Lamb is a point of contention in our family particularly because we can never agree on a degree of doneness.

I'm a medium. I have long associated well-done meat with dryness, and nothing breaks my heart like a dry, $40 hunk of meat. The rest of my extended family is decidedly in the well done column. My family doesn't eat red meat often and when they do, the slightest pink or red elicits quips like "Thanks for the tartar" or "Is this blood? I'm not vampire". It's a veritable catch-22.

Man, 24, seeking well done but juicy roasted leg of lamb.

Enter steam-roasting. My Grandma is 96 and while she has not official culinary training, she has deep bag of cooking tricks. In recent years, she has angered the family by making excellent dishes we never knew she could make. Similar feelings of "why didn't you tell me this earlier" arose when she suggest we steam-roasted the leg of lamb. After cooking and eating the lamb, it is my firm belief that it is an impossible to cook a dry lamb with this method... we baked the thing for almost 4 hours!

This will be the best leg of lamb you've ever made.

INGREDIENTS

FEEDS 10-12

  • 6-8 lb bone-in leg of lamb
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp stone ground mustard (or dijon)
  • 3 tbsp kosher salt
  • 2 tbsp crack black pepper
  • 2 tbsp poultry seasoning
  • 1 tbsp of rosemary
  • 1 1/2 cups of braising liquid (red wine, broth, water)

COOK TIME

Total: 6 hours mins

  • Preparation: 30 mins
  • Baking: 30 mins

HARDWARE

  • Large roasting pan with tight lid
  • Cutting Board
  • Knife

METHOD

  1. Mix olive oil, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning in a bowl. 
  2. USING YOUR HANDS, lovingly rub marinate paste into leg of lamb. Let marinade at least two hours. 
    • This is a very versatile marinade in that you can add any flavor you want as long as you have the salt, pepper, olive oil and minced garlic base. Try sage, mint or herbs de province. You can even use it for poultry and pork.  Told you— versatile. 
  3. Roast lamb at 350 for an hour, uncovered.
  4. Add the braising liquid and cover with lid. 
    • At this juncture, you can also add any vegetables that you would like to benefit from the tasty lamb juice and steam action going on inside of the roasting pan. We chose new potatoes because we had some on hand. We tossed them with a little salt and pepper before we threw them in. 
  5. Roast for another 1-2 hours, basting about every 30 minutes. Lamb will be done when it is fork tender and causing you to the think of creative ways you can pick at it without having folks notice.