How to achieve perfection when roasting leg of lamb
Saturday mark’s the anniversary of when entrepreneurs William Davidson and Thomas Brydone organised the first shipment of frozen lamb from Port Chalmers, Otago to London on February 15, 1882.
Saturday is National Lamb Day.
It mark’s the anniversary of when entrepreneurs William Davidson and Thomas Brydone organised the first shipment of frozen lamb from Port Chalmers, Otago to London on February 15, 1882.
In the lead up to this year’s National Lamb Day we’ve asked nationally renowned Southland-based chef Graham Hawkes to share some tips when cooking lamb.
Today he outlines how to achieve perfection when roasting a leg of lamb.
Take the joint of Lamb out of the refrigerator and allow tempering for 1 hour at room temperature covered in a shaded spot.
Weigh the leg and allow 25 minutes per 500 grams of meat.
Preheat your oven to 220°.
Choose a low sided roasting dish, large enough to fit the entire leg of lamb.
Place a bed of roughly chopped vegetables, bones on a roasting rack onto the roasting dish.
Place the leg on top of the rack and season generously.
Place in the preheated oven and roast for 15 minutes.
Turn the oven down to 180° and continue roasting for the required length of time (allow 25 minutes per 500 gm of meat).
30 minutes before the expiry of the cooking time mix half a cup of mint jelly and half a cup of apple jelly together and spread over the lamb.
Baste every 10 minutes.
Remove the lamb from the oven at the required time and place in a warm place covered with a clean tea towel, allowing resting for 30 minutes.
And enjoy.
To be fair it would be best if Hawksie just did the roast and asked us along to try it rather than just putting up his methods.
Though saying that I doubt if there would be many in the south who haven't experienced his culinary skills at some point. The Sunday buffets at the Ascot were a highlight for me but the smells coming out of the Wrightson tent at the summer show also took some beating.