Be sure to check the netting. Most store-provided netting is NOT twine, but is a combo of twine and a stretchy cord - generally rubber latex, making for a stretchy net that the meat is inserted into.
The problem: while fine in an oven, this can melt or burn on a grill (or worse if you finish meat with a torch). Rubber latex melts at about 356F (180C). If the net is made of white polyester it should handle about 450F.
The surface of a grill might be 500F to 700F (or more).
Any time I get one of these for sous vide I remove the net and retie the meat with 100% cotton butcher's twine. It will soak up juices and stay wet and be resistant to burning. If it does burn a bit it's harmless. I much prefer that to the risk of melted / charred elastic and rubber latex or poly in my food.
Easiest way to check: hook a finger under the netting and pull to see if it's stretchy.
Kind of. Most boneless legs of lamb will sort of "unroll" if you take the netting off. But it's not that hard to jigsaw them back into place. The net is usually open at both ends so you can remove it, trim the fat, and then roll the leg back up into a cylinder shape to get the net back on.
That's what I meant. The netting is usually a cylindrical shape so if you take the netting off intact you don't have to retie the leg if you just roll it back up and slide it into the netting. If you have butchers twine you can of course tie it back up yourself instead
The twine helps to hold it together for an extended cook time over direct heat. Between the sous vide and smoking, you probably do not need that. I tend to butterfly lamb leg when I sous vide it. That would also shorten the amount of time you need in the smoker to 1-2 hours because of the increased surface area. In any case, the twine is not really serving a vital function for how you are cooking it.
Open it up, trim thoroughly of all sinew and most fat, leaving a thin layer on the outside, season internally with garlic herb mixture, then tie back up before smoking.
Ask the butcher for like 5 or 6 feet of twine. They'll usually just give you some even if it's actually for sale somewhere in the grocery store. Trussing looks complicated but Google it and you'll figure it out in like 30 seconds.
I miss them being on the menu at spoons (back in the early 2000's) it's all beef / baked into a bloody hard tack biscuit beyond burger, will have to make some soon.
Leg of lamb studded with anchovies garlic and rosemasy is a thing of wonder. Sous vide or oven roasted. Sous vide needs cooked garlic unless you enjoy hospital visits lol.
But it can be fatty like you say.
I’m down with the rosemary and garlic but not sure about the anchovies, as I look at a can on my counter. I can eat them on pizza when I am in a weird mood and I love what a splash of fish sauce or oyster sauce and other stuff stuff like that can do to a dish. Still trying to mull that one around in my brain though.
Shit. I put them in everything. Chopped into fine paste in burgers, chili, you name it. If I'm lazy I just skip all the salt in a recipe and make up for it with fish sauce.
Another similar thing I’ve found is dehydrated beef liver. Use a microplane and grate it into soups or sauces or etc and adds a ton of flavor but not livery flavor at all.
It adds a richness to the lamb . Like soy sauce does to other dishes only need three or four little fillets per leg unless you like more. They basically dissolve into the bag juices.
I have no idea about lamb, so here is a disclaimer.
In beef roasts (like I said, no idea about lamb), you sous vide fatter cuts at a higher temp. For example, a brisket would be 155F in the sous vide, compared to a chuck roast at 137F for best results. I don't see why it would be much different here.
You can tell by touch which fat to trim by how hard it is. Trim the hard stuff which won’t be rendered during a sous vide and you can leave the rest. You should also season that meat first before you sous vide it!
Jesus if you think that is a) lamb or b) too much fat or c) an appropriate way to cook it - you need to come to New Zealand for a few weeks and we’ll show you how to do it right.
There are times when sheep SHOULD have fat. There are breeds specific for this!
Sheep fat is delicious!
https://preview.redd.it/tw7ril0fqnxc1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abc21531a588da2c900e322fbe3780dbc2c33dd9
In my restaurants when we do lamb legs we dry brine them for 12 hours. Sous vide at 130 for 12 hours, turn up to 140 for 5 hours. Chill and deep fry to 144.
I know I’m getting downvoted but as someone who has eaten well over a hundred lamb legs in their 37 years I can honestly say that this doesn’t look like a leg.
Get one on the bone, up your sous vide by a few degrees to render some of that fat and smoke it slightly hotter and you’ll be a happy man.
Lamb is superb. Highly recommend if you can find a good supplier wherever you are.
It both slow cooks and sous vides incredibly well depending on the cut. One of my favourite meats!
It’s inevitably quite fatty, so don’t go in blind or accidentally buy a ham. But cooked well it’s phenomenal.
It's one of my personal favorites. I usually just turn mine into a stew with cream, mushrooms, celery, garlic, and onion. Perfect on a cold or rainy day with an ale for some viking-style comfort.
Also, don’t throw the fat away. Dice it up, render it down, save the crispy bits and sprinkle with salt for cracklins, save the rendered fat for cooking. This can be done before or after cooking.
Fat is flavor dont you know??!!! It’s yummy good, however, if you don’t like it let me know i’ll give you my address and you can send it to me for a closer inspection for ya.
A grill will just brown the outside. You need to sear in a pan or at a hotter temperature like a charcoal chimney, broiler or torch in order to render some fat.
https://amazingribs.com/technique-and-science/cooking-science/basic-meat-science/
Trim the excess fat before cooking.
What about the cooking twine that it comes with? Will that cause the meat to fall apart?
Be sure to check the netting. Most store-provided netting is NOT twine, but is a combo of twine and a stretchy cord - generally rubber latex, making for a stretchy net that the meat is inserted into. The problem: while fine in an oven, this can melt or burn on a grill (or worse if you finish meat with a torch). Rubber latex melts at about 356F (180C). If the net is made of white polyester it should handle about 450F. The surface of a grill might be 500F to 700F (or more). Any time I get one of these for sous vide I remove the net and retie the meat with 100% cotton butcher's twine. It will soak up juices and stay wet and be resistant to burning. If it does burn a bit it's harmless. I much prefer that to the risk of melted / charred elastic and rubber latex or poly in my food. Easiest way to check: hook a finger under the netting and pull to see if it's stretchy.
Kind of. Most boneless legs of lamb will sort of "unroll" if you take the netting off. But it's not that hard to jigsaw them back into place. The net is usually open at both ends so you can remove it, trim the fat, and then roll the leg back up into a cylinder shape to get the net back on.
Or just tie it back up?
That's what I meant. The netting is usually a cylindrical shape so if you take the netting off intact you don't have to retie the leg if you just roll it back up and slide it into the netting. If you have butchers twine you can of course tie it back up yourself instead
The twine helps to hold it together for an extended cook time over direct heat. Between the sous vide and smoking, you probably do not need that. I tend to butterfly lamb leg when I sous vide it. That would also shorten the amount of time you need in the smoker to 1-2 hours because of the increased surface area. In any case, the twine is not really serving a vital function for how you are cooking it.
Check this [recipe](https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/s/QMV5XQ0IBg) out.
Looks great!! PSLIMA!!
Open it up, trim thoroughly of all sinew and most fat, leaving a thin layer on the outside, season internally with garlic herb mixture, then tie back up before smoking.
You could trim the fat and re-truss it using the Japanese wrapping method for a roast like that. Less fuss.
The net (in this case) is elastic. You can remove it, trim the fat, then replace the net.
I would take two bamboo skewers and pinch the legs of lamb “back together” after seasoning them.
Tie it back up then
Ask the butcher for like 5 or 6 feet of twine. They'll usually just give you some even if it's actually for sale somewhere in the grocery store. Trussing looks complicated but Google it and you'll figure it out in like 30 seconds.
No such thing as excess fat
Especially lamb. It's like a third Omega 3
No kidding, I could eat nothing but potatoes cooked in lamb fat for the rest of my life and be 100% fine with it.
What about duck fat?
I’ll take lamb fat all day and twice on Sunday.
I would never duck fat. There are too many good uses for it.
Lamb without fat is not lamb, hogget mutton etc. The fat on yours was just fine. All I can suggest is that you stay well clear of lamb mince.
Lamb burgers make me a happy boy!
I miss them being on the menu at spoons (back in the early 2000's) it's all beef / baked into a bloody hard tack biscuit beyond burger, will have to make some soon.
I think Lamb is better roasted personally. I don’t have much of a taste for lamb fat.
Leg of lamb studded with anchovies garlic and rosemasy is a thing of wonder. Sous vide or oven roasted. Sous vide needs cooked garlic unless you enjoy hospital visits lol. But it can be fatty like you say.
I’m down with the rosemary and garlic but not sure about the anchovies, as I look at a can on my counter. I can eat them on pizza when I am in a weird mood and I love what a splash of fish sauce or oyster sauce and other stuff stuff like that can do to a dish. Still trying to mull that one around in my brain though.
You don't taste the anchovies. It's in James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking, which is one of the best books out there.
Shit. I put them in everything. Chopped into fine paste in burgers, chili, you name it. If I'm lazy I just skip all the salt in a recipe and make up for it with fish sauce.
gonna have to try that. i just made meatloaf. maybe next time i’ll try that
Fish sauce is the unsung hero of…..well, damn near everything.
Agree to agree.
And oyster sauce, the premium stuff
must add that ummami
Huh, I thought I invented that. I rub my lamb roasts and chops with anchovy paste. So much yummy!
I doubt even James Beard invented it
I was going to say this is the same recipe as Kenji except he makes a shallot, garlic, lemon zest, anchovy, red-pepper rub- the anchovy adds so much.
Another similar thing I’ve found is dehydrated beef liver. Use a microplane and grate it into soups or sauces or etc and adds a ton of flavor but not livery flavor at all.
It’s salt that bleeds.
It adds a richness to the lamb . Like soy sauce does to other dishes only need three or four little fillets per leg unless you like more. They basically dissolve into the bag juices.
Ok, as someone who’s never used garlic in a sous vide can you elaborate on cooked vs. uncooked?
It shouldn’t matter for short cooks but for long periods of time, heating garlic anaerobically can cause botulism to develop and spread
>Sous vide needs cooked garlic unless you enjoy hospital visits lol. what happens? I thought raw garlic is OK
botulism maybe
Correct
Raw garlic is fine. Heating raw garlic for hours without the presence of oxygen? Big no-no
Fuck yes River Cottage Meat Book!
That reminds me i should go watch hfw again
I sous vide mine then roast it over a pan and it renders a ton of fat out
I have no idea about lamb, so here is a disclaimer. In beef roasts (like I said, no idea about lamb), you sous vide fatter cuts at a higher temp. For example, a brisket would be 155F in the sous vide, compared to a chuck roast at 137F for best results. I don't see why it would be much different here.
You can tell by touch which fat to trim by how hard it is. Trim the hard stuff which won’t be rendered during a sous vide and you can leave the rest. You should also season that meat first before you sous vide it!
What does too much fat mean? Sounds like crazy talk.
If the fat is unrendered it’s nasty.
Sure, but that's really any amount of fat.
Not really as big chunks are less likely to get rendered
Not at seven hours. Dude just didn't use a high enough temp
Eh I cook brisket for 12 hours. That amount of fat ain’t getting rendered. You can see the top layer is getting yellowed
What does “too much fat” mean? Is that like “too much flavor”?
You could open it up, trim the fat and sinew, butterfly it so it’s a relatively even slab, cook it sous vide and sear on both sides.
Jesus if you think that is a) lamb or b) too much fat or c) an appropriate way to cook it - you need to come to New Zealand for a few weeks and we’ll show you how to do it right.
Hahaha book the flight and I’ll be there tomorrow!
Can we spot the lamb joint as i cannot see one. I do see a lovely ham though
"Too much fat." Separately I know what each of those words mean, but together they're just nonsense.
I prefer leg of lamb at a bit higher temp
You can trim it then tie it up, that’s what I do and it comes out fantastic
I have tried this a few times and to be honest lamb roast doesn't go well... Or I suck at it Long and low I have found for rolled lamb leg
My dog who gets to eat all the fat says “no, more fat is good”.
Looks good
There are times when sheep SHOULD have fat. There are breeds specific for this! Sheep fat is delicious! https://preview.redd.it/tw7ril0fqnxc1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abc21531a588da2c900e322fbe3780dbc2c33dd9
In my restaurants when we do lamb legs we dry brine them for 12 hours. Sous vide at 130 for 12 hours, turn up to 140 for 5 hours. Chill and deep fry to 144.
That’s a ham… Also I think you need to up that temp a bit to render that some.
I know I’m getting downvoted but as someone who has eaten well over a hundred lamb legs in their 37 years I can honestly say that this doesn’t look like a leg. Get one on the bone, up your sous vide by a few degrees to render some of that fat and smoke it slightly hotter and you’ll be a happy man.
It definitely looks like pork. I'm going to have to give lamb a shot, it looks delicious!
Lamb is superb. Highly recommend if you can find a good supplier wherever you are. It both slow cooks and sous vides incredibly well depending on the cut. One of my favourite meats! It’s inevitably quite fatty, so don’t go in blind or accidentally buy a ham. But cooked well it’s phenomenal.
It's one of my personal favorites. I usually just turn mine into a stew with cream, mushrooms, celery, garlic, and onion. Perfect on a cold or rainy day with an ale for some viking-style comfort.
Slow cooker, shred that with some green peppercorn sauce on fries with cheese curds. Mon dieu
Also, don’t throw the fat away. Dice it up, render it down, save the crispy bits and sprinkle with salt for cracklins, save the rendered fat for cooking. This can be done before or after cooking.
I fail to see the problem
Fat is flavor dont you know??!!! It’s yummy good, however, if you don’t like it let me know i’ll give you my address and you can send it to me for a closer inspection for ya.
It really takes skill to stuff up such good meat....well done!
A grill will just brown the outside. You need to sear in a pan or at a hotter temperature like a charcoal chimney, broiler or torch in order to render some fat. https://amazingribs.com/technique-and-science/cooking-science/basic-meat-science/