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

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How is the lamb meat made in lamb gyros?

Question

I've been to several Middle Eastern inspired restaurants around where I live and in most of these restaurants, the customers are able to see into the kitchen as they prep our food. In the middle of the kitchen I normally see something like this:

I asked the waitress what they were and she told us that the "blob" on the right is lamb. My friend then went ahead and order a lamb gyro platter. We watched as they carved thin slices off of the lamb. These slices look something like this:

My friend let me try a piece of the "lamb" meat but it didn't really taste like meat. It was tasty but the texture seemed too "smooth" to taste like meat. The texture almost reminded me of vegan meat substitute. Its texture was nothing like what ground beef felt like. How did they prepare the lamb that they got such a texture? And is this authentic or just an American bastardization of the authentic gyro meats?

Asked by Jay

Answer

For the times I've done gyros as such, you basically make a 'paste' out of it in the food processor.

Throw ground lamb in and give it a whirl, mix your spices and such in, put it on a spit, fridge to give a bit hard, and then on the spit. It comes out with a texture like that. That's how that kind is often done.

For 'proper' tasting meat (more like the one on the left), its alternating layers of razor thin meat and fat.

Answered by rfusca

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Breaking down a lamb “square shoulder”

Question

I recently sent someone out to get a lamb shoulder roast which I would typically braise, but said person returned instead with a "square shoulder" which is a larger and bony cut. Short of just going at it with a knife what is the best way to extract the roast from the larger cut and is this even possible without a cleaver or saw?

Asked by user9074

Answer

You can treat the square just like a plain shoulder roast (assuming both with bone in?)

While boning it out may make carving easier, the less you cut it the better it will cook (speed, moistness etc.)

A whole lamb can be butchered with just a decent boning knife if you know where to cut. You may need a small saw to section the large bones depending how you cut it

For the square shoulder you need to knife out the rib, backbone (if attached), and then the blade. All from the non meat side of the roast

Answered by TFD

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Why has the meat turned out to be hard like rubber?

Question

I was following this recipe for Chinese Stir-Fired Steak with Peppers.

I think I messed it up by cooking this for too long. The meat (I used lamb's meat) turned out very hard, like rubber.

I suspect this was because I cooked it for too long. Can someone confirm this? I will be much obliged.

Answer

Yup, cooking most meat too long is a bad thing. Cooking lamb too long like that will result in rubber.

Its also possible that you accidentally cut with the grain instead of against it - which would result in a very chewy, rubber like texture. You end up with long proteins that are harder to chew. When you cut across the grain, its a bunch of very short proteins.

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Lamb's Gamey Flavor

Question

Lamb has long been one of my least favorite meats due to its gamey flavor. However, some lamb dishes that have been prepared for me tasted great with very little gamey flavor. But I have never been able to duplicate that at home.

What are they doing right (or what am I doing wrong)?

Answer

I've noticed that most of that lamb flavor comes from where the lamb is raised. I have the opposite taste, I look for the distinct lamb flavor. I avoid American lamb and go for imported (AU/NZ) lamb because of this.

You should look for lamb raised in the USA or Canada, it is generally much milder. If you're already buying that type here are some things to try:

• Remove more of the fat before cooking
• Try to buy younger lamb
• Cook with a dry heat method, since the cut will be served more rare, giving less strong of a taste
• Slow cook with a method like braising that incorporates other flavors

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Is there a lamb dish that is as easy to prepare as steak?

Question

I need to cook a romantic dinner and my wife wants lamb, which I've never cooked before.
Usually I make us steaks in a cast iron - it's easy, tasty and quick.
Can I do something similar with lamb? What is the name of the cut I need to buy?

Answer

You want the ones that look like little tiny T-bone steaks. Typically they are called Lamb Chops, but look first as there are different cuts under that name. You might also consider doing a rack, which is the equivalent to a Rib Roast, but obviously much smaller. For the rack, I'd sear it in a pan, and then broil it until done. (15-25 minutes, 140-160 degrees).

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