What is a “boned lamb leg”?

Question

I'm cooking a lamb recipe from Donna Hays' book "Fast, Fresh, Simple" and it calls for a "small boned leg lamb" (1.6kg). I saw "bone" and "lamb" and went out and bought a lamb leg roast on the bone.

What exactly is meant by "boned"? Does this mean the bone is removed? If so, how do I go about removing the bone from the steak I have, and should I butterfly it?

Also, the recipe recommends cooking for 25 mins at 350F after browning, but the piece I bought is 1.2kg with the bone in, so likely closer to 1kg with it removed. How should I adjust cooking time?

Thanks.

Asked by SSilk

Answer

If a recipe asks for a boned piece of meat, this indeed means that the bone is removed. I think the easiest and cleanest way of doing this is just asking your butcher. As for doing it yourself, there a some videos available online, e.g. this one.

Since your meat is a bit smaller, I would suggest to lower the temperature a bit (to 340F) and leave it in the oven till you have a good internal temperature. I think it would take about 20-25 minutes, but this is just an estimate.

Answered by Mien

Check more discussion of this question.

What bones for beef stock

Question

I finally may have found a somewhat local source for veal bones and want to start making stock in earnest. I've done chicken and turkey stocks before but for those I use entire carcasses. I've browsed around a bit and haven't really found any concrete info on what bones I should be using.

Before I make the trip to the butcher (he's about 30-40 minutes away) I'd like to know what to ask for. I've seen a couple references to avoid marrow bones a bit, and some references to neck bones, but I'd love to read/learn more about exactly what I want.

My goal is a rich nicely thickened (gelatin) stock that I can use for a delicious soup, or as a base for my sauces.

Thanks!

Answer

To get that gelatin you're looking, you need joint bones and lots of them. The back, neck, tail are great for that. If you've ever made Ox tail soup you'll know what I'm talking about as you'll get a really thick coating on your tongue from the gelatin that is disolved from the tail's connective tissues.

The reason for avoiding marrow bones is because it can make for a cloudy stock if the marrow gets broken up and the fact that marrow bones don't generally have the highest amount of connective tissues. Cloudy stocks also are caused by boiling of the stock instead of simmering.

Typically when making stock bases, you want them to be as clear as possible so you can use them for just about anything. A cloudy stock doesn't make a consomme look very nice. However, if you are just going to use the stock in items which don't demand a high amount of clarity then don't worry too much.

When you go to your butcher ask for knuckle bones(joint bones) and chine bones(back bones) as your first choice.

Check more discussion of this question.

Is there a table that shows the cooking temperature and the duration for different meat types and its bones?

Question

Just wondering if there is a table (similar to the one below - including a example) that can shows the cooking temperature and the duration to cook different types of meat (and/or its bones) in different style?

============================================================================================
| Temperature (Celsius) | Min. Cooking Period (Minutes) | Meat / Bones        | Styles     |
============================================================================================
| 150                   | 25                            | Steak               | Grill      |
============================================================================================

Answer

A table like you're asking for can't actually exist: doneness depends on the internal temperature and hold time of the food, not the oven temperature; your table is missing some columns.

So, there are a couple variables you're not accounting for—the biggest one being the shape and size of the meat. A ½" thick steak will cook much quicker than a 1" thick steak. The other one is the starting temperature—a steak that has been left to warm for an hour before cooking will cook quicker than one straight from the fridge. You could, I suppose build a table for all variations of size (steaks go from maybe ¼ through 2"), initial temperature, and desired doneness, but that'd be a large chart, just for a steak (and it'd be different for a T-bone or porterhouse due to the bone).

More reasonably, you could just use a food thermometer. Then you only need to worry about the temperature for desired doneness.

Check more discussion of this question.

How to cook a fish to make its bone as soft as those in sardines?

Question

When eating fish, accidentally swallowing the bones is a nightmare for me.

Currently, eating sardine is the only solution due to its soft bone.

I am worried that my health may suffer in the future if I continuously eat sardines that might contain "not so friendly" chemical substances.

I want to learn how to cook fishes to make their bones as soft as those of sardines.

Is there anybody here who knows the secret of making soft bones without "artificial and dangerous" chemical substances?

Do I need a special cooking apparatus to make fish bones soft?

Answer

Sardines are canned, which means the high heat of a pressure canner. That is what softens the bones. If you are wanting softer bones for other kinds of fish, you can either cook them using a pressure cooker or can them. However, this will only work for smaller fish that have smaller bones.

If your main concern is that you will swallow a bone and choke, then buy your fish as fillets only. Most fish fillets have no bones at all. The pin bones that are in salmon fillets can be removed with needle nose pliers, and are so small that you couldn't choke on them if you tried.

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I increase the extraction of gelatin and minerals from bones into my stock?

Question

I am interested in knowing how I can increase the solubility of gelatin, marrow, and minerals in my stock.

Thanks.

Answer

In terms of commercial food processing, there are more efficient ways to extract gelatin than slow-simmering the bones, generally by treating the organic matter with a strong acid prior to boiling, then using commercial evaporation and filtering equipment which is far more efficient than anything a home or even restaurant cook has access to.

According to Gelatin Food Science (see the "Gelatin Manufacture" section) it can also be first treated with a strong base solution before acidifying it, which lowers the isoionic point. It's kind of difficult to explain exactly what that is if you don't have a background in organic chemistry; technically speaking it's a relationship between pH and electrical charge - but applied to extraction it refers to the pH at which the solubility of a protein (such as gelatin) is the lowest. Lowering this is a good thing in extraction, because it means that the gelatin will be easier to filter out in an acidic solution.

Thus I have to point out the question is actually a bit contradictory; if your goal is the extraction of gelatin then you want to decrease the solubility.

But I think this is all going to be beside the point anyway, because none of this applies to stock making; the goal in food processing is to extract the pure gelatin, not to get a flavourful stock. When making a stock you definitely don't want to use an acid solution, it's going to ruin the flavour.

Realistically, when it comes to stock-making, especially at home, the only way you're going to be able to extract more gelatin is to simmer it longer. That's it. When the bones break without any resistance, that means you've denatured all the collagen and you've got all the gelatin you're going to get. I wouldn't worry about solubility because typically in stock-making you're already using more than enough water to dissolve all the gelatin that you could possibly hope to extract.

Check more discussion of this question.

How to use Bones in Soups?

Question

I have now a pile of chicken bones and I have heard they can be useful in making some food. How should I preserve them and where can I use them? Should I cut them into pieces and throw them into a new soup? What is their purpose in the soup? Flavor or something else? I am always looking for ways to cut my costs so any budget-cooking ideas welcomed!

I will outline here ways how I can cut my costs with bones:

1. According to Wikipedia, bones are a good source of calcium with acid boiling:

A study determined that "prolonged cooking of a bone in soup increases the calcium content of the soup when cooked at an acidic, but not at a neutral pH".

so putting some acid there (lemon juice or something else?) I can cut my milk costs, sounds great.

1. more ideas like this? How should the internals be handled?

Answer

Notice how dogs enjoy gnawing on bones? Ever been to a restaurant where they serve bone marrow?

Boiling bones in water draws flavor out of them. Most canned broth and stock you buy--beef stock, chicken stock, etc--is just this--water boiled with bones for hours.

Most literature I've read suggests using raw bones, but some recipes call for roasted bones--the ones I've seen most often involve roasted veal bones.

With all that said, I have to disagree with rumtscho. I have made stock from roasted chicken bones. The stock does still take on flavor. I'll half-agree with him: it's easier to get good flavor from raw bones.

Additionally, I've found another pitfall. I've tried to make stock from the leftover bones of bbq'd ribs. This was not a good idea. The broth had a savory flavor, as intended. Unfortunately it also had the background taste of bbq sauce. Now, when I do make stocks, I'd consider using leftover bones, but

• there have to be enough bones leftover (otherwise I get very little stock for my time or it's weak on flavor)
• the bones can't be "tainted" by other flavors (like bbq sauce)

To answer your original question, try this:

• start with a pot of plain water
• put about 4 lb of bones in per gallon of water while it's still cold, add ~1 tsp of vinegar per gallon of water
• Once the water comes to a boil, lower the heat so that it's just simmering
  • this keeps the stock from getting cloudy/white (which doesn't taste bad, just looks worse)
• leave boiling for about 6-8 hours, minimum. Longer is fine, but you won't get too much more at this point.
• turn off heat, allow stock to cool fully, strain it for the bones, refrigerate
  • you can speed up this step by putting the pot in a sink full of cool water
  • do NOT put a hot pot in your fridge. It will heat up the fridge significantly and just make the food in there go bad.

Use this to

• make soups
• make sauces (reduce it first)
• as a substitute for water in savory dish preparations (i.e. make rice with stock instead of water. Be creative here)

The main benefits here are flavor and nutrients, but I just do it for the flavor. Cutting bones up does improve the extraction process, but if the marrow is exposed already (most beef/veal bones will be) you're fine. If you save old bones, freeze them until you have enough. Don't bother trying to make stock with the bones from one chicken.

Check more discussion of this question.

Soft bones in smoked chicken

Question

For lunch today, a coworker and I went to a neighborhood southern-style BBQ joint. I usually wind up with fried catfish and he fried chicken, but today we both sprung for the smoked goods, and I found myself ordering a barbecue chicken leg sandwich.

After ordering, I thought "I wonder how that works... legs on a sandwich?" I figured that meant is was leg meat. When Mabel brought it ought I was a bit surprised (and slightly disappointed) to find that this was whole chicken legs on top of two slices of white bread. Oh well, I'll just pull out the bones.

Then the strange part happened. I picked up a leg to start pulling on the bone, and it collapsed under its own weight. Well that was the exposed part of the bone... it must have just disintegrated. So I started picking the meat apart to get to the bone, and when I found it in the middle and squeezed it to give it a yank, it collapsed under the pressure of my fingers.

As I worked my way through all the bones in the legs, I found this pattern continued: all of the bones were not just brittle, but downright soft! It was a bit hard to pick it all out, and I think some even got left behind in the meat--and even still it was barely even noticeable when chomping down.

What would cause bones to become so utterly soft?

I assumed Mabel must cook these things for a week, but when I asked, she said it was an hour or two in the smoker. Does smoke really do this, or is there some other treatment.

Answer

Tremmors and Rincewind42 are both right, but it does sound strange that an hour or two in a smoker would make the bones that soft. Maybe Mabel pre-cooks them, possibly using a pressure cooker?

Check more discussion of this question.