Lamb legs- an offal, but at the same time a very useful part of lamb. The most important thing is to choose a quality product. On the market you can find both the legs of a one-year-old lamb and the legs of a two-month-old tender lamb. The youth of the legs is an important criterion for their selection.

The age of lamb can be very easily determined with the help of scales: a leg of milk lamb will weigh about 2 kg, while an older leg of lamb will “pull” up to 5 kg.

High-quality lamb has a delicate pink color and a small amount of fat (see photo).

How to cut and cook?

Cooking a leg of lamb always begins with its careful processing. It is recommended to remove the layer immediately, this is done in order to rid the meat of the specific smell of lamb. For the same purpose, soak the foot in cold water for 12 hours, changing the water every hour.

Cut the leg with a well-sharpened knife. During cutting, fragments of bones could remain on the meat, which should certainly be removed. The leg is processed very carefully, slowly, so as not to damage the meat. Any excess pieces of pulp along the large bone should also be cut off. From meat scraps, you can cook goulash, a warm salad, or fry with liver. The leg is held by the thin part, carefully slipping a well-sharpened knife between the meat and fat. With a knife blade, the fat is gradually exfoliated from the leg, gently steaming the fatty film. Then the film is removed from the leg with one jerk. The fat pocket contains too much iron, which makes the meat difficult to digest. The remaining fat is carefully removed with a knife, trying not to damage the leg itself, it is washed and dried. The small amount of fat that remains on the surface of the leg will give the meat an appetizing golden brown. Next, the leg is cooked according to the culinary recipe, for some dishes it is cut into small pieces or used as a whole.

A cut leg of lamb is stuffed with herbs; fragrant rosemary is excellent in combination with spicy garlic. An incision is made on the surface of the leg with a sharp knife, rosemary and garlic are placed inside the incision. The stuffed leg is placed on a baking dish, on both sides the meat is rubbed with black pepper and salt. Sprinkle the leg with brown sugar in order to form a golden crust during baking. To improve the color of the meat, you can sprinkle it with paprika.

Use in cooking

Legs of lamb are cooked in a variety of ways. So, they are pickled, baked in the oven, stuffed with spices. Lamb goes well with the classic marinade, which consists of vinegar, water, spices. Exotic lovers cook a leg of lamb with honey, mustard, wine. In the sleeve, the leg is always cooked in a marinade, but you can fry or bake meat by rubbing it with spices, which are suitable for fragrant herbs, spicy seasonings and even dried fruits. Chefs recommend cooking lamb with rosemary, basil, pepper, paprika, chili, cilantro, garlic. You can stuff lamb legs with meat and apples, prunes, carrots and sweet peppers, lard. Gourmets can stuff the leg with berries or anchovies.

Lamb legs baked in dough are very tasty. On a pre-prepared leg, small incisions are made, which are filled with garlic cloves, herbs, and oil. Sprinkle a little salt on top and bake in the oven. At this time, roll out the dough to such a size that you can wrap your leg in it. Leg of lamb wrapped in dough, smeared with beaten egg. The meat is baked for 40 minutes, served with baked vegetables and herbs. Lamb is baked to a medium degree of roasting, inside the meat should be pink. Stewed lamb is baked for more than an hour.

In England, lamb legs are always served with mint sauce.

Mint not only goes well with lamb, but also helps to kill the specific smell of this meat, which not everyone likes.

The sauce is prepared very simply: a few tablespoons of sugar are dissolved in boiling water to get sugar syrup, then fresh mint leaves are poured with wine vinegar, and sugar syrup is added after a few minutes.

How to marinate lamb leg and recipes for the best marinades?

To marinate lamb leg deliciously, you do not need to use any special ingredients for this. Every housewife has all the necessary products in the house.

Marinating a leg of lamb for further baking in the oven is as follows. A lamb leg (weighing up to two kilograms) should be washed well, dried and small cuts up to two centimeters deep should be made on the meat. Then, one garlic clove should be put into each incision (you will need eight cloves in total). Next, you need to squeeze the juice from one lemon into a separate bowl, add two tablespoons of rosemary and mustard powder, as well as table salt and black pepper to your taste, stirring well. With the finished marinade, you need to grease the lamb leg, wrap the meat in foil and put it in the refrigerator for a day.

After the specified period of time, the marinated lamb leg must be removed from the foil and put into a special container for baking in the oven. First, marinated meat should be baked for twenty minutes at a temperature of about two hundred degrees, and then lower it to one hundred and eighty and cook for about one hour. The baked leg of lamb will turn out very juicy, fragrant and tasty.

In addition to the classic method of marinating a meat product, there are other marinade recipes.

lamb leg marinade	How to pickle
in cognac	In a bowl for preparing the marinade, you need to combine three tablespoons of cognac, two tablespoons of lemon juice, five tablespoons of sunflower oil, salt, black pepper and spices at your discretion. Rub the lamb leg well with the mixture. After thirty minutes, the meat will be ready for further cooking.
in red wine	Pour two hundred milliliters of red wine, the same amount of sunflower oil into a deep container, add a bunch of chopped parsley, squeezed juice of one lemon, two bay leaves and a couple of peppercorns, one carrot cut into rings and a couple of onions cut into half rings. Place a clean leg of lamb in the marinade for twenty-four hours and put in the refrigerator.
	Put the washed lamb leg and about one hundred grams of fat tail fat into a deep container and pour five hundred milliliters of light beer. Then add a peeled garlic head, half a teaspoon each of thyme, rosemary, basil, hot ground red pepper and a teaspoon of paprika, mix well. Put the meat aside to marinate (you can at room temperature) for eight hours, then put it in the refrigerator for another eight hours. After the lapse of time, remove the lamb leg and fat from the marinade. Garlic also needs to be taken out, chopped and mixed with two tablespoons of olive oil and mustard. The finished mixture must be smeared with meat. Marinated leg of lamb is ready for further roasting.
For barbecue	Combine in a container olive oil, onion, cut into half rings, garlic, chopped herbs, salt and ground pepper to your taste. The leg of lamb should be smeared with this mixture and put in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours.
For tandoor	Initially, you need to immerse the leg of lamb in very salty water (salt to your taste) and leave it overnight. After that, the meat must be rubbed with a spicy mixture for lamb marinade and put garlic cloves into the lamb leg (you will need a head), also add a little chopped greens. Wrap the meat in cling film and refrigerate for about ten hours.
On yogurt	In a shallow bowl, mix two hundred milliliters of natural yogurt, two chopped garlic cloves, two tablespoons of chopped mint leaves, one teaspoon of ground paprika and red pepper. Thoroughly coat the lamb leg with the finished mixture and put in the refrigerator for twelve hours.
On kefir	In a deep saucepan, put two onions, cut into thin rings, a little basil, cilantro, parsley, coriander to your taste and pour in about five hundred milliliters of kefir. The leg of lamb should marinate in this mixture for about ten hours.
On mineral water	Dip the lamb leg into the pan and pour four hundred milliliters of mineral water, add three small onions, cut into thin rings, herbs, black pepper and salt to your taste. The meat is marinated for twenty-four hours in the refrigerator.
With pomegranate juice	Pour about two hundred milliliters of pomegranate juice into a fairly deep container, about fifty milliliters of good vodka, add dried ground herbs and spices to your taste. Fold the leg of lamb into the prepared marinade and refrigerate for eight hours.
With lemon	Pour five hundred milliliters of cold water into an enameled container, pour one tablespoon of granulated sugar, add two chopped onions, a lemon divided into four parts, a little bay leaf, parsley, cloves and table salt to your taste. Marinade boil for about twenty minutes, then cool and place the lamb leg there for about six hours.
	Pour about one hundred milliliters of natural liquid honey, the same amount of sunflower oil and soy sauce into a deep saucepan, add two ground garlic cloves, add table salt, black pepper at your discretion. Dip the leg of lamb into the marinade and refrigerate for about four hours.
With vinegar	First you need to put two onions, cut into half rings, five chopped garlic cloves, one sprig of rosemary, into a fairly deep bowl, add a pinch of thyme, salt and black pepper to your taste, pour in about one hundred milliliters of olive oil, three tablespoons of nine percent table vinegar and well interfere. Dip the leg of lamb in the marinade for about twelve hours.

In any marinade, the leg of lamb will turn out to be very appetizing and fragrant.

Below is a video on how to roast lamb legs on coals.

Lamb legs in the oven

There are several recipes for cooking a leg of lamb in the oven. Before proceeding directly to baking, it is necessary to fry the legs in sunflower oil until a delicious crust. Then the lamb legs are sent to an oven preheated to 250 degrees, baked for 10 minutes on each side, constantly turning the meat over. In order to bake the legs well, they should be kept in the oven for 20 minutes.

The pickled leg in the sleeve is baked for 1 hour. When baking raw meat, lamb is kept in the oven for at least an hour. A little water is poured into the mold, after half an hour the leg is poured with the juice that the meat let out, left in the oven for another 20 minutes. To make the meat as juicy as possible, it should be baked at a temperature of 145 degrees Celsius. The leg of lamb is served on a large platter, decorated with rosemary leaves. The meat is consumed hot, the cooled meat is perfect for slicing, which is served with mustard or sauce.

Since lamb is considered fatty meat, vegetables, mashed potatoes can be served as a side dish. Lamb legs go well with pita bread, herbs, fresh vegetable salads. Traditionally lamb is served with red sweet or semi-sweet wine.

Leg of lamb in the sleeve

Many housewives prefer to bake lamb in their sleeves. The leg of lamb should be marinated first. Marinade can be based on wine vinegar, fragrant herbs. You can marinate meat in honey, soy sauce. Gently with a sharp knife, punctures are made in the pulp and rubbed with a mixture of herbs. The leg is placed in a sleeve, tied and left to marinate for 6 hours. The oven is heated to 220 degrees Celsius and the leg is baked for 20 minutes. Next, the sleeve is opened, the juice that stood out during the baking process is poured over the meat and left for another 20 minutes, the finished meat forms a golden crust.

In many European countries, a leg of lamb is traditionally baked for Easter dinner. This dish looks very appetizing and exudes an amazing aroma of fried meat. Legs of lamb will decorate the table at any holiday.

How to fry and boil?

Roasting a leg of lamb takes a little patience and effort. Initially, you need to prepare a marinade for lamb meat. To do this, mix sunflower oil, chopped herbs, juice of one lemon, chopped garlic, ground pepper, and salt to your taste in a shallow container. Thoroughly rub the lamb leg with the finished mixture, wrap it in food foil and put it in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours. After the time has passed, the meat will need to be removed from the refrigerator and let it lie for about thirty minutes at room temperature. Then we remove the foil from the meat, and put the leg of lamb on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for frying at a temperature of two hundred and thirty degrees. Turn the meat every fifteen minutes. After thirty minutes, the temperature in the oven should be reduced to one hundred and eighty degrees and fry the meat until tender.

To check whether the leg of lamb is ready or not, you need to pierce the meat with a knife. If white juice comes out, then the dish is ready. If the juice is bloody, the meat should be cooked a little more.

Once the leg of lamb is ready, it must be wrapped in foil and covered with a towel to cool on top.

In addition to frying, the leg of lamb can also be boiled. To do this, put the product in an enameled pan and fill it completely with water, adding peppercorns and table salt. (one liter of water will require two peas and one teaspoon of salt). Boil over low heat for about an hour and a half. Then salt again and boil for another twenty minutes. Boiled lamb leg is ready. For cooking, cooks advise taking only the hind legs of lamb.

How to smoke a leg of lamb?

To smoke a leg of lamb, you must first rinse the meat well and make small cuts on it with a depth of at least two centimeters. Then generously rub the leg of lamb with table salt, a spicy mixture of ground rosemary and thyme and brush with olive oil. Wrap the meat in cling film and refrigerate for about twenty-four hours. After the lapse of time, the leg of lamb must be baked until half cooked in the oven at a temperature of two hundred degrees, and then allowed to cool.

Now we start the process of smoking. To do this, you need a barbecue and a skewer, on which you need to plant meat. A skewer with a leg of lamb should be placed over the smoke and the meat should be smoked for about an hour and a half, turning occasionally.

You can also make cold smoked lamb leg. It is best to cook the hind legs of lamb. So, wash and dry the meat well. Make a marinade by mixing two tablespoons of a spicy mixture (dill, garlic, pepper, coriander, parsley) with five grams of granulated sugar, twenty grams of nitrite salt and table salt (it will take about five hundred grams). Spice it is necessary to rub the leg of lamb, wrap it in cling film and put it in the refrigerator for exactly seven days.

After a week, the leg of lamb should be removed from the film and hung out in the cold to dry for about five days. After the specified period of time, you can directly proceed to the smoking of meat itself. In the smokehouse, the temperature of cold smoke should not exceed twenty-five degrees. The cooking process takes about ten hours.

After the leg of lamb is ready, it must be dried. To do this, hang the meat in a dark, cool place for seven days. After a week, delicious smoked lamb leg will be ready to eat. The shelf life of the product is about two months. Store only in the refrigerator.

Prepare the ingredients.

Wash the lamb ham and pat dry with paper towels.
Cut off excess fat from the ham (it is better to leave a little fat (thin layer) - it will give the meat juiciness).
cook marinade.
Peel the garlic and finely chop.
In a bowl, mix mustard, honey, lemon juice, minced garlic, olive oil, rosemary or thyme leaves.

Grate the ham well with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Coat with marinade, cover with rosemary, wrap in foil or cling film and put in the refrigerator for a day.

Tip 1. You just need to rub the meat well with salt, pepper and cooked marinade. At the same time, it is not necessary to stuff it with garlic so that juices do not flow out of the meat, during the baking process, from the holes made.

Tip 2. Meat can be marinated from 3 hours to several days. But the longer the ham marinates, the more saturated and bright the taste of the finished meat will be.

2-3 hours before cooking, take the meat out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.
Grease a baking sheet lightly with olive oil and lay out the ham.

Preheat the oven to 230°C.
Put the baking sheet with the ham in a hot oven and bake for 20 minutes, until a crust forms.
Reduce temperature to 100°C.
The ham, if desired, can be covered with foil and baked for 3 hours (at 100°C).
Then reduce the temperature to 90°C and bake the ham for about 2-3 more hours (depending on weight).
If there is a meat thermometer, we measure the temperature in the thickest piece of ham (note that the temperature is given in degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit):

Medium Rare (medium) - 54-57°C / 130-135°F
- medium-well - 60-63°C / 140-145°F
- fully fried (well-done) - 65-68°C / 150-155°F

Advice. For my taste, the optimal temperature for roasting lamb is about 63 ° C (medium-well). At this temperature, the meat is deliciously juicy (with pink juice), tender and tasty.
Meat that is completely fried (well-done) turns out to be drier and not juicier - lamb is better not to fry a little. Although, everyone has their own preferences.

Wrap the finished ham in foil and leave in a warm place (you can in the ajar oven) for 15 minutes, rest.
It goes well with lamb as a side dish: rice, potatoes, green beans, fresh vegetables, etc.

I wish you bon appetit!

Lamb meat has been highly valued since ancient times. Time passes, but it still remains one of the most popular types of meat.

So, there are many recipes for cooking lamb: it can be fried in a pan or charcoal, boiled, baked in the oven or cooked in a tandoor.

However, in order for the lamb dish to turn out to be truly tasty, before proceeding with the direct cooking process, it should be marinated.

How to marinate lamb leg? What marinade ingredients do you use? You will learn more about this from our material.

Composition and characteristics of meat

First of all, it should be noted that lamb meat is a rather high-calorie product. So, there are about 300 kilocalories per 100 grams. This fact should be taken into account by people who are on diets, as well as those who want to lose extra pounds, adhere to a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition.

In addition, meat contains quite a lot of cholesterol. Therefore, people who already suffer from a high content of this substance in the blood should refrain from eating lamb.

It should also be noted that per 100 grams of the product there are 9 grams of saturated fat and 25 grams of protein (carbohydrates are completely absent in the composition).

As for useful vitamins and microelements, in the composition of lamb you will find substances such as: vitamins A, D, C, as well as B vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium and other components.

It is important to take into account the fact that this type of meat is quite difficult for the human digestive system. Therefore, it is not recommended for young children and the elderly.

marinade recipes

There are a wide variety of ways to marinate meat. Consider the most popular of them.

Wine

To prepare this marinade, you will need 500 milliliters of white wine, a few cloves of garlic, vegetable oil, salt, rosemary, oregano and thyme.

Important! Do not worry about the fact that the marinade contains alcohol. During the cooking process, it will completely evaporate, so the baked pork marinated according to this recipe can be consumed by both drivers and minors.

So, having mixed all the above ingredients with a leg of lamb, you need to leave the meat for several hours (if possible, overnight). Lamb marinated according to this recipe after cooking will be insanely tender and soft.

Citric

In order to marinate the leg in this way, you need to take a lemon (you only need lemon juice), vegetable oil, garlic (it should be passed through a garlic press in advance), rosemary and salt.

Washed and dried meat should be put in a deep container, and then thoroughly greased with marinade and, covering the container with cling film, refrigerate for 12 hours.

tomato

The following products should be prepared: fresh tomatoes (they must be cut into slices), garlic (cut into slices), onions (cut into rings) and red allspice.

Put the tomatoes on the bottom of a deep container. Grate the leg of lamb with garlic and onion, sprinkle with allspice red pepper and lay on the tomatoes. Place another layer of tomatoes on top of the meat. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Lamb is considered one of the most delicious and expensive types of meat. It requires proper processing and preparation, then the dish turns out to be incredibly tasty and truly exquisite. There are many recipes for cooking lamb at home, and the best of them will be described below.

How to marinate lamb deliciously

So, lamb is, first of all, a delicious barbecue. But meat can be marinated not only in order to cook it in nature, because such processing is perfect for homemade dishes:

The meat is marinated for at least 2 hours. Ideally, it should stand in the marinade for 3 hours. The calorie content of such a dish is 226 kcal per 100 gr.

What is the cooking process:

1. The onion will need to be peeled and cut into half rings, then mash it well with your hands and set aside;
2. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, then carefully remove the skin from them and chop very finely;
3. Put the pieces of lamb in a deep bowl, cover them with onions, pour over finely chopped tomatoes, as well as tail fat;
4. Finely chop the greens, pour it into the meat, salt and pepper all the ingredients to taste, mix with your hands;
5. The meat should be marinated at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours.

How long does it take to bake a leg of lamb in the oven

The baking time here will depend on the selected temperature. For example, at a temperature of 170 ° -180 °, this dish should be cooked for at least 2 hours. If the temperature is 220 °, then 20 minutes will be enough for baking.

Classic recipe

In order to cook lamb leg at home according to the classic recipe, you will need a number of products:

The time it takes to prepare the product will be exactly 12 hours, the preparation itself will take 2 hours and 40 minutes. 100 g of such a dish will contain about 276 kcal.

A leg of lamb baked in the oven will turn out unique if you strictly follow all the stages of cooking:

Lamb leg baked in the oven in foil

This dish will become a real highlight of the festive table, and for it you will need the following products:

The leg of lamb should lie in the marinade from 3 hours to 12 hours (depending on the time available), it will take about 2 hours to cook in the oven. The approximate number of calories in 100 g of such a dish will be 300 kcal.

How to cook a leg in foil step by step:

Lamb leg baked with potatoes in the oven in the sleeve

A meat dish cooked in a sleeve will turn out to be very juicy and fragrant, and this will require the following ingredients:

The meat should be marinated for about 2 hours, the cooking itself will also take about 2 hours. 100 g of such a dish will contain 220 kcal.

Step-by-step recipe for cooking a dish in the sleeve:

1. Prepare the marinade in advance: for this, mix rosemary, pepper, salt in a deep bowl, pour everything with a part of olive oil;
2. Finely chop the garlic, add it to the marinade, chop the bay leaf there;
3. Rinse lamb and rub thoroughly with marinade, then refrigerate for 2 hours;
4. In the meantime, peel the potatoes, cut them into small cubes or slices, put them in a bowl and sprinkle with rosemary, salt, pepper, then add olive oil;
5. After 2 hours, put the potatoes in the sleeve, and then the leg of lamb;
6. Preheat the oven to 180°;
7. Bake the dish for 2 hours, then serve sliced ​​​​on the table.

Recipe from Stalik Khankishiev

The dish according to the recipe of the famous culinary specialist will turn out not only very tasty, but also beautiful. Such a baked leg of lamb in the oven will become the centerpiece of any holiday table:

It should take at least 2 hours - 2.5 hours to prepare this dish. 100 grams will contain about 224 kcal.

Cooking for this recipe:

1. It will be necessary to remove the vein and the femur from the leg, and then clean the muscles from the films;
2. Remove excess fat and fat from the meat, set them aside;
3. Finely chop the onion and carrot;
4. Pour boiling water over the tomato and remove the peel from it, then also finely chop;
5. Put the pan on the fire, put the fat cut from the meat into it and melt it (but do not fry);
6. When there is enough fat at the bottom of the pan, you can spread the onion and fry it until golden;
7. The next step is to put the carrots to the onion, stew it until soft (the aroma of pilaf should appear);
8. At the end, spread the finely chopped tomato, fry all three ingredients until the smell of fresh tomato disappears;
9. Pour a little boiling water into the pan (you can use the broth) and simmer the vegetables until fully cooked, salting them and adding a small amount of sugar;
10. Transfer the prepared vegetables to a separate bowl, they must cool (it is desirable that the fat freezes completely, otherwise it will be impossible to stuff the meat with warm filling);
11. When the vegetable stew is cold, it can be laid out in the cavity of the lamb leg, which was formed during the extraction of the tendon and bone;
12. Pepper and salt the filling again, then tie a thread around the leg (you can even sew it up);
13. Put the lamb on the oven grate, substitute a suitable dish from below, into which fat and juice will drain, bake the dish at 180 ° for 1.5 hours - 2 hours, gradually lowering the temperature towards the end of cooking;
14. Put the finished dish on a large plate, remove all the threads, slightly open the meat so that the vegetable stew flows out and looks like a side dish.

Leg of lamb baked in the oven, according to the recipe of Yulia Vysotskaya

This dish from Yulia Vysotskaya, a culinary guru, can also rightfully be considered a festive masterpiece:

As usual, the meat will need to be marinated, which will take about 2 hours. Cooking in the oven itself will take about 2.5 hours. Calorie content per 100 grams is 280 kcal.

Meal preparation:

1. Rinse the lamb leg and cut off the lower part (bone);
2. If the meat is too fatty, remove excess fat;
3. Peel the garlic, cut each clove lengthwise into 3-4 parts;
4. Make punctures over the entire surface of the meat, put garlic in each of them (leave some of it for later);
5. Wipe the meat with salt and pepper on all sides, set aside in a cool place for a couple of hours;
6. In the meantime, peel the onion, cut each head into 4 pieces;
7. Peel the carrots, cut into rings diagonally;
8. Grease a large baking dish (or a baking sheet), put vegetables on the bottom, salt and pepper them;
9. Put the lamb leg on the vegetables, put it on top of the rosemary sprig, and pour a little water on the bottom;
10. Put the baking sheet in the oven (it should be heated to 250 °), bake for 1 hour, but already at 220 °;
11. In the meantime, prepare crumbs for a special crust: chop the loaf, chop the parsley very finely, pass the remaining garlic cloves through a press, mix everything, add rosemary and thyme, then salt and season with vegetable oil;
12. Remove the meat from the oven and grease it with a layer of mustard, and pour the resulting bread crumbs with seasonings onto the mustard, press it tightly against the meat and send it back to the oven for 1.5 hours, while lowering the temperature to 170 °;
13. Serve the finished dish whole, laying it with baked vegetables.

Cooking Tricks

Housewives should take note that meat such as lamb is very "loving" cilantro, parsley, dill and bay leaf.

If lamb is cooked at the same time as vegetables, then the latter are best wrapped in foil and placed on a baking sheet next to the meat.

Ready baked lamb leg should be stored in the refrigerator, but not more than 48 hours.

When choosing lamb meat, you should pay attention to its color: the lighter it is, the younger the animal, which means that the dish will turn out more tender.

Another recipe for a delicious baked leg of lamb is in the next video.

The secret of the longevity of the venerable Caucasian aksakals is not so much in the clean mountain air and hiking after the flocks, but in the special meat menu. The favorite delicacy of the inhabitants of the mountains is lamb, namely, tender and juicy lamb leg, rubbed with a mix of fragrant spices and whole cooked on a fire or baked in the oven.

Each of the many peoples living at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains and in their vicinity has their own secrets of cooking meat, and we will share some of them.

Lamb leg - the main dish of the feast

In the Caucasus, not every guest is greeted with a leg of lamb baked in spices, but only the most desired and respected. If you also have to host someone special at home, then you can treat him with this particular delicacy. And in order for it to turn out right and cause a desire to taste additives, you should start cooking it with the choice of meat.

• Only from the meat of a young lamb (an animal under 1 year old is considered such) can a real meat delicacy be prepared. The color of the fillet will help determine the age of the lamb: in a young individual, the tenderloin is light with a pinkish tinge, tender and almost fat-free.
• Thin layers of fat on lamb are white. A yellowish tint indicates that the ram has lived in the world for several years.
• Lamb shank for baking in the oven must certainly be the freshest. Determining freshness is simple: press your finger on the fillet, and if it springs up and there is no dent left on it, then you can take it.
• Of course, you can freeze lamb fillet on the bone, but the taste during cooking will no longer be as impressive as the taste of fresh meat.

The subtleties of cooking a leg of lamb in a home oven

The first and perhaps the most important subtlety is that the meat must be kept in a spicy marinade before being sent to the oven for baking.

The pickling period is at least 12 hours, and even better - 2 days. Such a long stay in the marinade is necessary to remove the specific aroma of lamb fillet.

• Usually meat can be washed in any water, but lamb - only in warm water. Cold water will not cope with the fatty film that covers the lamb meat fibers from the inside, and will not clean contaminated places well.

• The leg can be baked both on the bone and without it. If you prefer the second option, then before marinating the shank, you need to put the meat part down, make an incision along the bone and remove the bone in a circular motion (using pruning).

You should not cut off all the fat layers, otherwise, as a result, a piece of fillet that is too dry will end up on the plate.

• Zira easily interrupts an unpleasant smell and at the same time gives the lamb a delicious spicy aroma.
• In the olive oil-based marinade, add a little dried basil, a couple of sprigs of tarragon, a pinch of mint, ground cardamom, a handful of sesame seeds, oregano. Adjust the amount to taste. And no flavor enhancers!

Leg of lamb baked in the oven in a spicy marinade: Caucasian recipe

Ingredients

• - about 2 kg + -
• - 3 large cloves + -
• - 100 ml + -
• Collection of spices for lamb- 0.5 tsp + -
• Zira grains - 2-4 tsp + -
• coriander seeds- 1 tsp + -
• Hot red pepper (powder)- 1 tsp + -
• - 1 tsp + -
• Rosemary - 1-2 tsp + -
• - 1-2 tablespoons + -
• - 1 st. + -

How to bake a delicious leg of lamb in a home oven in foil

We offer one of the best recipes for roasting lamb shank. It is simple and economical, but in order to make a real delicacy from young lamb meat, it will take time to marinate the fillet. Therefore, plan a feast with a Caucasian flavor in advance.

Let's take care of the marinade

• First of all, we combine cumin in one mortar (it is indispensable when cooking lamb - do not spare it!), Coriander, peppercorns (black), rosemary.
• The grains of all these spices need to be crushed or ground, but not too finely. You can use a special kitchen grinder for spices or a regular coffee grinder.
• In the fragrant mixture, add spices for lamb (sold in the market), chopped garlic cloves, red chili.
• Now we will fill all the spices collected together with olive oil, salt. The consistency of the mass for pickling should be the same as mashed potatoes - medium density.

Let's start preparing the meat

• We wash the leg, cut off the lower part along the joint - there is still not enough meat there.
• We cover the leg of lamb with a fragrant oil mixture and rub it well. For a better effect in the meat, before this, you can make holes with a sharp knife and lay part of the spicy mixture there.
• We take a baking sleeve (an ordinary plastic bag will do), put the meat there, wrap it tightly and send it to the refrigerator for 1.5, and even better - for 2 days.

Features of roasting marinated lamb in the oven

• We turn on the oven, set the temperature scale to 160 degrees.
• We take a high form with sides (glass or ceramics), put a well-marinated leg into it, taking it out of the bag before that.
• Pour water into the bottom so that the meat does not burn during stewing.
• Before sending the form to the oven, cover it with a sheet of foil on top and tuck it to create tightness.
• The roasting time of meat is at least 4 hours, and if the leg is wide in section, then all 4.5 hours will go away.

When the timer beeps, remove the mold from the oven, remove the foil and take out the leg. Its meat turns out to be so soft that it will not work to cut it into even slices, like boiled pork.

And in the Caucasus, they don’t stand on ceremony with it too much, but they serve refreshments, simply breaking them into pieces. Make a white vegetable salad dressed with sour cream or low-fat yogurt for a nice and tasty addition.

The original homemade recipe for leg of lamb in the oven with dried apricots

This recipe is more suitable for those who do not like a lot of spices and prefer delicate flavors. Lemon juice will give the lamb fillet softness, and dried apricots will enrich it with a slightly audible fruity aroma.

Ingredients

• Lamb leg (small) - about 1 kg;
• Zira - 1-2 tsp;
• Light dried apricots - 10 dried fruits;
• Rosemary dry - 2 sprigs;
• Basil (dried) - 2 tsp;
• Powdered black pepper - 1/2 tsp;
• Lemon - half a fresh fruit;
• Olive oil - 3-4 tbsp. l.;
• Salt - 1 tsp

How to cook leg of lamb step by step in the oven in foil with dried apricots

• Add the prepared spices to the olive oil (you can put them whole or grind them in a coffee grinder), add some salt, squeeze out the lemon juice.
• Mix all the marinade ingredients and set aside for now.
• Cut dried apricots in half.
• Armed with a thin sharp knife, we make deep punctures along the bone - from the side of the thigh and shank, as well as in the fleshy part.
• We put dried apricots in them, sticking it as deep as possible.
• Now the lamb leg needs to be rubbed on all sides with a salted butter-spicy mixture.
• Wrapped in cling film, send it to "rest" in the refrigerator.
• When the meat on the bone is thoroughly marinated and softened, we put it in an oven preheated to 200 degrees, placing it on a wire rack. Do not forget to put a baking sheet under the bottom, where the fat will drain. You can also bake on a baking sheet, as described in the previous recipe.

Cooking time depends on the thickness of the leg and the characteristics of the oven, but on average it takes 2-2.5 hours. We check the softness of the meat and its degree of baking in the old fashioned way - with the help of a fork: if it easily pierces the fillet and pink ichor does not flow out of the holes, then the treat is ready.

If the leg suddenly starts to burn, you need to reduce the heat from the burning side or cover that place with foil.

Meat on the table is always appropriate and "makes the weather" during any celebration. A well-marinated and oven-roasted leg of lamb is a much tastier alternative to fried chicken wings and thighs.

Drinking a treat with good dry wine from grapes harvested in the valleys of sunny Georgia or at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, the conversation will become truly sincere.