How to properly marinate a leg of lamb. Leg of lamb - how to cut, marinate and cook. How to marinate a leg of lamb

And garlic is a classic flavor combination that only those who have never tried it can dislike. And if the baked leg of lamb itself is perhaps the best thing that can appear on the table on the occasion of a holiday or family dinner, then the simple addition of garlic and rosemary literally launches it into outer space. The second half of the success of this recipe is the baking mode: first, without rushing, we let the leg of lamb cook slowly and leisurely at a low temperature, and then turn the oven on full to get a golden brown crust in a few minutes. The leg turns out to be incomparable, if you don’t believe me, see for yourself.

Roasted leg of lamb

According to this recipe, you can cook a leg of lamb on the bone of any size - from a small cut weighing a kilogram to a full-sized hind leg weighing two or three kilos for a large company. To begin with, it’s worth cleaning the leg: we don’t touch the meat, we make diamond cuts in the fat so that it melts better, but it’s better to remove the films, they won’t do any good. After this, using a thin and sharp knife in the fleshy part of the leg on all sides, you need to make holes a couple of centimeters deep and at a distance of the same two centimeters from each other, and insert a thin strip of garlic and a few rosemary leaves into each.

After this, the leg of lamb can be coated with olive oil, seasoned with salt and black pepper and thrown into the oven, but if you have a few hours and want to cook something completely special, do not forget about the marinade. For the marinade, blanch the rosemary leaves, add garlic, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, wine vinegar (of course, for flavor, not to soften the meat), a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, black pepper and salt, and blend until smooth. Coat the leg with marinade, wrap tightly in cling film and put it in the refrigerator. Let the leg of lamb marinate for 2 hours to overnight.

Wrap the leg of lamb in foil and place in the oven preheated to 130 degrees. The approximate baking time is 30 minutes for every 0.5 kilogram of leg weight, plus another 30 minutes, but since it will differ in each case, it is best to determine the degree of readiness of the leg with a meat thermometer: when the temperature inside the thickest part of the leg reaches 57 degrees, remove put it in a warm place, and turn on the oven to the maximum (in my case it’s 250 degrees with fan).

After 10-15 minutes, when the oven has warmed up, place the leg of lamb in the oven on a wire rack, without any foil. Bake the leg for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown on all sides, turning it halfway through to ensure even browning. Remove the finished leg from the oven, cover with foil and leave for another 5-10 minutes so that the juices are evenly distributed inside. The baked leg of lamb can be taken out whole and cut right at the table, served with baked root vegetables as a side dish and tart red wine.

Lamb is a dish far from being as exotic and pretentious as it seems to the average housewife from Nizhnevartovsk.

There has become too much European in our women, especially in recent years.

It's time to remember about eastern roots.

In the Caucasus, a skirt-wearer would never be allowed near such a treasure as a whole leg of lamb.

A Russian housewife can easily “make friends” with lamb meat if she knows some rules.

Choosing the right leg of lamb

Buying a fresh and high-quality cut of lamb for the upcoming dinner is the first, but not the easiest step. Especially for a woman, and especially for a Russian one.

Many housewives do not even realize that in the recipe they read from the Internet for a leg of lamb baked in a sleeve, we are not talking about a ram, an adult, well-fed animal, but about a miniature delicacy lamb.

In our market, an inexperienced buyer can be given anything, even a piece of mature, fattened cattle with a specific aroma.

Therefore, first you need to decide which leg you want to buy: a one-year-old lamb or a tender two-month-old lamb?

The youth of the meat is as important a parameter as its freshness.

You can distinguish a young lamb from an old one by the weight of the leg. Dairy lamb weighs about 2 kilos, and a leg of lamb from older carcasses weighs up to 5 kilos.

Pay attention to the color of the piece you purchase. The meat should not be dark or gray, and the fat should not be yellowish. Pink lamb with white lard in moderation is what you need.

By the way, it is very important not to get confused in the terminology, and not to buy an older piece of lamb because you do not want to cook from a dairy lamb. Believe me, the gender of the animal does not affect the taste.

It is better to buy lamb in a specialized department of the store, rather than at the market. And especially not spontaneously!

Cooking a leg of lamb, like any other meat, is not a lottery, so quality guarantees should not be ignored. The best option is a chilled piece of carcass, which retains all the juiciness and nutritional values, unlike meat “ice cream”.

Learning to process lamb meat

Cooking a leg of lamb begins with preparing the meat - inspecting and processing the leg.

Lamb is not chicken and cannot simply be washed before baking. Fat and layers must be removed immediately. Thoroughly cleaning a piece of everything unnecessary is not a whim of culinary specialists, but an important condition for eliminating the flavor of meat.

For this procedure, you need to prepare a sharpened cutting knife.

Taking the leg by the thin end, you need to insert the knife between the meat and the fat and gently turn the blade from side to side, peeling the fat from the lamb and gently tearing through the fat films.

After this, the fatty membrane can be easily torn off the ram’s leg with one strong tug.

If a leg of lamb recipe does not call for cutting the leg into pieces, you must be very careful not to damage the integrity of the piece when removing the fat from it.

The remaining fat layer is easily cut off with a knife, after which the piece is washed and dried for some time.

Marinate, rub or stuff a leg of lamb

Juicy lamb can be marinated, rubbed with spices, herbs, or stuffed with various spices, vegetables, etc. It all depends on your tastes and the instructions of the chosen recipe.

Lamb meat accepts a classic vinegar marinade (water, vinegar, spices), as well as many exotic options with honey, mustard, olive oil, and wine.

As a rule, a leg of lamb in a sleeve always requires marinade. If you want to fry and bake meat, then you can limit yourself to rubbing it with various spices.

You don’t have to be shy about gastronomic delights, experimenting with aromatic herbs, hot seasonings, and sweet dried fruits.

Some of the most traditional seasonings suitable for lamb include rosemary, basil, black and red pepper, as well as chili and paprika, bay leaf, ginger, cilantro, garlic and many others.

As a filling for a leg of lamb, you can use classic meat apples, prunes, hot or sweet peppers, carrots, garlic, as well as non-standard products: lard, berries and even anchovies.

How to cook leg of lamb in the oven

Before baking, a piece of lamb carcass is either fried in a frying pan or generously greased with sunflower oil. These manipulations are necessary to obtain an appetizing “tan” of meat.

Many people do not like lamb for its specific smell. Although this particular meat turns out to be aromatic, juicy, soft and very tasty. Of course, if you cook it correctly.

Mutton. Subtleties of cooking

• If chicken is good on its own and does not particularly need spicy herbs, then lamb reveals its unique aroma precisely thanks to aromatic spices and herbs.
• What kind of spices it will be, the hostess decides independently, based on her own preferences. But you still need to take into account the classic set of spices that are most suitable for lamb: dill, garlic, mint, marjoram, rosemary, sage, jusai, savory, thyme, bay leaf, basil, thyme, oregano.
• Lamb should always be marinated before roasting. Moreover, the holding time in the marinade depends on the age of the carcass: the older it is, the longer the meat is marinated. Sometimes marinating continues for 2-3 days, but most often 8 hours is enough.
• To prepare the marinade, table vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon, wine (red and white), various spices and herbs, olive oil, and natural yogurt are used. Proportions are created to taste.
• Before marinating, several punctures are made on each side of the leg so that the marinade penetrates deeper into the tissue.
• Baking time depends on the temperature in the oven. But you always need to follow the rule: first, the meat is baked at high temperature to form a fried crust on the surface, which will “seal” the juice inside the piece of meat. Then the temperature is reduced and the meat is cooked until cooked.
• Lamb is fatty meat. Before baking, some of the fat is removed, because it is this that gives the meat that specific smell that repels many. But if you remove all the fat, the meat will turn out lean and dry. Therefore, if the ham is lean, it is stuffed with lard.
• Leg of lamb (ham) is prepared both on the bone and completely without it, depending on the taste of the eater.
• The optimal weight of a lamb leg for roasting is 2-2.5 kg including the bone.
• The ham is baked open, in a sleeve, in foil. But in any case, the leg of lamb should be covered with a golden brown crust. To do this, at the end of cooking, it is freed from the shell (foil or sleeve) and brought to readiness.

Leg of lamb baked with rosemary

Ingredients:

• leg of lamb – 2.5 kg;
• rosemary – 2 sprigs;
• olive oil – 50 g;
• garlic – 3 cloves;
• lemon zest.

Cooking method

• The leg of lamb is processed by removing tendons and excess fat and washed.
• Keep in the chosen marinade.
• Dry with a paper towel.
• Punctures are made in the leg, into which rosemary, cut into pieces, is stuck.
• Mix the oil with chopped garlic and zest. Rub the mixture on your leg.
• Place it in a greased mold and place it in an oven heated to 220°C.
• After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 170°C and continue baking for another 1.5-2 hours, depending on the size of the leg and the age of the carcass.
• Leave the meat in the oven for 15 minutes, and then take it out and cut it into portions.

Video recipe for the occasion:

Spicy leg of lamb

Ingredients:

• leg of lamb – 1.2 kg;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• rosemary – 1/2 tsp;
• peppercorns – 7-8 pcs.;
• olive oil – 150 g;
• bitter mustard – 1 tsp;
• lemon juice – 20 g;
• thyme – 1 tsp;
• bay leaf – 2 pcs.

Cooking method

• The leg of lamb is washed and dried with a towel.
• All spices are crushed in a mixer and mixed with oil.
• The meat is doused with the mixture, pressed down with pressure and left to marinate for 8 hours.
• The leg is lightly dried and placed on a baking sheet, which is sent to the oven heated to 220°C.
• After half an hour, the temperature is reduced to 180°C and the leg is cooked for another 1 hour and 15 minutes, periodically basting with marinade.
• Cover the finished dish with foil and leave for 10 minutes.

Leg of lamb baked in a sleeve

Ingredients:

• leg of lamb – 2 kg;
• garlic – 4 cloves;
• mustard with grains - 1 tbsp. l.;
• wine vinegar - 1 tbsp. l.;
• olive oil – 1 tbsp. l.;
• salt - to taste.

Cooking method

• The prepared leg of lamb is washed and blotted with a paper towel.
• For the marinade, mix all the spices.
• Deep punctures are made in the leg and rubbed with marinade.
• Place the leg in the sleeve and tie it. Marinate for 6-8 hours.
• The sleeved leg is placed on a baking sheet and placed in the oven, heated to 220°C, for half an hour.
• Then reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake the leg for another hour.
• Take the baking sheet out of the oven and cut the sleeve lengthwise. Continue baking in this form for another half hour until a golden brown crust appears.
• Let the ham rest for 15 minutes and serve.

Leg of lamb baked in breadcrumbs

Ingredients:

• leg of lamb – 2.5 kg;
• ground white crackers - 1 cup (250 ml);
• olive oil – 200 ml;
• chopped parsley - 3 tbsp. l.;
• chopped dill - 3 tbsp. l.;
• white wine – 50 g;
• curry – 1 tsp;
• garlic – 4 cloves;
• salt - to taste.

Cooking method

• Prepare a marinade from wine, butter (50 g), crushed garlic, curry and salt.
• The leg is placed in a bag, coated with marinade and put in the refrigerator for a day.
• Take out the leg and pour oil on it.
• Mix breadcrumbs with dill and parsley and generously roll the leg in them.
• Place the leg on a baking sheet and place it in the oven, heated to 220°C. After half an hour, the temperature is reduced to 180°C and the meat is baked for another 1.5-2 hours.
• Let the ham rest for 20 minutes and serve.

Leg of lamb baked with potatoes

Ingredients:

• leg of lamb – 1.5 kg;
• rosemary – 3 sprigs;
• young potatoes – 1 kg;
• garlic – 3 cloves;
• red wine – 50 ml;
• olive oil – 50 mg;
• salt - to taste;
• ground black pepper - to taste.

Cooking method

• The prepared leg is dried and several deep cuts are made on the skin.
• The meat is stuffed with pieces of garlic, rubbed with salt, pepper and greased with oil.
• Grease a baking sheet with oil and add rosemary. A foot is placed on top of the grass.
• Bake the lamb at 220°C for 30 minutes, constantly turning and pouring meat juice and wine.
• Place whole potatoes around the leg, salt and pepper and bake for another 15 minutes.
• The temperature is reduced to 180°C and the leg and potatoes are baked until the meat is cooked (about 1.5 hours), not forgetting to baste with the released juice.

It is believed that the healthiest marinade is obtained if it is prepared with the addition of cloves, red and black pepper, ginger and onions.

You can add lemon, garlic and herbs to the marinade to improve its taste.

Scientists have proven that marinades prevent the formation of blood clots and also prevent obesity.

2014-11-07

Leg of lamb baked in the oven sounds absolutely magical and festive. The approaching New Year, despite all the efforts of Mankind to push the joys of existence into the background, is still modestly but persistently reminding us of itself with the aroma of tangerines and subtle hints from beautiful ladies that “there is nothing to wear,” and at all! And Winter is coming! Well, in today's program we have a leg of lamb baked in the oven!

I would like to invite my dear readers today to plunge into the pleasant New Year’s chores - without haste and fuss, choose the “crown” dish for the festive table. My advice: “Make a roasted leg of lamb!” I promise that your loved ones will reconsider their attitude towards lamb after this! Leg of lamb - with the aroma of herbs, an appetizing crust, oozing pulp, baked in the oven to the desired condition, will become the decoration of the meal. If you prepare this dish, observing all the subtleties and technologies, then it will be the best New Year's gift for your loved ones and friends. This is worth a little tinkering!

Cooking a leg of lamb in the oven after some preliminary manipulations is not difficult and does not take much time (I mean “active” cooking). The main task, the solution of which determines the taste of the finished dish, is to choose this very leg of lamb. I'm giving you a reminder. To ensure that a leg of lamb baked in the oven does not disappoint you and your guests, you should pay attention to the following:

Leg of lamb baked in the oven: requirements, preparation, marinades, how to cook

• Meat from young animals is suitable for baking. The concept of “young” in this case is quite loose. It will not be possible to buy fresh lamb (lamb meat 2-6 months old) or young fattened lamb (6-8 months old) in the Northern Hemisphere in winter. You must be prepared for the fact that the acquired leg of lamb will have an “age” of one to two years. This type of lamb is light pink in color, with a characteristic but pleasant and not pungent odor, the fat is not meltable, hard, but slightly pliable, like wax, the bones are porous, reddish when cut, without sharp split edges.
• if you absolutely want dairy lamb, then look for New Zealand or Australian. My opinion is that it’s not worth it because it’s expensive.
• my preference is a leg of young lamb, weighing 2-2.5 kg with bone.
• the thin wax film covering the young leg of lamb is not removed.
• You should not cut off the thin layer of fat under this film - thanks to it, the leg of lamb will remain juicy during baking.
• with a leg of lamb weighing 3 -3.5 kg with bone, it is still better to remove the film and fat (more mature meat has a pronounced smell of lamb, which repels many).
• By leg of lamb we mean the hind leg.

If you want to cook a boneless leg of lamb in the oven, you need to ask the butcher to remove the bones or do it yourself. The baked leg of lamb will be easier to cut into portions if the bones are removed first.

How to cook

To the question: “How to cook a leg of lamb baked in the oven?” — I usually give a laconic answer: “Delicious!” After all, this is the most important thing! There are many recipes for cooking leg of lamb. Most often it is prepared baked in the oven. Sometimes the meat is fried in a frying pan before baking so that a golden brown crust appears immediately; in other recipes, the prepared leg is placed directly in a heated oven.

1. If the lamb is too lean, then the leg can be topped with layers of thinly sliced ​​bacon, salted or smoked bacon. Sometimes pieces of lard or bacon are simply stuffed onto the leg. Leg of lamb baked in the oven is very good, stuffed with anchovies - at first the combination of flavors seems unusual, but over time you start to like it and even really like it! I once learned this technique from Nika Belotserkovskaya.
2. Baking temperature ranges from 100ºС to 200ºС. Baking time depends on the size of the piece and temperature. The greater the weight of the leg of lamb and the lower the baking temperature, the longer the time spent in the oven.
3. The leg of lamb is baked “by itself”, in foil, in a sleeve. At the same time, a side dish is sometimes baked (potatoes, for example, or onions, sweet peppers, the thickened part of fennel, tomatoes in the skin). Sometimes a sauce (from tomatoes, onions and peppers, for example) is prepared in the oven along with the leg.
4. The herbs that I think are most suitable for lamb are thyme, basil, savory, mint, sage. Experts also recommend rosemary, but I myself don’t really like its aroma. My favorites are savory and thyme. The “duet” of lamb and garlic is considered classic. In any case, you will have to choose “companions” for the leg of lamb, listening to your own preferences. Roman-style leg of lamb (breaded with white breadcrumbs), baked in the oven, is prepared with dill and parsley - it turns out incredibly fragrant, tender and fresh!

Marinades for lamb in the oven

1. White wine, curry, crushed garlic, mint, olive oil, salt.
2. Red wine, crushed garlic, basil and thyme or savory, olive oil, salt.
3. Balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic, mint, rosemary, olive oil, salt.
4. Natural yogurt, a few cardamom grains (don’t overdo it!), salt (I call this marinade “Bedouin”).

The basis of the above marinades is olive oil. The remaining ingredients are add-ons. Experiment, guided by the rule “Everything in moderation!”

Table of internal temperatures for different degrees of doneness of lamb baked in the oven

1. Very juicy, with a moist pink center and blood, only warm inside ≈ 53°C
2. Quite juicy, with a pinkish center ≈ 57°C
3. Quite juicy, pinkish inside ≈ 63°C
4. Slightly juicy, brownish-pink inside, fully baked, hot inside ≈ 67°C
5. Dryish, dirty pink-light, completely baked ≈ 71°C and above

In order to measure the internal temperature, you need to use a special meat thermometer or an electronic probe thermometer. The thermometer should be inserted into the thickest part of the piece, without touching the bone. In France and Italy, 1-3 degrees of readiness are most preferred, and in our “Palestines” - 4-5. If you are not sure what degree of doneness your guests prefer, it is better to ask them about it in advance.

Based on the above, the question: “How to cook a leg of lamb baked in the oven” can also be answered like this: “By following cooking technologies.”

Ingredients

In our family we usually call this dish “Roman-style baked leg of lamb.” My late father-in-law once read a recipe from an old Italian cookbook.

We will need:

• Leg of lamb 2.5 kg with bone.
• White bread crumbs 1 cup, about 250 ml.
• Olive oil 200 ml.
• Parsley 3 tablespoons.
• Dill greens 3 tablespoons.

Cutting a leg of lamb

Remove all bones from the leg of lamb except the tibia.

Prepare marinade No. 1 or No. 2, place the meat in the marinade for a day,

or better yet, two or three.

Shaping, preparing for baking, baking

After this time, remove the leg from the marinade. We sew up the hole with thin strong threads.

Generously coat the leg of lamb with olive oil. With a generous hand, sprinkle the meat with white breadcrumbs (not small ones, made with our own hands),

mixed with chopped herbs, press the crackers firmly to the surface of the lamb, pour olive oil on top and press the crackers again. Place seam side down on a baking sheet greased with olive oil. It turns out to be such beauty.

Place the leg of lamb in an oven preheated to 200C. Those who like perfectly cooked meat - for 2-2.5 hours, those who prefer completely pink or pink meat - for 1-1.5 hours. If you have a thermometer, we follow the recommendation for the degree of readiness given above.

Serve and slice the finished oven-baked leg of lamb conveniently on a thick board. We put a papillot on the bone or simply wrap it in a napkin,

holding the bone, cut into neat slices. It was not possible to film this process - first I cut a baked leg of lamb, and the guests watched the process in fascination, and then the meat was removed at such a speed that I did not have time to come to my senses. It just “clicked” just before slicing. Sorry for the photo quality. This is how it turned out to be a Roman-style baked leg of lamb surrounded by cocotte bowls with julienne.

My reader Alena from Moscow sent a photo of a Roman-style leg of lamb she prepared. Looks absolutely great!

Leg of lamb in the oven with potatoes

Leg of lamb 2.5 kg

Bacon 350 grams

Potatoes 2.5 kg

Sprigs of savory, thyme

Olive oil 70 ml

We marinate the leg of lamb (marinade No. 1-No. 2) for a day, then fry it in a saucepan on all sides until a firm crust appears in 40-50 ml of olive oil. This will take approximately 20 minutes. Sprinkle the leg of lamb with chopped herbs. Cut the bacon into slices, cover the entire ham with them, and place it in a large baking dish.

Wash the potatoes, peel them, cut them into large slices, and blanch them in boiling water for about 10 minutes. Place the prepared potatoes around the leg of lamb, pour in the remaining olive oil, and cover the dish with a fireproof lid. First, the leg of lamb with potatoes is baked in the oven, preheated to 200ºC, for about an hour, then remove the lid. Next, the leg of lamb with potatoes is cooked in the oven for another 1 hour (for well-cooked meat) or until the desired degree of doneness). Leg of lamb in the oven with potatoes is usually served in the same container in which it was baked.

Leg of lamb in foil

Leg of lamb 2.5 kg

Bacon 250-300 grams

Leg of lamb in foil is a dish that will give you the least amount of hassle. Place the leg in marinade No. 1 or No. 2 for at least a day. Cut the bacon into fairly thin slices, cover the surface of the leg of lamb with bacon, and wrap the meat in two layers of foil. Place the leg of lamb in foil in an oven preheated to 200ºC. After half an hour, reduce the oven temperature to 180ºC. After 1.5 hours, cut the foil, unwrap the meat and bake for another 30 minutes without foil, basting with juice. Leg of lamb in foil is incredibly good with boiled rice.

Leg of lamb in sleeve

Leg of lamb in the sleeve is one of the options for a “lazy” hot dish for the holiday. After all, with this cooking technology, for some time there is no need to pour juice over the meat, and you can do something else in the kitchen.

Leg of lamb 2-2.5 kg with bone

Onion 2 large heads

Carrots 3 medium pieces

Garlic 5-6 cloves

Olive oil 50 ml

Marinate the leg in any of the marinades. Peel the onions and cut into 4 parts, peel and cut the carrots into thick bars, peel the garlic. Fry vegetables in olive oil. Place the leg of lamb in the sleeve, add the vegetables there, tie the sleeve and place it in a baking dish or baking sheet. Bake in an oven preheated to 200ºC for half an hour, reduce heat to 180ºC and bake for another hour and a half, cut the sleeve. Bake for another 30 minutes, constantly pouring the released juice. For lovers of pink meat, we focus on the temperature inside the piece! A leg of lamb baked in a sleeve gives free rein to your imagination - you can add blanched potatoes, fennel, cherry tomatoes, quince slices, raisins, and dried apricots to the sleeve.

My notes in the margins

• The marinade should be thoroughly rubbed into the pulp.
• During the marinating process, massage the meat so that the marinade is slightly absorbed into the meat.
• According to all the above recipes, you can cook lamb either with the bone or by removing the bones. A boneless leg of lamb can be stuffed with kidneys, mushrooms, cheese, herbs, raisins, prunes, dried apricots, ground nuts, and chestnut paste.
• Don't overdo it with spices. Good meat only requires emphasizing its merits, and it is impossible to “drown out” the shortcomings of bad meat with spices!
• It should be remembered that the success of a dish depends to a much greater extent on the quality of the starting products and adherence to cooking technologies than on a specific one. An excellent quality leg of lamb, which you simply bake with a minimum of suitable spices until golden brown and tender, will always be a success!

Baked leg of lamb is a dish that has a huge advantage in the pre-holiday bustle. It can be prepared in advance, at least a few days before serving. Before guests arrive, you just need to warm the leg in the oven.

And for dessert today we have our favorite song from a past life - Abba - Happy New Year.

Lamb has always been considered an exquisite oriental dish. Recently, she has become accustomed to the western territories. It is easy to buy in butcher shops. Meet the heroine of this post, a leg of lamb baked in the oven.
Recipe contents:

Of the entire lamb carcass, it is the leg that has the least amount of fat, for this reason you should choose it for your first acquaintance with this type of meat. A baked leg of lamb in the oven can easily take center stage on the holiday table. Usually this dish is always the main one, because... They are not prepared every day, but only on special occasions. It looks beautiful, the aroma is amazing, the taste is amazing... And at first glance it seems that preparing it and mastering the basics is extremely difficult. But all you need to do is know a few tricks and subtleties, be in a cheerful mood and have enough free time.

How to cook leg of lamb - subtleties and secrets

Cooking a leg of lamb will be simple and even exciting if you follow all the subtleties and secrets. Let's figure out what you need to know to delight your family and guests with juicy and appetizing meat.

• The ideal meat is lamb with tender meat fibers and without a characteristic odor, that is, milk lamb. However, it is difficult to buy one, so look for an animal up to 1.5 years old. You can determine it by the color of the fat: it should be light and elastic. Meat with yellow fat has a specific pungent odor that cannot be eliminated. Also pay attention to the delicate muscle fibers: they should be light red. The meat is brown and deep red - the animal is old. This is only suitable for minced meat.
• Before cooking, rinse the leg of lamb with hot water to remove any dirt that has stuck to it. Then trim off as much fat as possible from the meat. But it is not recommended to completely remove it; it prevents the dish from drying out. So leave it in a small, thin, even layer.
• A cooking sleeve or foil will help retain maximum juices in the meat. For the same purpose, do not make punctures in the meat for stuffing. The juice will flow out through these cuts.
• You can bake the meat yourself, with various spices and seasonings, along with a side dish (potatoes, carrots, other vegetables, and fruits). Be guided by your own preferences.
• When roasting a leg, it is advisable to separate the bone from the lamb meat. To do this, place the leg on a cutting board, meaty side down. Make several cuts along the hip bone, separating the meat from all sides. Starting at the thin end of the bone, cut the meat down to the ball joint. Turn the bone out of the joint and cut the tendons, removing them.
• The leg is prepared depending on the weight. It is calculated as follows: 1 kg of carcass is baked for 40 minutes plus an additional 20 minutes for the entire piece. If you have a special culinary thermometer, a temperature probe, then install it in the thick part of the meat: the optimal readiness of the dish is if the temperature is 65 degrees. Focus on the following degrees of doneness: medium 54-57°C, medium-well 60-63°C, well-done 65-68°C.
• If you don’t have a meat thermometer, use a toothpick to test for doneness. Puncture the piece; clear, light-colored juice should come out of the puncture.
• Do not rush to cut the finished meat right away; leave it for 20 minutes so that the juices inside are evenly distributed. Then the dish will turn out perfectly tender and tasty.
• When baked, the meat will release juice, which is very tasty. It can be used to make sauce.
• Serve the finished meat to the table immediately after it is ready, cutting it into thin slices. Otherwise, the fat will harden and the dish will not be so appetizing.

Now that you’ve become acquainted with the basic subtleties and secrets of cooking leg of lamb, it’s time to learn about the nuances of the marinade. Marinade is an important part of the cooking process and should not be neglected. The meat must be given time to soak well, then it will reveal its rich aroma and taste.

To get the best results from your roast lamb, you should use spices and seasonings. Culinary practice shows that the taste of lamb is perfectly improved by mustard, paprika, ginger, lemon juice, thyme and oregano. Dry herbs are good for rubbing your feet. Rosemary can improve almost every recipe. This herb goes well with this meat. Experienced chefs recommend adding it when cooking fresh or dry.

In eastern countries, cinnamon and pine nuts are added to lamb dishes. You can also add basil, tarragon, sage, cardamom, sesame, mint, marjoram. These spices go well with lamb meat. The Central Asian seasoning - cumin - will help to overcome the specific smell of lamb; it adds a piquant spicy note.

It is important to use spices in the right proportions and the right combinations so that the meat reveals its aroma and taste. The length of time the meat remains in the marinade depends on the age of the animal and the size of the piece. Below are some examples of marinade; the recipes are for 1 kg of meat.

• Pass cumin, olive oil, rosemary, tomatoes, parsley, cilantro and onions through a blender or grind in a meat grinder. Leave the meat in the mixture for 5–12 hours.
• Combine a glass of vegetable oil, lemon juice, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns. Add carrots cut into rings and chopped onion into the mixture. Pour in 200 ml white wine and stir. The duration of marinating is one day.
• Chop two onions into half rings, add 5 chopped cloves of garlic, pour in half a glass of olive oil, 3 tbsp. vinegar, add a sprig of rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Marinate for 12 hours.
• Add 1 tsp to 500 ml of water. sugar, add 2 chopped onions, uncut lemon, bay, herbs, salt and cloves. Cook the ingredients for 20 minutes, cool and add the lamb. Leave it for 6 hours.
• Combine 2 chopped onions with chopped parsley, cilantro, basil, coriander and 500 ml of kefir. Stir and marinate for 10 hours.
• Mix 200 ml of pomegranate juice, 50 ml of vodka, herbs and spices and add meat to the mixture. Marinate for 8 hours.
• Combine 250 ml of yogurt with 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tsp. mint leaves, red pepper and paprika. Coat the leg of lamb and leave for 12 hours.

A baked leg of lamb even sounds festive. It will decorate New Year's holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, meetings, and any celebration. Appetizing crust, juicy pulp, aroma of herbs - the decoration of any meal. Bake the food observing all the details, then your guests and loved ones will definitely enjoy an excellent edible gift.

• Calorie content per 100 g - 231 kcal.
• Number of servings - 2-3
• Cooking time - about 7.5 hours, of which 3 hours marinating, 3.5 hours baking

Ingredients:

• Leg of lamb - 1 pc.
• Fresh rosemary - a couple of sprigs
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp.
• Salt - 1 tsp. or to taste
• Ground red and black pepper - a pinch
• Cilantro seeds - 0.5 tsp.
• Sweet paprika - 1 tsp.

Once everything is prepared, let's move on to the most important part of the culinary masterpiece!

Step-by-step cooking of leg of lamb in the oven

1. Remove excess veins and membranes from the lamb. Season with salt and pepper, rubbing the ingredients into the lamb flesh.
2. Prepare the sauce by combining olive oil, cilantro seeds, garlic crushed in a garlic press and rosemary.
3. Coat the leg of lamb with the sauce and leave to marinate for 1-3 hours, but you can also keep it in the refrigerator for a day.
4. Place the marinated lamb in a baking bag, tie the sides tightly to retain all the juice, and place the lamb in a preheated oven at 130°C for 1.5 hours to warm through. After in the oven, increase the temperature to 200 degrees and wait another 1-2 hours.

Leg of lamb in the sleeve is a wonderful combination of beauty, taste and aroma. By placing such a treat on the table, the dish will become a legendary meal, and Italian herbs with a spicy sauce will take care of this.

Ingredients:

• Leg of lamb - 1.7-2 kg
• Coarse salt - 1 tbsp.
• Dijon mustard grainy - 2 tsp.
• Spices: rosemary, herbs de Provence, cumin - 0.5 tsp each.

Step-by-step preparation of leg of lamb in a sleeve

1. Trim off excess lard, fat and film from the meat. Cut off unnecessary pieces.
2. Place all the herbs in a mortar and grind.
3. Add salt and mash well.
4. Coat the meat with the resulting mixture. Then coat with mustard and put the piece in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours, but it can be longer.
5. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Place the lamb in a sleeve, place on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes. Then reduce the heat in the oven to 180°C and bake for another 30 minutes.
6. Next, carefully cut the top of the sleeve, pour the released juice over the meat and continue baking for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Lamb is not a traditional dish in our country. Therefore, it appears on our tables very rarely. And when it is prepared, the preparation is a grand culinary event. Leg of lamb in foil is a non-standard dish that everyone can prepare for their next holiday meal.

Ingredients:

• Leg of young lamb - 1 pc. weighing about 2 kg
• Rosemary or thyme - a few sprigs
• Mustard - 4-6 tbsp.
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp.
• Honey - 1 tbsp.
• Lemon juice - 1 tbsp.
• Garlic - 1 head

Step-by-step preparation of leg of lamb in foil

1. Wash the lamb leg and dry it with a paper towel.
2. Trim excess fat from the leg, leaving a thin layer.
3. Prepare the marinade. Peel the garlic and finely chop.
4. Mix mustard, honey, lemon juice, olive oil, chopped garlic, thyme or rosemary leaves.
5. Rub the ham with salt and freshly ground pepper, coat with marinade, cover with rosemary and wrap in foil. Place the piece in the refrigerator for a day.
6. 2 hours before baking, remove the meat from the refrigerator and leave it to come to room temperature.
7. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil and place the ham without foil.
8. Preheat the oven to 230°C and bake the lamb for 15 minutes until golden brown. Then reduce the temperature to 100°C, cover the ham with foil and bake for 3 hours. Then reduce the temperature to 90°C and cook for another 1.5 hours. But the specific baking time depends on the weight of the lamb.
9. Leave the finished ham without unwrapping it from the foil in a warm place for 15 minutes to rest.

Leg of lamb in the oven - recipe with vegetables

For the recipe for baked leg of lamb with vegetables, you can use all kinds of combinations of side dishes. For example, eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, etc. Baked lamb flavored with garlic and aromatic spices will be combined with any food, resulting in a real culinary delight.

Ingredients:

• Hind leg of a young lamb - 1.5 kg
• Garlic - 2 heads
• Rosemary (fresh or dry) - 3 sprigs
• Thyme - 1 tsp.
• Potatoes - 1 kg.
• Carrots - 2 pcs.
• Onions - 2 pcs.
• Paprika - 1 tsp.
• Dry white wine - 100ml
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp.
• Salt, freshly ground pepper - 1 tsp each.

Step-by-step preparation of leg of lamb with vegetables

1. Grind rosemary, thyme, freshly ground pepper and 1 clove of garlic with salt.
2. Add olive oil and stir.
3. Wash the leg of lamb, dry it, trim off excess fat, leaving a thin layer, and rub with the resulting mixture.
4. Wrap it in foil and refrigerate for 2 hours. Then remove and leave to warm to room temperature.
5. Peel the onion and cut into halves.
6. Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut large tubers into halves or quarters.
7. Peel the carrots, rinse and cut into large pieces.
8. Place the vegetables in a bowl, add finely chopped garlic, rosemary and paprika. Season with salt, pepper and oil. Stir
9. Place the leg of lamb in a greased baking sheet, place the vegetables next to it and place the baking sheet in a preheated oven at 240°C for half an hour.
10. Then pour wine or broth into the pan, cover with foil, reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees and bake for 1.5 hours.

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