Braised Lamb Shoulder
Braising makes the lamb tender & juicy. Blasting it with heat at the end gives it that crispy layer of goddamned meat perfection you dream about.. if your dreams are like mine.. all crispy.
Quickie
• Salt the lamb the day before
• Brown the lamb on all sides
• Brown some aromatic veg
• Braise for around 3 hours with chicken stock and white wine
• Crisp up on charcoal, BBQ, or in oven
• Make gravy from the braising liquid
• Eat that shit uppp
Serves:
4. *Depends on the shoulder.. and the people.. but a standard meat portion according to Ask Jeeves is 1/2 to 3/4 lb per person. I used a 3 lb roast and it was good for 4 fat people.
Level of difficulty:
There are easier dishes. Especially if you're finishing it on a charcoal grill, maybe it's .. what's just above intermediate… ‘lil hard? Somewhere around there. Totally worth it though.
Nutritional information:
Who fucking knows. I ain't a podiatrist.
special equipment:
• Dutch oven or heavy bottom pan, or other oven safe braising dish. A tight fitting lid is ideal, but you can get by with a few layers of foil.
• Skillet (A.K.A. frying pan)
• Strainer
• Charcoal grill is preferred to crisp it up at the end, but it would still be delicious finished on a gas grill or in the oven.
Serves well with:
• crispy roasted potatoes
• leafy salad with a bit of citrus. I like a simple spring mix with a few pink grapefruit slices and an olive oil/red wine vinegar/lemon dressing
Grocery List:
• bone-in lamb shoulder (I had the butcher cut me a half, roughly 3 lbs)
• 2-3 carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 head of garlic plus a few cloves
• 1 leek
• 1 medium red onion or a few shallots
• 2 tomatoes (if tomatoes are not in season, canned tomatoes are far better than mediocre fresh tomatoes; use a 400 ml can)
• a few sprigs rosemary
• a few sprigs thyme
• a few tbsp chopped parsley
• Lemon (for the zest only)
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup white wine, and 1 for the doctor ⇩
Less quickie
Process:
Salt the shoulder liberally on all sides with coarse kosher salt 1-2 days in advance, if possible, to give the salt time to penetrate deep into the shoulder. You can lift some of the flappy bits and salt inside if you like. Me, I do like.
Tie it up with butchers twine (your butcher can also do this for you) or it will fall to bits and you will be first angry and then sad.
Heat a few glugs of oil (I like canola or veg for browning) in the skillet. While this is heating up pat the shoulder dry, which will allow it to brown better. Once it's blazing hot, use tongs to gently place the shoulder into the pan. It will spit. Spit back if you wish. Or just wear long sleeves and an oven mitt. Brown on all sides for 2-3 minutes each side, then remove the shoulder and set aside. Deglaze the skillet by adding a small amount of the chicken stock (see spit topic above) and scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to get all the browned bits off. This is delicious flavour you're adding to the braise. Braise the roof, amirite?
No, I was not right, and I regret this. Ok back to it:
Very roughly chop the carrots, celery, leeks, red onion/shallots, tomatoes, and cut a head of garlic in half crosswise.
Heat your braising dish on the stovetop on med/high with another glug of oil. While you're at it preheat the oven to 300F. Add all the veg you just chopped except the tomatoes to the braising dish. Add a few pinches of salt, and stir occasionally until they have sweat out a bit and are lightly browning, approximately 8-10 minutes.
Add in the tomatoes, a few more pinches of salt and black pepper to taste (I throw in 10-15 whole peppercorns). Tie the whole sprigs of rosemary and thyme in a little bundle. You can correctly refer to this as a 'bouquet garni' if you like but you will get made fun of, and rightfully so. Add the bundle. If you’re in the habit of tasting for salt along the way, keep in mind that your pre-salted lamb will add to this.
Mince a few cloves of garlic and rub the shoulder down with them. It will adhere better if you make erotic sounds. Unless you're cooking with relatives. Place the lamb on top of the veg, and pour in the chicken stock and wine. You want the liquid to come roughly 1/3 to 1/2 way up the shoulder. Add the deglazing liquid from the skillet. Bring to a light boil, then cover with a tight fitting lid and into the oven it goes.
I start checking mine at the 1.5 hour mark, and then every half hour or so, to make sure there is enough liquid. You can top it up with more chicken stock and white wine if it has dropped too much.
Braise the roof for around 3 hours until the meat is really tender, but not quite falling apart. Check the meat with a skewer, and when it slides in with very little resistance it's done. Carefully remove the shoulder from the braise. This takes grit, determination, and two sets of tongs or something similar. Tent it in foil and let it rest about 30 minutes.
While this is resting, make the gravy and gremolata.
*If you're finishing the shoulder on a charcoal grill, get that started so it's good and hot.*
Gravy: Skim the fat off the braising liquid and discard. Pour the rest through a strainer into a pot. Go through the mushy mess in the strainer and remove the bundle of herbs, any garlic skin, bones or anything you don't want to eat. The goal here is to mix some of the mushy mess back with the braising liquid and smoothify it, to make a thicker, tastier gravy. If you have an emulsion blender this works great, or you can push some of the mushy mess through the strainer with the back of a spoon. Start with a few spoonfuls of mush at a time, and add more depending on if you want a thicker gravy. Use the emulsion blender or a whisk to get it as smooth as you want it, and taste for salt. If it's too 'lamby', add either some more stock, veg mush, a splash of wine or a squeeze of lemon. For a sweeter gravy you can add a small amount of honey or brown sugar. Do this very little at a time, let it incorporate, and re-taste. Leave this on the stove on very low until the lamb is ready.
Gremolata: Mix the chopped parsley, 1-2 cloves of minced garlic, and the zest of half a lemon. Play with these amounts to your taste. It should be simple and fresh, to compliment the rich lamb. You can bring it together with a splash of olive oil if you like. Put this in a nice small bowl and congratulate yourself on being fancy.
If finishing over charcoal, oil the grill, place the lamb close to the coals for a minute or three on each side, rotating until it's as crispy as you want it (this happens fast, watch it carefully). You will have to hold it in some positions with tongs, and a good BBQ glove will save your precious knuckle hair. Same process for a gas grill. A sharp barbecue spatula will help detach delicious crispy bits from the grill as you move it around.
You could also finish this in the oven. I'll leave the details up to you as oven times vastly differ at high temp, but the idea would be to crank it up to a billion while the shoulder rests, and when it’s as hot as it goes, roast it on a foiled pan while checking it frequently until the skin looks crispy and makes you feel a number of unexplored emotions.
Unless you have a really sharp knife, this can fall apart while slicing. I prefer to put it in the middle of the table and have people dig at it like neanderthals. If you're classier than I, you can slice or pull the meat off the bones and onto a serving platter. Serve with the gremolata and the gravy, which is so damned good over roast potatoes as well. Eat that shit uppp.
