Leg of lamb in salt. Quick and delicious recipes for cooking lamb leg in the oven

A dish such as a baked leg of lamb is prepared for a significant family dinner or for a large company gathered on a festive occasion. And the one who prepares it wants to achieve an excellent result, otherwise the feast will be spoiled. How to bake a lamb leg so that it becomes juicy and fragrant in the oven, in foil or in a sleeve, we will tell in our article.

Cooking features

Lamb is a specific meat, most often consumed in eastern countries. Baked lamb meat on the bone is a hearty, aromatic and healthy dish. It contains a balance of fats and proteins, contains many trace elements. Lamb contains a rare, but necessary for the development of muscles, good condition of hair and skin, a protein compound - argenin, which is absent in poultry meat.

Possessing a special aroma, it is quite high-calorie, but the smallest amount of fat is found in the legs (hams) of the carcass, especially if the lamb is young. The taste of the future baked dish directly depends on the choice and quality of this part of the carcass. A few tips will help you choose the right meat.

• You can judge the freshness of meat by the color of adipose tissue. The light, milky shade of the fat indicates the good quality of the meat, the yellow color of the fat indicates that the meat is not the first freshness. In addition, yellow fat is inherent in aged animals.
• A rich red color, almost burgundy or brown - also indicates a long-lived animal, such meat will be sinewy and tough. It is better to choose a leg with muscle fibers in light pink tones, it is more gentle.
• The ham, completely devoid of fat, will be dry when cooked, and too fatty - it will have a characteristic smell, since lamb fat gives the meat a specific aroma that many do not like.

Having acquired a high-quality mutton ham for cooking, you should take care of its proper cutting and some features of its preparation.

• First, the leg needs to be washed with hot water - this way the fat and litter adhering to the muscle tissue will be washed off more easily.
• If the ham contains part of the pelvic bones, then it is better to ask the butcher to free the leg from them or do it yourself with a meat hatchet.
• Veins visible to the eye, excess fat, films should be removed.
• All meat juices in lamb will be preserved to a greater extent when cooking a leg in the oven - in foil or in a sleeve than on a grill or barbecue. To make it juicy, you should not make a lot of punctures and notches in the meat - so the precious juice will be lost faster.

• The aroma will give the ham marinade and spices. The taste of lamb only wins and fully reveals in combination with many types of herbs, especially with fresh or dry rosemary.
• The marinating process is mandatory for the preparation of a leg of lamb. It is better that it lasts 10-12 hours, it is recommended to marinate the leg for the night, or even for a day. Express marinating lasts 2-3 hours with punctures, as the meat marinates faster.
• Put the pickled ham with spices only in a heated oven.

The most successful meat is obtained if it is left to languish in the oven for a long time at a low temperature.

Roasting time

The ham is baked in the oven for the first 20-25 minutes at a high temperature - 220-230 degrees. For even cooking on each side, the leg should be turned over after 10 to 12 minutes of baking at this high temperature. If the dimensions of the ham allow it to be placed in a pan, you can also brown the leg on it and seal the meat juice inside by frying it in hot oil on both sides for 10–12 minutes. Then the main cooking time of lamb takes place in the oven, at a low temperature - 170-180 degrees.

During the preparation of the baked leg of lamb, from the stunning aromas of the cook and his impatient entourage, the question arises of how long the leg of lamb should be baked. After frying in a pan or intense temperature in the oven, the roasting time of the lamb shank will directly depend on its size. So, it is generally accepted that each kilogram of lamb meat is enough for baking for 35–40 minutes. Accordingly, a 3-4-kilogram leg should be in the oven at a low temperature for 2-2.5 hours.

However, there are still some nuances that should be taken into account in order for the ham to cook well.

• The ham of an older animal usually takes longer to cook, but may remain tough.
• A marinated leg also takes a little longer to cook than a rubbed or spiced leg.
• For even baking, the leg should be covered (without sealing) with foil 50–55 minutes after it has been in the oven.
• Lovers of tender juicy meat should reduce the cooking time of a leg of lamb in the oven to 20 minutes per kilogram of ham.
• Usually, a ham is considered ready if, when cut into it, clear juice is released in the thickest part.
• 20-25 minutes before cooking, the leg in the sleeve or in the foil is opened so that the upper meat is browned.

When the ham is cooked, you should hold it in the switched off oven for 30 minutes, and preferably an hour, so the languishing process will continue. And after laying the hot leg on a dish, you should cover it with foil for 15-20 minutes and only then proceed to cutting and eating.

How to marinate it?

The marinating process is an important step in the preparation of a leg of lamb. Herbs, spices, and marinade must be chosen as carefully as the ham itself. The younger the meat of the animal, the simpler the spices used should be. The leg of a young lamb up to a year and a half is enough to rub with a mixture of salt, vegetable oil, ground black pepper and several spices - rosemary, cumin (zira), thyme.

In addition, it is necessary to calculate the amount of marinade in such a way that it is enough for the entire volume of the baked leg. Usually 200-250 ml of liquid marinade is enough for one kilogram of meat. It is recommended to cook the marinade with a margin, as it tends to drain from the foot. It is better to coat the upper part of the leg with the marinade flowing into the container several times during marinating or turn it over.

The marinade recipe can be very diverse - from simple ingredients that are on hand to exotic ones, such as kiwi or pineapple juice. Garlic (chopped or grated), vegetable oil, salt, black pepper are often used in it. Fresh or dry herbs - cilantro, rosemary, mint, basil, mustard and ginger are especially combined with the specific aroma of lamb, giving the dish a bright taste.

You can reduce the marinating time of meat if you make some deep notches in it and put a garlic clove with spices and marinade there.

A few examples of popular marinades should be given. The proportions are calculated for 1 kg of lamb shank.

• With lemon juice and wine. Mix 250 ml of olive oil with the juice of a large lemon and 200 ml of dry white wine, grind bay leaves, fresh parsley, 12 black peppercorns into a mixture. Grate the meat well, leave for about a day.
• With yogurt or kefir. Low-fat yogurt or kefir - 1 cup, chop mint greens (2-3 sprigs), 6 garlic cloves, put paprika 1-2 tbsp. spoons, ground red and black pepper, salt.
• Classic with vinegar. Cut 2 onions into half rings, chop 3 cloves of garlic, add 100 ml of table vinegar 6%, 100 ml of vegetable oil, 2 sprigs of rosemary and thyme.
• Tomato with greens. Cut 3-4 tomatoes into halves, grate so that the skin remains in the hand, chop half a bunch of cilantro and parsley, a little rosemary and thyme, 1 onion, mix everything with 150 ml of olive oil.
• Mustard honey marinade will make the meat very tender, with a unique honey aroma. 1 st. spoons of honey and ready-made mustard, juice of 1 lemon, 6 pcs. chopped or grated garlic cloves, a mixture of peppers, salt - 0.5 tbsp. spoon, dry spicy herbs (ready Provence mixture or thyme + rosemary + suneli hops).

Recipes

For cooks who do not have much experience in cooking a leg of lamb, it can be recommended to bake it in foil or in a sleeve. Having stuffed your hand, the next dish can be cooked lamb leg in dough, then stewed with vegetables or in wine. We offer to consider simple recipes step by step.

To bake a lamb ham weighing up to 2.5 kg in foil, you will need:

• garlic - one and a half heads or 10-12 cloves;
• olive oil - 6 tbsp. spoons;
• a mixture of herbs (rosemary and thyme) or Provence herbs - 1 tbsp. spoon, chop 4-5 bay leaves;
• black pepper hammers;
• 1 fresh chili pepper, de-seeded
• salt - 1 tbsp. the spoon.

Prepare the dish by following the steps below.

1. Crushed and chopped garlic cloves, combine with herbs, oil, salt and hot spices.
2. On the foil folded in 2 layers (2 meters folded in half), put a clean and dried ham with paper napkins, rub it with the mixture, gently turning it over from all sides.
3. Wrap in foil, then wrap again with a two-layer sheet of foil of the same size. Make sure the foil is not torn anywhere.
4. Leave to marinate in a cool place for 3-12 hours. If the meat is to be marinated for no more than five hours, several cuts should be made in the ham and stuffed with marinade.
5. Without unfolding, place in a hot oven with a temperature of 200-210 degrees.
6. Keep for about half an hour, then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and simmer for 1.5-2 hours.
7. Before being ready to remove the foil from the top of the leg so that it is browned, for 15-20 minutes.
8. Cover with foil, leave in the switched off oven for another quarter of an hour.

In the same recipe, you can use the mustard-honey version of the marinade or any other. The main thing is to prepare the amount of marinade for the weight of the existing ham.

Lamb shank stewed in wine on a baking sheet with potatoes. The aromas of this dish create incredible comfort in the house, and the taste and tenderness will exceed all expectations. So, for a delicious gala dinner you will need:

• lamb ham weighing 2–25 kg;
• potatoes - 1.2–1.5 kg;
• vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. spoons;
• red wine - 8 tbsp. spoons;
• herb seasoning, salt, pepper.
• garlic - 8 teeth.

During preparation, the following steps should be followed.

1. Dry the washed and clean leg, make several deep cuts, stuff them with a mixture of garlic, pepper and salt, rub the meat surface with it, sprinkle with rosemary.
2. Lightly pour vegetable oil on top of the leg and remove for impregnation with spices for several hours.
3. Also grease the baking sheet with oil, put the ham in it, send it to the oven (210 degrees) for baking for 30 minutes, pouring 1-2 tablespoons of wine and meat juice from time to time.
4. In this half hour you need to prepare the potatoes. Young washed potatoes, not peeled (it is desirable to peel potatoes with a dense skin), cut lengthwise into long large slices.
5. Salt, pepper, lightly drizzle potatoes with oil and send to a baking sheet with meat. After 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 180 degrees, cover the baking sheet with foil, bake for another 1.5 hours, periodically pouring wine and your own juice on the meat.

Lamb leg baked in a sleeve with vegetables. In this rich and juicy dish, any vegetables are very tasty, because they are saturated with meat juice themselves and give their flavors to the meat. It is good to cook it in the autumn-winter period, when there are no shortcomings in seasonal vegetables. You will need the following products:

• 1-2 culinary sleeves for baking;
• lamb ham 1.5–2 kg;
• a mixture of any vegetables (tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, broccoli, cauliflower or white cabbage, pumpkin, eggplant, zucchini) - 1.5 kg;
• salt, spices and seasonings: ground spicy herbs and seeds (cumin seeds, suneli hops or coriander and rosemary) - 1 handful;
• juice of 1 lemon or wine vinegar - 3 tbsp. spoons;
• garlic - 7 cloves.

The cooking process consists of the following steps.

1. Grate a small shank generously with a mixture of lemon juice (wine vinegar), salt, garlic gruel, pepper and herbs, leave to soak for several hours under a film.
2. Prepare vegetables - wash, peel, cut into large pieces, put the shank in the sleeve first, place on a baking sheet, put vegetables on the sides of the ham. If the sleeve is torn, you can wrap it in another bag, on top of the torn one.
3. Bake vegetables with meat over intense heat for 20 minutes.
4. Then simmer at a low temperature of 180 degrees for about 2 hours.
5. After removing the meat, let it stand for another 15 minutes.

The knuckle of lamb stewed in the dough will require some skills in working with the dough, but for the sake of the result, it is worth trying to cook this dish. Dough Ingredients:

• flour - 800 g;
• water - 100 ml;
• 6 raw egg whites;
• ground rosemary, salt.

Ingredients for a 2 kg shank:

• garlic - 5 cloves;
• chopped bay leaf, suneli hops, parsley - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• breadcrumbs or breadcrumbs - 4-5 tbsp. spoons;
• salt, pepper - 1 tbsp. the spoon;
• mustard for lubrication - 3-4 s. spoons;
• 1 raw chicken egg.

Prepare by following the steps below.

1. Mix and coat the leg with breadcrumbs with herbs, oil, salt, leave to soak for 2-3 hours.
2. In a hot frying pan, fry the shank on both sides for 12 minutes.
3. Beat egg whites, knead with water, salt, rosemary.
4. Knead the dough well on the work surface, dusting with flour, without making it too steep.
5. Put the dough in a cool place for 1 hour.
6. After an hour, roll out the dough not too thin - about 1 cm.
7. Put the leg smeared with mustard on the rolled out dough, put the rest of the toasted breadcrumbs and garlic mixture from the pan on top of it.
8. Pinch the edges of the dough, leaving a little space inside, grease the surface of the dough with a beaten egg.
9. Put the shank in the dough in the oven so that the pinched edge of the dough is on top. In this case, the temperature of the oven should be 180 degrees.
10. Wait at least 3 hours for cooking. Check the readiness of the leg with a toothpick - pierce it through the dough, if the meat juice is without blood, the meat is ready.

Remember to let the dish stand for another 15 minutes after turning off the oven.

Leg of lamb stewed in beer. Another option for cooking a leg of lamb in a sleeve, in which marinade plays an important role, giving the meat amazing tenderness. You will need:

• leg of lamb 1600–1800 grams;
• large turnip bulbs - 2 pcs.;
• garlic - 6 cloves;
• chopped leaves of lavrushka - 1 teaspoon;
• fresh basil - 0.5 bunch;
• apple cider vinegar or lemon juice - 1 tbsp. the spoon;
• beer - 250 ml;
• vegetable oil - 4 tbsp. spoons;
• salt pepper.

Consider the preparation steps step by step.

1. Rinse the ham, peeled from films, dry with a paper towel.
2. Make small cuts in which to put the halves of the garlic cloves.
3. Rub the whole leg with oil and vinegar (lemon juice), salt, fresh and dried herbs and pepper, leave to soak in aromas for 1-2 hours.
4. Cut the onion into rings, put it in the sleeve, carefully place the foot on top of the onion, pinch the sleeve on one side and pour in the entire amount of beer.
5. First, the ham in beer should warm up well for 30 minutes in the oven at a temperature of 210 degrees.
6. Then leave it to languish at a temperature of 180 degrees for another 2.5 hours. During this time, the shank in the sleeve should be turned over on the baking sheet 1-2 times.

For lovers of unusual combinations of meat flavor, fruity sourness and piquant spiciness, we can offer a recipe for baked lamb leg with prunes in foil. It will require the following ingredients:

• lamb ham weighing 2-3 kg;
• 180 grams of prunes soaked in boiling water;
• 2 onions;
• 2 carrots;
• juice of 1 lemon;
• garlic - 4 cloves;
• mustard (spicy) - 5 tbsp. spoons;
• parsley - 6-7 sprigs;
• vegetable oil - 5 tbsp. spoons;
• salt pepper.

Make a marinade by combining vegetable oil, chopped herbs, mustard, garlic gruel, salt, pepper, lemon juice. Generously flavor the lamb shank with marinade, after cleaning it. At this stage, put your foot in a cool place for several hours.

Make cuts in the meat pulp, putting 2-3 parsley leaves and a few pieces of chopped prunes into them. Coat your leg with mustard. Cut onions and carrots into thin washers, lay on foil folded in 2-3 layers.

Put your foot on the vegetables, carefully wrap everything in foil, making several layers. Send vegetables with drumsticks to a hot oven, after an hour carefully unfold the top layer, pour over the juice that has separated, seal and bake again for another 1–1.5 hours.

Do not rush to cut the finished dish, let the meat lie down for 10-15 minutes still in foil. Serve such a dish with fresh vegetables, a side dish of rice or french fries.

For information on how to cook a leg of lamb in the oven juicy, tender and tasty, see the next video.

I really like lamb and dishes from it. You can cook lamb in different ways, but in this recipe I suggest roasting a leg of lamb. It's not difficult, believe me! Read on for more details on baking.

To roast a leg of lamb, we need:

• Lamb leg (whole) or its wide part - 1-1.5 kg
• Carrot - 1 pc.
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves
• Spicy herbs - I use thyme and oregano, a few sprigs of rosemary
• Salt, pepper - to taste
• Ready mustard - 1 tbsp. spoon (you can use mustard seeds in the form of peas)
• Olive oil
• Sleeve for baking

I marinate lamb in advance, the day before, so that the meat turns out delicious and tender. And I bake in the sleeve already on the day of serving.

How to cook a leg of lamb in a roasting sleeve

1. Wash the leg of lamb thoroughly, cut off unnecessary fat if you want to make it leaner (it can be used in cooking). We clean the carrots and cut them into cubes, 1.5-2 cm long. We clean the garlic, we also cut them into small cubes. Next, using a knife, we make cuts in the meat with a depth of the size of pieces of garlic and carrots. In these cuts we will place the carrots and garlic. Make 15-20 cuts to stuff the leg of lamb. This is quite enough. And the remaining pieces of garlic and carrots, just cut them into cubes, we just add them to the meat.
2. Next, prepare a simple marinade: mix oregano, thyme, 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper, mustard, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Mix everything thoroughly until a homogeneous mass. We rub our lamb leg with the resulting marinade, place it in a cup with a lid or wrap it in aluminum foil and send it to marinate for a day (or at least 8-12 hours).
3. Before baking, place the leg of lamb in a baking sleeve, spread 3-4 sprigs of rosemary around. We carefully tie the edges of the sleeve or use special clips. Do not forget to make several cuts 1-1.5 cm long in the upper part of the sleeve so that the air comes out.
4. And we got to the main secret - how to properly bake a leg of lamb in the oven? This method was told to my friends by a meat seller in the market. The method turned out to be so wonderful that now we all use it to roast lamb. So, you need to preheat the oven to the maximum, usually 250-270 degrees, depending on the model of your oven. We put our lamb in the sleeve (on a baking sheet) in the oven and bake for 1.5 hours, lowering the temperature by 10 degrees every 10 minutes. Thus, after 90 minutes, the temperature will reach 180 degrees, and the leg of lamb will be juicy, tender and perfectly baked. 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking, it is necessary to cut the sleeve at the top so that the lamb is browned. And now our leg of lamb, baked in a sleeve in the oven, is ready!

You can serve a baked leg of lamb as a main course, for example, after a light meal.

Step 1: prepare the leg.

For this dish, you will need a leg of a young lamb and to start, rinse it under running water, pat dry with paper kitchen towels and place on a cutting board.
Arm yourself with a sharp knife and remove coccyx, which you can observe along the top of the leg.
Next cut pelvic bones, there are not very many of them, but during cutting, fragments could remain on the surface of the meat, which should also be removed. Process this part of the leg slowly, making cuts - notches right near the base of the bone, so as not to lose precious pieces of meat.
Now you have a rather difficult job ahead of you, make a small incision along the small bone, and carefully cutting it from all sides, cut off the meat from it. You will see 2 bones connected by cartilage, small and large. Trim the edges of the cartilage and remove small bone.
Now you should be able to see a cartilaginous thicket of a large bone, around which are quite appetizing, but superfluous pieces of meat. To make the leg look more aesthetic during baking, cut these pieces under the base of the cartilage cup on the bone. Also remove fat pocket, it contains too much iron, which is very difficult for the human stomach to digest. Meat trimmings are suitable for preparing any other equally tasty dish, for example, for lamb stew with beans, and fat in small quantities can be used to cook pilaf.
Remove top rough skin layer. Do this carefully so that a small layer of fat remains on the surface of the leg, it will protect the leg from dryness during baking and give the dish a beautiful, golden crust. Now you have a perfectly processed leg on a large bone, during roasting the meat will shrink and the bone will be exposed, so proceed as you wish, if it suits you, you can cook the lamb for baking, but in my case I just cut it down with a kitchen hatchet.

Step 2: Prepare rosemary and garlic.

In order to make a leg of lamb fragrant, you will need very simple ingredients. The main thing is that you mix two rather strong ingredients, fresh spicy rosemary and savory strong aromatic garlic. Peel the head of garlic. Rinse rosemary branches under running water and shake over the sink to remove excess liquid. After that, remove the leaves from the branches, and lay the garlic on a cutting board, and cut each clove lengthwise into layers up to 5 millimeters thick. Leave the ingredients on the cutting board and preheat the oven up to 200 degrees Celsius or up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 3: Prepare the leg for baking.

Now, using a thin, sharp and long knife, make incisions on the surface of the lamb leg at an angle into the flesh. The gaps should be deep, but not large in volume, so that only herbs and spices can enter them. Do not be zealous, and do not make a sieve out of the leg, 5 - 6 cuts from one barrel, from the other, from the third.
After stuffing the cracks with rosemary and garlic, make sure the stuffing is deep enough and does not extend beyond the meat to avoid burning these ingredients during baking.
Place the prepared leg in a glass heat-resistant baking dish, or you can do it immediately during stuffing, whichever is convenient for you. Sprinkle it with salt and black pepper to taste.
In order for the lamb to look very beautiful, with a crispy crust, sprinkle the leg with brown sugar, spreading it over the surface of the lamb in a thin layer. Of course, dried herbs are not an option for lamb, but if desired, you can sprinkle the leg with red ground pepper, fragrant ground pepper and paprika. These 3 spices will add color and taste to the finished dish, but not like aroma.

Step 4: Bake the leg of lamb in the oven.

Pour into the mold with the foot 200 milliliters of pure distilled water. Make sure the oven is preheated to your desired temperature and place the mold in it. Bake the leg for 30 minutes. After this time, reduce the oven temperature to 160 degrees Celsius. Open the oven door and, using a colander, pour over the leg with the juice that it let out during the first 30 minutes of baking. Close the oven and bake the leg some more 15 – 20 minutes. Obviously the cooking time for a leg of lamb will vary depending on its weight, my leg was roasted 1 hour 15 minutes. But in order to know exactly when the meat will reach full readiness, arm yourself with a chef's thermometer and through 15 – 20 minutes After roasting, measure the temperature of the meat.
Simply insert the sharp end of the thermometer into the thickest part of the leg, but not too close to the bone. The ideal temperature is 160 degrees, but this time I wanted to make the meat more juicy and therefore brought it up to only 145 degrees. You can cook at your discretion, I have given the table of degrees below in the tips. Check your temperature every 5 - 7 minutes after 45 – 50 minutes baking. When the lamb has reached your desired consistency and color, remove the pan from the oven with a kitchen towel. Use kitchen tongs to transfer the lamb to a large flat dish and let your masterpiece rest. 15 - 20 minutes. Then decorate the leg to your liking, for example with rosemary sprigs or any garnish, and serve.

Step 5: serve the leg of lamb baked in the oven.

Lamb leg baked in the oven, served hot, you can decorate the dish to your liking. Lamb is quite fatty meat, so baked vegetables, boiled rice or mashed potatoes are an ideal side dish for it. Also, with this dish, you can serve fresh vegetable salads or pickled cuts and, most importantly, more bread or pita bread. It is better to savor this yummy with red sweet or semi-sweet wines, and for children, fresh, only squeezed fruit juices are preferable, which contribute to high-quality digestion. Cook with love and enjoy delicious food! Bon appetit!

- - The prejudice that lamb "stinks" is groundless, but of course it has a rather specific smell. But if it really bothers you, you can soak the meat in cold running water for 12 hours, every hour, changing the liquid to a fresh portion of cold water.

- - Herbs that ennoble the taste of lamb are rosemary, mint, oregano, thyme, basil. Dried herbs won't give your dish the flavor you want, so use them as you wish or omit them altogether. You can also stuff the leg with savory, it gives a garlic smell, hot fresh red pepper, citrus peel, dried fruits, such as cranberries, cherries, apricots.

- - If desired, sugar can be replaced with honey or regular white sugar.

- - The temperature of the readiness of the meat and its color in Fahrenheit: 120 - 125 degrees - the center is bright red, the surface is pink; 130 - 135 degrees - pink center, light brown surface; 140 - 145 degrees - the center is pink; brown surface; 150 - 155 degrees - light brown center, brown surface. And the best result is 160 degrees - the center is brown, the surface is dark brown. A higher temperature means that the foot is dry on the inside and burned on the outside.

If you want to really impress your loved ones and guests, then cook the leg of lamb baked in the oven. Such meat with fragrant garlic and carrots in foil turns out to be surprisingly tender, juicy, soft. A unique marinade based on Provencal herbs, coriander, mint and other spices allows you to nourish lamb fibers with an exquisite and multifaceted aroma, in which a variety of notes organically echo. At the same time, just before the end of baking, the foil unfolds, which allows you to create a very appetizing and piquant crust. The dish turns out amazing! It will be a great option for a family dinner and will perfectly decorate the holiday table!

Cooking time - 6 hours.

The number of servings is 6.

Ingredients

To prepare an excellent meat dish in the oven, you must use the following products and seasonings:

• leg of lamb - 1 pc.;
• dried mint - 1 tsp;
• carrots - 1 pc.;
• provencal herbs - 1 tsp;
• garlic - 2 heads;
• olive oil - 4 tbsp. l.;
• spices for meat - 1 tsp;
• salt and ground black pepper - to taste.

Note! As a spice for meat, you can use dried tomatoes, cumin, ground coriander, sweet red pepper, rosemary, thyme. You can mix these ingredients or take something of your choice.

How to bake a leg of lamb in the oven

Delicious, tender and surprisingly juicy lamb leg baked in the oven is not difficult to prepare. However, be prepared for the fact that it will take you enough time, because in order to get truly tender meat, the product must be marinated for a long time and baked for a long time.

1. First, prepare all the ingredients that you will need in the process of cooking the lamb.

1. Then you need to peel and wash the carrots. Garlic should be peeled. One of the heads, disassembled into separate slices, should be cut into circles. Carrots are cut into medium-sized cubes. The cloves from the second head of garlic should be passed through a special press or finely chopped with a knife and transferred to a separate deep bowl. This part will be used to prepare the marinade.

1. Pour dried mint and Provencal herbs to the garlic paste. The mixture is diluted with salt.

1. The resulting composition is recommended to be diluted with olive oil, but it will not take much. Also, the mixture should be sprinkled with black pepper, which was just ground. The composition will need to be thoroughly stirred, after which the marinade should be infused for at least 10 minutes.

1. Now it’s worth starting the most responsible business - preparing the leg of lamb before baking in the oven. It should be cleaned of films. It also cuts off fat.

1. It is very important to prepare the lamb meat on both sides to avoid excess fat.

1. On a baking sheet, which was previously covered with food foil in three layers, you need to lay out the leg of lamb.

1. The meat is thoroughly smeared on each side with a fragrant marinade.

1. Then, deep punctures must be made over the entire surface of the lamb leg. Through them we will stuff the meat. Pour a little marinade into the prepared cuts. Then they also need to put a piece of carrot and garlic.

On a note! To stuff the meat, just push the ingredients with your finger. This is the easiest.

1. The blank is wrapped in food foil. Use 3 layers of material.

1. Now you need to wait at least 3 hours for the meat to marinate.

1. Then the leg of lamb in foil is sent for baking in the oven for 40 minutes. The oven must be preheated to 250 degrees. Then the temperature is reduced to 190 degrees, and the meat must be left in the oven for another 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The lamb leg cooked according to this recipe, baked in the oven, is excellent.

Video recipes

With the help of video recipes, it will be easier to bake lamb meat in the oven:

A leg of lamb baked in the oven can rightfully be called not an ordinary, festive dish. However, it will turn out tasty and nutritious only if the hostess fully follows the recipe and takes into account all the subtleties of baking. How to cook a leg of lamb in the oven correctly?

Learning to choose lamb

Since ancient times, lamb has been considered a delicacy of exclusively oriental cuisine. But gradually this type of meat is also mastering the western territories. Buying lamb in the store today is not a problem.

It is considered fatty, high-calorie meat, therefore, of the whole carcass, the leg of lamb is best suited for consumption: it has the least fat. When purchasing this part, you should pay attention to the color of the fat layer. It is easy to determine the freshness of the product. If the fat is light, almost white, the meat is suitable for baking. If the fat has acquired a rich yellow tint, the meat has been on the counter for a long time, and the dish from it will turn out to be tasteless due to the pungent smell.

To make the leg of lamb baked in the oven perfectly tasty, follow some secrets of oriental culinary specialists.

What are the subtleties?

• Get a leg of milk lamb. It makes the most worthy dish. In modern conditions, it is very difficult to make such a purchase, since the carcass of a young lamb is a rarity. You can recognize such meat by the light shade of muscle veins and fat. The animal must be no more than 18 months old, otherwise the meat will be old and tough.
• Before cooking, rinse the meat with hot water so that fat is washed off its surface, and remove excess fat with a knife. But a slight layer of fat should still remain on the leg, which will protect the dish from dryness during cooking. An excellent solution would be to bake the leg and foil or sleeve so that it cooks in its own juice.
• Do not make punctures in lamb before sending it to the oven or during baking. Thanks to this, the juice will remain inside, and the meat will turn out juicy.
• You can calculate the cooking time by the weight of the lamb. It takes 40 minutes to bake 1 kg of meat. The thickest piece is placed in the hottest part of the oven.
• The spice of rosemary, which has an unsurpassed light smell, allows you to refresh the heavy taste of lamb. It can be used both fresh and dry.
• After cooking, do not rush to remove the meat and cut it. Let it stand in the oven for 20 minutes - it will be saturated with its own juice as much as possible, it will be juicy and fragrant.

How to prepare meat for roasting?

Before you start cooking, the meat must be carefully prepared. In addition to washing under hot water, you will need to separate the fat and veins on the carcass. It is they who give the lamb a specific smell.

If you often cook lamb, get a wide knife with a very sharp edge. Gently slide it under the fat layer and cut until the fat begins to separate. Pick up the "surplus" with your hand and remove, helping yourself with a knife. Try not to cut the meat.

As already mentioned, it is not recommended to make punctures on a fresh ram carcass before sending it to the oven. However, if you like spices, you can cut the meat lightly and add rosemary sprigs. When using dry herbs, it will be enough to rub the carcass with them. Thyme, mustard, oregano, basil, lemon juice or zest will also work.

Leg of lamb in the oven. Recipe with photo

Ingredients:

• leg of a young lamb;
• vegetable oil (preferably olive) - 1 tbsp. l.;
• a little lemon zest;
• garlic - a few cloves;
• rosemary.

Cooking:

Lamb leg baked in the oven in the sleeve

The roasting sleeve makes the lamb more juicy and tender. For this dish, a marinade based on olive oil is required.

Ingredients:

• mutton;
• vegetable oil (preferably olive);
• grain mustard - 1 tbsp. l.;
• garlic - 4-5 cloves;
• wine vinegar - 1-1.5 tbsp. l.;
• dried herbs;
• soy sauce, salt - to taste.

Cooking:

Lamb baked in dough

Ingredients:

• lamb - 1.5 kg;
• butter - 50 g;
• spices - thyme, basil, oregano;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• lemon juice - 3 tsp;
• egg -1 pc.;
• salt.

For test:

• butter - 1 pack;
• flour - 0.5 kg;
• water - 1 tbsp.

Cooking:

What to serve lamb with?

Not every side dish is suitable for lamb. The ideal addition would be boiled rice, which absorbs fat well and does not leave a feeling of heaviness in the stomach. The same can be said about stewed vegetables. They can be laid out in a form next to the lamb leg while baking, so that the vegetables are saturated with meat juice and absorb excess fat.

A less suitable but still acceptable side dish is potatoes. It can also be baked in the oven along with meat. However, it is worth considering that potatoes and lamb are two foods that are hard to digest, so the dish will turn out to be very satisfying.

When serving lamb, do not forget about fresh herbs and vegetables. They will contribute to the absorption of meat and add a touch of freshness to the festive table. A bone that spoils the picture somewhat can be wrapped with paper or foil.

A well-turned lamb leg baked in the oven will do honor to any hostess. Pay attention to the preparation of meat and do not neglect the nuances. Only in this case you will achieve a truly amazing taste.