SC - Easter Dinner

[Alderton, Philippa]

Laurene skrev:

>so I
>bought the first "Leg of Lamb" that I have ever bought, and we are having
>this for Easter dinner tonight.  I just put it on the stove in my deep Cast
>Iron pot (like a Dutch Oven only with a handle, I don't know what it is
>really called)

If it's what I'm thinking of, it's usually called a chicken fryer- it allows
you to cook fried chicken deeper in the oil than a standard frying pan does,
and, being cast iron, helps retain the heat so you get fewer temperature
variations. One of the tricks to fried chicken is keeping it and the oil
hot, so it doesn't get greasy.

 >and put a skillet over the top for a lid because the roast
>stuck up too high for the regular lid.
>    I looked in all the recipe books for Leg Of Lamb recipes and all of
>them called for wine.  I don't have any wine, and the stores are all closed
>today.

The wine is used to cut the fat a bit.

 >I didn't have any grape juice either.  Or apple juice.  And I
>thought that much Huckleberry Vinegar would be WAY too strong, not to
>mention expensive.  So... I used Orange Juice (thinking the flavor of lamb
>is kinda strong like duck, so maybe the orange would work with mutton just
>as well).

Actually, the problem many folks have with lamb or mutton, is that the
flavor is not so much strong, as different, just as beef and venison are
different from pork.

> I don't kow if they had oranges at the time of Christ in Israel,
>but ... well, I wasn't real confident in using plain water so I used the
>juice.

Good choice, if untraditional.

>he spices I added were Fennel, Mint, Fenugreek, and little White
>Pepper.  And salt.  Hope I didn't ruin the lamb!!!  Now I will let it cook
>a few hours and see how it turns out.  Probably have dinner about 5 or 6
>tonight.

Leg of Lamb, if you got reasonably decent lamb, is actually a meat at its
best when roasted, rather than boiled or braised. Unless it's badly
over-cooked, it is a very tender, lovely roast meat. The reason that many
folks have a problem with it, as near as I've been able to figure, is that
they over-cook it, or have only had it over-cooked, into shoe-leather. This
also tends to burn the fat, which also makes its distinct flavor stronger,
with definite overtones of burned ;-)

However, if I've read your intentions right, you have managed to cook it in
such a manner, that it will be very good, if not at its best- the reason
being, that while you'll be over-cooking it, you're also replacing the lost
moisture, so you shouldn't be winding up with over-priced shoe-leather.

The traditional spices/herbs to be used with lamb are mint, garlic, and
rosemary, and to truly be at its best, it should be cooked about medium
rare. Obviously, not everyone likes medium rare meat, and again, the flavor
of lamb is different, rather than strong. One of the tricks I've used for
ameliorating the lamb taste for those who aren't fans of it, is to remove
all surface fat, and replacing it with bacon, so that it stays moist, but
with a more familiar flavor- I also do the same sort of thing with venison
and pheasant.

Don't mistake, btw, the flavor of lamb, with that of mutton- the flavor of
mutton, being the mature animal, is much stronger than lamb, just as a well-
aged beef-steak is much stronger than a veal steak.

I've been looking at a number of modern cookbooks in the past few years, and
almost all of them seem to show lamb to be cooked to 170 degrees internal
temperature, which is well-done for pork and beef, Since lamb is very
delicate, this is, in my opinion, rather extreme over-cooking, thus lots of
people hate that tough, burned, chewy stuff that they've been taught was
lamb. The same thing happens with liver, another delicate meat, which,
again, is at its best when delicately sauteed, rather than cooked until
totally juiceless.

My suggested recipe for cooking lamb follows- this is done, more or less, in
the French tradition, and provides you with a delicate, juicy, tender meat-
again, if you're one of those who wants all your meat well-done, this will
not be to your taste.

Roast Lamb

Leg of lamb
Whole garlic cloves
Rosemary
Mint sauce

Take leg of lamb, and cut slits in the fat. Split garlic cloves in half or
quarters, and insert in the slits. Shake rosemary leaves over all. Place in
oven for 15 minutes or so, at high heat, to seal the roast, then reduce temp
to 325 or thereabouts. Cook until done to medium rare, or perhaps
(barbarian!) to medium. Remove from oven, and let rest. Carve, and serve
with a mint sauce on the side- mint jelly works, but I don't like the extra
sugar.

Now, I'm specifying whole garlic cloves because I don't want you using
garlic powder or (shudder) garlic salt. Garlic powder doesn't get the flavor
into more than the surface, garlic salt dries the meat out. I'm saying split
them because if you insert them whole, again, the garlic flavor does not get
into the meat, but I'm suggesting either halved or quaretered, but no
amounts, because different people like differing amounts of garlic in any
dish. I have my preferred amounts, but I know other's tastes are different-
I'll use a whole head. I will suggest that you use a bit more than you
usually might.

The whole rosemary being sprinkled on top allows just a hint of rosemary
flavor to add itself to the dish, with little bits of rosemary on the
surface of your slices, for a mini-burst of flavor.

Stefan,after our Chicken a la Benson discussion, let me STRONGLY suggest
that you use a complete roast- boneless roasts lose the flavor and moistness
provided by the bone in.


Phlip

Nolo disputare, volo somniare et contendere, et iterum somniare.

phlip at morganco.net

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio

"All things are poisons.  It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a
poison and a remedy." -Paracelsus

"Oats -- a grain which in England sustains the horses, and in
Scotland, the men." -- Johnson

"It was pleasant to me to find that 'oats,' the 'food of horses,' were
so much used as the food of the people in Johnson's own town." --
Boswell

"And where will you find such horses, and such men?" -- Anonymous