide it into reasonable-sized parts, and freeze the separate parts raw. Freezing after cooking is not as nice.
What was your plan for the size of lamb leg you wanted? I think that should guide what you do here.
If you were going to cook and then enjoy over a few days, I’d just do the same thing. You can portion and freeze the extra after it’s cooked (cook to rare, that way when you reheat frozen portions, they won’t be overcooked).
Low and slow is relatively foolproof - the size will just affect the time it takes, so plan accordingly.
However the larger piece gives you other options too - you can remove enough meat to get to your desired roast size. Use the carved-off pieces for something different - a nice stew or lamb curry maybe?
I thought this link had some good illustrations of deboning:
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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Now, that’s a very big leg. The ones sold by my butcher are about 3kg (6 - 7 pounds). Makes me wonder if it is actually lamb or a larger sheep (so, hogget or nmutton).
For the two of us, we usually buy a half leg (about 1 - 1.5kg) and it does us for a roast dinner with a fair amount of leftovers. We portion leftovers and freeze for later use as, say, sharwama, shepherds pie, or warmed up in a tangy BBQ-esque sauce. It warms up well, IMO.
I think it might be tricky roasting the full leg and keeping it medium rare (which is about the amount of doneness you want with lamb). I don’t understand the cotton netting. Never seen that and am unsure what it’s purpose could be. I think if I had a leg this size, I’d completely debone it and portion it into usable sizes. Roast one piece now and freeze the remainder for future roasts or other dishes.
See yours and raise you two…“Lady Takes a Chance”, 1943 John Wayne movie in which Jean Arthur tries to woo cowboy Wayne by cooking him dinner. Lamb chops. Wayne is not amused.
I’ll call. I’ve got “In Harm’s Way” from 1965 with Patricia Neal slapping around a hunk of cow she’s about to cook for Captain Rockwell “Rock” Torrey aka John Wayne, who later became a Rear Admiral.
It’s a great WWII movie, the casualty rate of the stars is high with Kirk Douglas, the Penguin from “Batman” TV, Brandon De Wilde, the young nurse, and Archie Bunker among others not making it to the end of the film.
The Duke gets off luckily. He loses a leg but ends up with Patricia Neal.
I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.
I agree that you should bone it as best as you can. Cook some and freeze the rest in portions. Since you don’t have a saw, hopefully someone will come along and let you know what to do with the bone.
