Sous Vide Lamb - Fail

SteveM_20803

I picked up two - 2.5 butterflied leg of lamb roasts. On the outside of the package, I saw the it was from New Zealand. It was cryopacked, no brine or anything when I cut them open. I marinated each one with olive oil, crushed garlic, fresh rosemary and fresh oregano for 8 hours. When I vacuum packed them for sous vide I removed most of the garlic and threw in some extra rosemary, oregano and more olive oil. Based upon a little research on the internet, I chose to cook them at 135F for 20 hrs. When it was done, the meat was a nice pink color, and there was a lot of juice in the bag. Everything looked good until I took the roasts out of the bag. My fingers sunk into the flesh rather easily, and didn't spring back. It was completely broken down. In fact, my loving family joked that I had succeeded in making "mashed lamb", "lamb pate" and instead of taking it out of the bag, I should have just cut one of the corners of the bag and "piped it out like lamb frosting".

So, I have searched the internet some more. I've seen recipes for leg of lamb ranging from 2 hours to 48 hours and temps from 129 F to 170 F. So, to say the least I am confused. I am really temped to go get some more roasts and give it another go, I am not sure where to start with time and temp. I'd really like to get a handle on where the train came off the track on this one before. Or was this just an anomaly?

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Johan_Edstrom_5586

Where these the typical Costco roasts?

I normally halve those, then quarter (if needed for 3-4 people)

and do them 4-5h up to 6-7 at 54C.

All of the lamb I post seems to be Costco...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TcluyJuNvGY/UYG4y8lP4AI/AAAAAAAAS7k/wNCe4KP94-w/w1071-h1428-no/13+-+1

Is what the roasts look like cut up.

I think there was an earlier post asking about a whole leg bone - in,

that seems closer to the time you were using.

tshewman

@SteveM - if you don't mind me asking, were they 2.5 lbs each? I ask because I took the bone out of the leg I had, trimmed and divided to just under 3 lbs. and cooked it for 15 hrs at 133/56, cooled and reheated for 2 hours at 130/54.5 and the meat was perfect. Really sorry to hear. That's an expensive lesson, thank you for sharing. We learn more when things go wrong. :-)

SteveM_20803

Each roast was about 2.5 lbs., shaped like a half a football, roughly 3.5" in diameter on the larger side coming to almost a point on the other end, 4.5" long. I purchased them at Aldi's. They were on sale when I got them, in fact the last two. I stopped at two other Aldi's yesterday to see if they might have any left over, I was curious to see if there was something added or done to them to make them "tender".

@Johan Edstrom, is there something special about a Costco roast? And no mine did not look like your link, round cylinder like a beef tenderloin.

The couple times I have cooked lamb it has been slow cooked lamb on the grill with indirect heat. Of course it meant that I had to pay lots of attention to it. I was hoping sous vide would make easier.

Right now, I just want to pick up another roast ( I had two more meals planned out with the leftovers) and take another shot at it, but I am not sure where to start. No offense to either of you @Johan or @Todd, but to me there is a big disparity in the cooking times the two of you use. LOL.

tshewman

@SteveM, I have done shanks for 2 days and boneless leg once before for 18hrs but it was a full leg (boneless), so was comfortable with my time(s). I agree that even others online have a great discrepancy with some I've seen do 24+hrs for a butterflied boneless leg. Where that precise point is of diminishing (or dosolving) returns, I am uncertain and I suspect the only way to know is to set up some sort of test. I will say that for my roast, I would not wanted to go longer and was pushing my mental/emotional envelope (but had a back up in place it went south). If I were to do over, I would probably reduce the time with this small of a cut. For what it is worth.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

@SteveM - Like I said, I butcher my legs. (Nothing special about the Costco, they are NZ and just "cheap")

The butchering would greatly affect the cooking time.

SteveM_20803

@Johan, after you butcher your roasts, how much do you think they weigh? I am going to go to Woodmans and pick up another boneless roast and try again. I am not going to let a little lamb beat me at this game. LOL.

@Todd, I think I will try testing half the roast at 6-8 hours and the other at 14-16hr.

All words of advice is always appreciated.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

@SteveM, weight isn't necessarily as important as the volume I think?

I usually quarter it, so .25 of total

tshewman

@SteveM-I think the 6-8 hour (depending on size) would be an excellent time frame. I've done beef roasts (e.g. Rib) for that length of time and served as steaks and they have been quite nice. The reason I mention that is leg of lamb is often considered a tough cut, but my bias is it's not like the shank or similar and thus doesn't require as long. Also the reason I will likely not do mine as long next time. I also did not flatten mine out when vacuuming, I tied it in a roll so the thickness created by the tied roll may have saved our roast. I also poached it by using a modified bordelaise (red wine aromatics, lamb and veal stocks). I think I was likely on the outer edge (just need the tenderizing equipment to test it :-)...). This is also something I personally enjoy (and has been a hit here every time). Lots of "food for thought" from others as well and look forward to the their contributing continued thinking process. Please keep us updated.

lockgavin

I was also curious (as I had my own personal fail) about lamb. I was wondering how much you guys trim your lamb legs? I got a lamb leg on the weekend and had the butcher bone it out for me. I then cut it into chunks for skewers to sous vide. I did it at 133/4hours, the meat was about 50/50. Some, insanely tender and great, others quite chewy. It was disappointing because the texture of the good chunks was perfect. Could it be more of a trimming issue than a cooking issue? Just seemed like if I removed a lot of that stuff that I thought might be tough, i wouldn't be left with a heck of a lot of useable pieces of meat. Not to mention if I cooked it like a roast and couldn't trim out those pieces then what would I do?

Any thoughts?

tshewman

@Vinlo, I personally remove a fair bit of the fat and removed the long thin muscle (presumably the sartorius) and used it to flavor the lamb jus(es). There are a number of different muscles (think human leg) and although I didn't completely dissect it before rolling and tying, once cooked, it was nicely and easily dissected before searing (made portioning easy). This also means it made it easier to cut across the grain to make it tender (as opposed to with the grain). Perhaps I thought too much about it but my background is in human science and I get curious about these things. So, part of me can't help but to wonder if it was how the meat for the skewers was cut as opposed to just cooked (hope that makes sense).

SteveM_20803

@Johan, I was asking the weight as a matter of reference for the picture in the link you posted. With all due respect, as your cooked experience is way above mine, I would think volume isn't a good measure either and it would be more dimensional; thickness. A long thin cut could have the same volume as a solid cube, but I bet they would cook differently. I want to leave mine in a roast form, torch it and cut it at the table for presentation.

I'm heading to Woodman's tomorrow as I know they have Costco priced lamb there. I plan to give it another shot this weekend.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

You are entirely correct, bad english on my part

- the thickness is the interesting thing.

For the roast form, if you don't have it the PolyScience app is pretty handy - it allows you to calculate on

a ballparkish level time to heat, pasteurisation and so on.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

The last lamb leg I did SV was ~60°C for 4 hours. I bone the leg and cut it into roast size chunks based on muscle groups.

I eat a lot of lamb and I prefer old school methods for most cuts - Shanks in the pressure cooker for 1 hour; bone in leg and rack in a low oven (~225°F) until internal temp 58°C. I've SVed nearly every cut of lamb, tongue, whole heads, shanks, racks, legs, feet and the texture of old school wins every time.

prince_of_porcelain

@SteveM - Where are you from? I'm up in Appleton and the only Woodman's I know are in Wisconsin. Doubly curious since you mentioned a local surplus centrifuge stockpile some time ago.

SteveM_20803

@Brian Douglas, Always good to meet a fellow Wisconsinner. I live in Muskego, on the border of Milwaukee County and Waukesha County. And I just got 3 lamb roasts from Woodman's, going to do the repeat this weekend.

SteveM_20803

I wanted to follow up on the lamb posting. Over the weekend I halved a 4.5lb boneless leg of lamb roast, making them similar in portion size of my last attempt. Same marinade, spices, etc. One thing I did notice is this roast was more marbled, and had more muscle cluster if that makes sense. The first roast was extremely lean and pretty much a solid mass of meat other than where the bone was removed. The first one could have been the top chunk the second leg roast. Regardless, there was a difference in the roasts already.

I dropped the first bag in about 10 hours before dinner and the second at 6 hours before dinner. With side by side comparisons, the whole family agreed the texture of both was excellent, with the 6 hour being more firm, with significant marbling and less tender. While the 10 hour was minimally more tender, it was significantly more flavorful. The fat cap had mostly disappeared and all the marbling within the meat itself was gone too.

That entry in my log has a star next to it and will be the basis for how I cook lamb. Good thing as the in-laws are coming to visit and I know they appreciate lamb.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@SteveM - I grew up in Waukesha but haven't lived there in over 30 years. For special occasions, try Grasch's Market on North Avenue in Brookfield (I just checked their website and it's still there). Also, @Johan is the king of lamb here and he swears by Costco for lamb.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

For cheap lamb

We used to live in Appleton, it seems moving away from WI is good for you cuisine

SteveM_20803

@Jack Mayer - I just picked up 6lbs of short ribs from Grasch's. I believe they are the ONLY food store that only sells prime meat in the area. Everywhere else is choice unless it is a special purchase. Good thing they are out of my normal range of travel or I'd be there every day.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@SteveM - I know exactly what you mean. But it's a great place for a splurge ...