Slow cooked lamb shoulder | Jamie Oliver lamb recipes (2024)

FAQs

Does lamb shoulder get more tender the longer you cook it? ›

Slow cooking in liquid transforms tougher cuts of lamb into fork-tender meat. Neck, shoulder and belly, either diced or as whole joints, are the best cuts for slow cooking and need to be cooked for at least 2 hrs at 150C to soften the meat.

Place into the tray, then scatter the remaining rosemary and garlic on top. Tightly cover the tray with tin foil and place in the oven. Immediately turn the temperature down to 170°C/325°F/gas 3 and cook for around 4 hours – it's done if you can pull the meat apart easily with two forks.

Slow-cooking lamb requires patience. While cooking, resist the urge to keep checking on the lamb and refrain from opening the oven or slow cooker. Opening the lid or foil too often will lower the temperature and extend the cooking time, making the meat less juicy and tender.

However, if you leave lamb in the slow cooker for too long it will become stringy and dry. Although it's still edible, it won't have the same tender juiciness that you want from slow-cooked lamb.

Rare 60°C. Medium rare 60–65°C. Medium 65–70°C. Medium well done 70°C.

Cuts of lamb that are popular for slow cooking include the shoulder, leg, forequarter, shanks, neck chops, lamb ribs, and some sausages. These cuts are usually tougher because they have lots of connective tissue and fats, but this makes them perfect for slow and low methods of cooking.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the lamb racks on a sheet tray and season all sides liberally with salt and pepper. Press all sides of the the meat into the remaining seasoning on the sheet tray to evenly coat. Heat two medium cast-iron pans over medium-high heat.

The lamb in the slow-cooker was juicier than that from the oven, but lacked the oven lamb's exterior crispy bits (we love crispy bits). The solution was to take the vegetables and lamb from the slow cooker and run them under the broiler to crisp things up a bit. We'd eat either version again in a heartbeat.

Sit the lamb shoulder on top, and then cover the lamb and roasting tray in foil. It's usually easiest to do this loosely as the bone in the lamb can pierce the foil, but don't worry too much if that does happen, it really won't affect things too much. Roast in the oven for 4-5 hours.

If you have an extra 10 minutes, it's often worth browning the meat before slow cooking it. Browning or searing the meat in a hot pan caramelises its surface, which can give the final dish a richer, deeper flavour and colour. The high temperatures also help to render the fat on the surface of your lamb.

What seasonings go well with lamb? ›

Fresh rosemary, fresh garlic, lemon zest, black pepper, and salt are simple but amazing flavors that pair amazingly with the lamb! Each of these ingredients adds its unique warmth and depth to enhance the flavor of the dish.

Lamb leg is lean, so to slow cook it's best to partially submerge in a flavoured liquid which keeps the flesh moist plus infuses with flavour. I'm using garlic and rosemary in this recipe – classic lamb flavours!

Cover the tray tightly with a double layer of tin foil and place in the oven. Turn down the oven temperature to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3 and cook for 3½ to 4 hours, or until the lamb is soft, melting and sticky and you can pull it apart with a fork. Gently break up the meat, pull out the bones, and extract any herb stalks.

A lamb leg is classic. A 3-hour shoulder is excellent. But for the most succulent roast lamb of your life, slow-roast it for 12 hours in the oven overnight. Cooked at a very low temperature with plenty of braising liquid, you can set-and-forget without a worry.

Whether boneless or bone-in, the perfect leg of lamb should be either oven-roasted until blushing pink on the inside (with an internal temp around 130°F) or roasted long and slow for several hours until the meat is very tender and falls apart to internal temp around 175°F (I often use the slow cooker for that).

It depends on the cut. If you cook a lamb shank low and slow, it will become more tender as long as you don't let it dry out. A lamb chop, on the other hand, will reach optimum tenderness at medium rare. After that it will become tougher as it cooks.

Lamb shoulder is quite a fatty cut, so wonderful for low, slow roasting. It's a foolproof way of feeding a crowd because it nigh on impossible to overcook it. Read more about sharing.

Reducing the heat, covering and adding water to the tray keeps it moist. It means the spice rub doesn't burn, and adds to the pan juices for sauce making. Cooking slow for over 7 hours allows the fat to render over time yielding a seriously tender and fall apart roast.