How to Braise a Leg of Lamb
For your dinner party consideration
Sabrina,
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful tribute to your grandpa, and to one of his favorite foods. He sounds like he was truly incredible. And what a gift that he gave you your love of spicy food! I am sending you and your family so much love, and I wish we could eat all of the varieties of paprika together in his honor and you could tell me more stories about him.
I have a tribute to a food that is new to me – lamb. I didn’t grow up eating lamb very much, so I also haven’t cooked lamb very much. When I moved to England I started eating lamb much more (thank you Sunday roasts). But, I still feel like I haven’t really learned to cook with it.
I recently found myself in charge of cooking a whole leg of lamb for a dinner party. I was stressed. What if I overcooked it? What if I undercooked it?
But, thanks to a friend’s suggestion, I learned the perfect solution – a braise. Braising the lamb means that you can’t really fuck it up. It’s bathing in tasty juice over low heat, so it won’t get tough or dry. This turns out to be a perfect dinner party recipe. Once you put it in the oven it’s hands off. It’s very forgiving – you can’t really overcook or undercook it. And, it can feed a crowd and feels very special.
Apparently braised lamb is a French bistro classic, called “Gigot a la Cullière” which translates roughly to “spoon lamb.” This is because it’s so tender you can carve it with a spoon. Okay, yes, getting to the spoon-carving takes 6 or 7 hours. But if you put it in the oven in the morning you can relax for the day and have a perfect, shreddable lamb leg by dinner.
I didn’t use the classic French recipe, and instead did it with Greek-ish flavors, like lemon, white wine, garlic, and rosemary. We served this with roasted potatoes, tzatziki, pita, whipped feta, and Greek salad for a big summer dinner party.
Spoon Lamb
1 leg of lamb (bone in)
5-10 sprigs of rosemary
2 onions
5-10 cloves of garlic
2 lemons
Half a bottle of white wine
2 cups of chicken stock (or lamb stock, if you somehow have some)
Preheat your oven pretty hot, maybe 475, to brown the lamb. If you’re organized, you will have salted the lamb ahead of time. If not, salt it now. When the oven is hot, put the lamb into a large dutch oven and put it in in the hot oven for 30 minutes with the lid off. The goal here is to get some browning.
I’ve also seen some recipes where they first brown the lamb on the stovetop, or where they broil it. You could do any of these.
While the lamb is browning, peel and smash the garlic cloves. Chop the onions into quarters. Juice the lemons and save the squeezed halves.
When the lamb looks sufficiently browned on one side, pull it out. Lower the oven temperature to 325.
Add the garlic, onions, sprigs of rosemary, lemon juice and squeezed lemons, white wine, and stock into the dutch oven. You want the liquid to reach about halfway up the lamb. If it’s not enough, add some water. Make sure to add a bit of salt too.
Put the lid on, and put the lamb in the oven. Check it every couple of hours and add more liquid if needed. After 5 hours or so it should start shredding off the bone pretty easily. Keep it cooking until it’s really falling off the bone (spoonable!).
Take the lamb out and let it sit in its juices for 20 minutes or so.
Strain the solids from the pan juice to serve on the side. You could reduce this down if you like a thicker gravy.
A running letter between long distance friends who love to eat
Do you miss your best friend? Are really hungry you right now? If the answer to either of these is yes, you know what to do.