We ate the evidence. Sorry, no photos of the crime scene. It’s not all ‘erased’, but there’s not enough left for a second meal. My experiment with the Jordan Lamb Shoulder Bone In was a success, and my family devoured their dinner!
I let the shoulder, which was about 3lbs??, slow cook from about 1pm to 6pm. No opening the foil. No peeking. I had called it a huge chunk of meat in my last post, and compared to what I usually cook (maybe 1/2 kilo of meat at a time, and I expect leftovers) it was huge!, but it was actually the smallest piece they had at the butcher shop at Carrefour. Their meats looked really nice the other day and I bought a lot more than I usually do, plus this shoulder, when shopping there – my freezer is happy now. I didn’t check the temp of the meat for doneness as I had no idea what to look for. I figured it had been slow cooking at 275F long enough to be good. I opened the foil and checked it the old fashioned way.. I stuck a knife in it. It was like slicing butter with a light saber! (but, without that loud sizzling “SSST!” noise that I imagine a light saber would make). No resistance. Wow. I took some basic BBQ sauce, brushed the top of the meat, and cooked it (open foil) again at high temp (450F) for about 10minutes to finish it off.
About an hour before the meat was done, I wrapped whole potatoes in foil packets with sliced onion, minced fresh garlic, and a pat of butter, and popped them in the oven with the shoulder. That was a perfect amount of time, and the butter and things gave the outside of the potato a lovely flavor. I also warmed up some leftover green beans, and made a fresh salad… but we never touched those! Everyone filled up on lamb, bread and potatoes!
I saw a few notes online about the difficulties of carving a lamb shoulder… um… maybe because it’s impossible to carve something that falls apart at the merest touch? I didn’t carve, I just scooped the meat off with a couple of forks! The remaining fatty bits… because it is fatty meat(!).. were easily shoved off to the side (we didn’t like the taste of the fatty bits, which is probably a good thing - yes, we did have to try it!) and the bare bones simply fell out. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender, juicy, and verrrrry delicious! I had picked up a fresh french loaf at the bakery and it was a great match for the meat and potatoes. (Is it just me, or has the bakery at Carrefour improved to an astonishing degree???)
It wasn’t a ‘cheap’ meal, but at 19JD/28$ for the meat, plus bread and potatoes, it was like taking the family out to a moderately priced restaurant. Good for a treat, but not every day… not that I think it’d be all that healthy anyway! It is a high fat meat, and with all of the bread and potatoes, we stuffed our selves and skipped our veggies! Naughty! But it was yummy, and actually a very easy dish to prepare. I’ll file this one with the corned beef… corned beef is also fatty goodness, with scads of tasty saltiness for extra decadent indulgence. I only fix that, maybe, once or twice a year, if that (it’s hard to find!), so I can see doing the same with this meat. Then again, there are probably other recipes I need to try it with before I set restrictions… !!
I let the shoulder, which was about 3lbs??, slow cook from about 1pm to 6pm. No opening the foil. No peeking. I had called it a huge chunk of meat in my last post, and compared to what I usually cook (maybe 1/2 kilo of meat at a time, and I expect leftovers) it was huge!, but it was actually the smallest piece they had at the butcher shop at Carrefour. Their meats looked really nice the other day and I bought a lot more than I usually do, plus this shoulder, when shopping there – my freezer is happy now. I didn’t check the temp of the meat for doneness as I had no idea what to look for. I figured it had been slow cooking at 275F long enough to be good. I opened the foil and checked it the old fashioned way.. I stuck a knife in it. It was like slicing butter with a light saber! (but, without that loud sizzling “SSST!” noise that I imagine a light saber would make). No resistance. Wow. I took some basic BBQ sauce, brushed the top of the meat, and cooked it (open foil) again at high temp (450F) for about 10minutes to finish it off.
About an hour before the meat was done, I wrapped whole potatoes in foil packets with sliced onion, minced fresh garlic, and a pat of butter, and popped them in the oven with the shoulder. That was a perfect amount of time, and the butter and things gave the outside of the potato a lovely flavor. I also warmed up some leftover green beans, and made a fresh salad… but we never touched those! Everyone filled up on lamb, bread and potatoes!
I saw a few notes online about the difficulties of carving a lamb shoulder… um… maybe because it’s impossible to carve something that falls apart at the merest touch? I didn’t carve, I just scooped the meat off with a couple of forks! The remaining fatty bits… because it is fatty meat(!).. were easily shoved off to the side (we didn’t like the taste of the fatty bits, which is probably a good thing - yes, we did have to try it!) and the bare bones simply fell out. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender, juicy, and verrrrry delicious! I had picked up a fresh french loaf at the bakery and it was a great match for the meat and potatoes. (Is it just me, or has the bakery at Carrefour improved to an astonishing degree???)
It wasn’t a ‘cheap’ meal, but at 19JD/28$ for the meat, plus bread and potatoes, it was like taking the family out to a moderately priced restaurant. Good for a treat, but not every day… not that I think it’d be all that healthy anyway! It is a high fat meat, and with all of the bread and potatoes, we stuffed our selves and skipped our veggies! Naughty! But it was yummy, and actually a very easy dish to prepare. I’ll file this one with the corned beef… corned beef is also fatty goodness, with scads of tasty saltiness for extra decadent indulgence. I only fix that, maybe, once or twice a year, if that (it’s hard to find!), so I can see doing the same with this meat. Then again, there are probably other recipes I need to try it with before I set restrictions… !!
1 comment:
Glad it was so good. I'll have to try some rosemary on my lamb next time I cook it -- and barbecue sauce!
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