Braised lamb March 8th, 2011

Impressed by Vlad Piskunov's video, before the weekend I asked to buy a rack of lamb at the market, intending to fry cutlets in a parmesan crust with mint sauce. But there was no lamb on the market, and instead of a square in front of me lay 3 kg of fatty pieces of a cut back of a ram. So I had no choice but to extinguish it. And I sat down to study theory.

Do you know how to cook lamb stew?

I am sure that each of you will answer - YES! I have done this many times. And what's so difficult about that? Fry the pieces on the melted lamb fat, put it in a deep saucepan, add onions, carrots and vegetables, add broth, add salt, pepper, whatever herbs you found, cover with a lid, and let it stew for a couple of hours over low heat. That's all the tricks.

But, if you strive for perfection and want to impress your home eaters with your culinary skills, then try to cook lamb stew exactly as described in this recipe, following the technology, and you will be carried on your hands.

Strictly speaking, this recipe from the book "Chef's Handbook" refers to the preparation of lamb shanks, but I will try to apply it to lamb rack.

This time I'll write you a list of ingredients first. It's very simple:
For 3 kg of meat with bones
225 g onion, cut into large cubes
115 gr carrots, the same
115 gr celery, the same
1 head of garlic, cut in half and fried in oil
2 table. spoons tomato paste
2 table. tablespoons of melted butter
60 gr. flour for roux
400 ml dry red wine
1.6 liters brown beef broth
4 parsley sprigs, 0.5 tsp dried thyme, 0.5 tsp crushed black pepper
Inventory:
frying pans
A saucepan with a lid for stewing in the oven (you can use thick foil instead of a lid).

Here is a lamb with a centimeter layer of fat I have to cook. But there is nothing to be afraid of. I cut off all the outer and internal fat. I’ll fry on the inside, and carefully put the outside in a bag and put it in the freezer until better times. Salt and pepper each piece of lamb.

I cut the onion, carrot and celery into large cubes. In a hot frying pan over medium to high heat, melt the internal fat, and then remove the greaves. In two pans in one layer, I fry the pieces of lamb until a confident brown crust, and then transfer them to hot pot and close the lid.

In the same fat, I fry the onions and carrots until golden brown, and then the celery until translucent. I add garlic and tomato paste, and fry for about a minute until a sweet smell appears. I'll add two tablespoons of melted butter and dissolve it.

For this dish, I chose dry red chianti.

When the butter is melted, I pour in two tablespoons of flour, mix and fry for 4 minutes, and then pour in the wine. I mix well so that all the lumps disperse, and I evaporate the wine by half. Now you need to pour in the broth, and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Pour into a saucepan with meat ready sauce. The sauce should slightly cover the meat.

I cover the pan with a lid and place it in a heated to 135 degrees. oven for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes I add parsley, thyme and pepper, and return the pan back to the oven for another 45 minutes. At the end of cooking, the meat should be easily pierced with a fork.

Of course, if guests have come to you, you can put ready-made pieces of lamb into a hot container in advance, and cook the sauce, then chop with a blender and pass through a sieve. But if this home dinner, then pieces of carrots, celery and garlic will only diversify your gourmet dish.

Many myths and contradictions are associated with this meat, which is why it seems to many that it is difficult for an unprepared cook to cook it at home.

In fact, everything is simpler than it seems, and today you can see this when you read our tips on how and how much to stew lamb in a pan. Of course, meat has its own cooking characteristics, but who said that only oriental people can master them, for whom this meat is a familiar product.

Lamb: myths and reality

Before we start preparing and stewing lamb meat, let's dot the i's. Clarity in this matter is very important, because many of our housewives refuse to cook this product at home, believing that lamb is fatty, high in calories and smells very unpleasant. But is it really so?

As for the specific taste and smell, this is really true. However, such a small flaw is easy to fix, just by keeping the meat in the marinade first, and then seasoning it with spicy spices.

Here is an opinion about high calorie and the fat content of lamb is a real myth.

Few people know that the fat in lamb meat is 2-3 times less than in pork. It also contains several times less cholesterol than in beef (2.5 times) and pork (4 times).

The calorie content of category 1 lamb meat is 203 kcal, and category 2 - 165 kcal per 100 g of product.

In addition, lamb is very useful. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially iron, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

How to choose the right lamb for stewing

The most suitable for stewing and frying is the meat of young sheep, aged from a few days to 3 years. The meat of older lambs is also eaten, but it is tougher, fatter and has many veins.

An ideal option, almost a delicacy, is milk lamb meat. It has a delicate texture and a very soft, refined taste.

Valuable and nutritious is the meat of young (up to 18 months) sheep, unsuitable for breeding, and castrated rams.

It is very easy to distinguish a young ram from an old one. Young meat has a pleasant light red color and whitish elastic fat.

Old lamb is distinguished by a dark red, almost brown, shade of meat, thick yellow fat, large quantity streaks and an unpleasant specific smell. Such meat is best eaten in the form of minced meat.

How to deliciously stew lamb in a pan with spices

Ingredients

• — 500 g (we use meat with hind legs carcass or back) + -
• - taste + -
• - 2 pcs. + -
• - taste + -
• - 15 g + -
• — for frying (to taste) + -
• - 10 g + -

Cooking lamb in a pan at home

Having dealt with the choice of meat, you can proceed directly to its preparation. Today we will look at a step-by-step recipe on how to stew lamb in a pan in slices.

If you strictly adhere to the recipe, you will definitely get a delicious juicy dish, which can be applied not only to ceremonial table, but also to present to ordinary lunch or dinner.

1. We wash the meat in clean running water, dry it with paper napkins.
2. We cut the lamb into not thick slices, after which we spread them in one layer in a frying pan that is very hot in oil.
3. For the first 2-3 minutes, simmer the pieces over high heat, then turn them over to the other side, reduce the flame to medium and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour boiling water into the pan in such an amount that the water is on the same level with stew, and continue to cook it over moderate (slow) heat for 20-25 minutes, until all the poured liquid boils away.
5. When the water boils away, add salt, pepper, chopped onion and chopped fresh herbs to the pan.
6. Mix everything thoroughly, simmer the lamb for 8-10 minutes until tender.

This completes the preparation. Serve hot appetizer with meat, you can with any side dish that you just like. It could be boiled rice, fresh or baked vegetables, boiled (baked) potatoes with mushrooms, salads and much more.

Ingredients

• Young lamb with fat - 200 g;
• Spices (any) - to taste;
• Onion - 1 pc.;
• Salt - to taste;
• Potatoes - 200 g;
• Greens (fresh) - to taste.

How to stew lamb with potatoes in a pan

1. We cut the pre-marinated meat into pieces (the weight of each should be no more than 50 g) and spread them evenly on the bottom of the hot pan.
2. Simmer lamb over low heat on both sides. own juice until half ready. Turn the meat periodically while stewing.
3. We clean the onion from the husk, chop it coarsely. Also large (sliced) cut the peeled potatoes.
4. We send the sliced ​​\u200b\u200bto the pan with the meat, salt the products, season with spices, and then gently mix everything with a wooden spatula.
5. Cover the pan with a lid, simmer the dish until cooked.
6. At the end of cooking, sprinkle meat and potatoes with chopped fresh herbs, cover again and let the dish stand on the off burner for 10 minutes.

Secrets of delicious lamb

Above, we looked at 2 step-by-step recipes for cooking lamb meat in a pan. However, knowing the recipes themselves is not enough to properly stew meat pieces.

In fact, you will need practical advice on preparing lamb for stewing, marinating it and a specific cooking time. We present these secrets step by step below.

If you decide to put out the minced meat, then take the trimmings, peritoneum or shoulder blade for processing. To stew/fry lamb whole or in pieces, use ribs, belly, loin, drumstick, neck, shoulder, hip, brisket or tenderloin.

Tip #2: Marinate Meat to Eliminate Odors

There are quite a few ways to marinate lamb. You are free to choose the one you like the most.

However, for any marinade there is one general rule- it takes 10-12 hours to keep the meat in it (if it is young). If the meat is from a mature lamb, then the time of its stay in the marinade must be increased.

Marinade #1: Spicy Vegetable Oil

As a marinade, you can use a mixture of vegetable oil (70 ml) with grated ginger (1 tsp), lemon juice(2 tablespoons), minced garlic (2 cloves), thyme and rosemary (spices to taste).

Marinade #2: Soy Sauce with Mustard and Garlic

For cooking spicy marinade you will need:

• A bunch of cilantro and 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped.
• Add your favorite spices to the bowl to taste, 2 tbsp each. soy sauce(you can replace it with any vinegar, for example, balsamic), mustard, vegetable oil.
• Squeeze the juice from ½ lemon, mix everything and marinate the chopped pieces of lamb in the resulting mixture.

We need spices to soften the unpleasant smell of meat, as well as to give lamb a special piquant taste. As a rule, several types of spices are used at once.

You can take any fragrant dressings, but the best are: marjoram, garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, pepper mixture, " Provencal herbs”, spicy sauces.

It is rather difficult to answer this question precisely. It all depends on the size of the pieces that you are going to stew, and on the dishes in which you will do it. Pickled pieces always cook faster, this must also be taken into account. On average, stewing lamb in a pan takes 1 hour.

In order not to overexpose the meat (too long heat treatment makes it dry) - follow the recipe strictly and do not cook the lamb longer than it says.

That's all, now you know how and how much to stew lamb in a pan in pieces. stick simple tips and step by step recipes- and let your meat snack always succeeds.

Bon appetit!

If you do not like lamb for its specific taste and smell, I would recommend only one thing: learn how to cook it properly. After all final result directly depends on the skill and talent of the chef. cooking secrets delicious meals from lamb and mutton long ago revealed cooks Arab countries, Caucasus and Central Asia. Add more vegetables, all kinds of herbs and spices, and the meat will turn out tender, juicy, fragrant and taste good. I often cook one of these dishes for my relatives - in my homeland it is called “Looking”, or stewed lamb with vegetables in Arabic. In Libya, this dish is served even on festive feast and in restaurants. Arabs have many variations of recipes lamb stew with vegetables. Sometimes the list of ingredients can be expanded by adding pieces of dried apricots, herbs or hot pepper chili, but this is already an amateur. This dish is much more varied and brighter than baked.

Recipe Information

Cuisine: Arabic.

Cooking method: frying and stewing.

Total cooking time: 20 minutes if young lamb; 60 minutes if the meat of a mature animal is min.

Servings: 2 .

Ingredients:

• young lamb - 400 g
• onion - 2 pcs.
• Bulgarian pepper - 150 g
• tomatoes - 100 g
• eggplant - 150 g
• salt - to taste
• vegetable oil - 50 ml.

Cooking:

1. 
   Cut lamb into small pieces.
2. 
   Cut tomatoes into slices, onions into cubes, bell pepper(small) cut into rings. When slicing a pepper, the seeds may not be removed.
3. 
   Peel eggplant, cut into bars.
4. If the lamb is young, then just fry it for 7 minutes in vegetable oil. If it is harsh, then add water and simmer until soft and the liquid has completely evaporated.
5. 
   In the next step, add the onion and fry for 4 minutes.
6. 
   Add pepper rings to the pan or cauldron.
7. 
   Add eggplant.
8. 
   Fry the ingredients until the eggplant is cooked through, stirring for about 7 minutes.
9. 
   Add the tomatoes last.
10. 
    Keep the lamb with vegetables on fire for another 2 minutes. Now it remains to salt the dish, mix lightly and you can serve. At the very beginning of cooking, it is not recommended to add salt, because the vegetables will immediately give a lot of juice, and in the process of stewing they will acquire the consistency of mashed potatoes.
11. The dish turns out so juicy that it does not require additional addition of any sauces and gravy. As a side dish, you can choose rice, couscous or just boiled potatoes. If desired, decorate the stewed lamb with herbs, olives.

Lamb - meat with special taste and smell, which can be emphasized in the best possible way only by preparing a delicious dish baked in the oven from it. There are a lot of recipes for cooking meat in the oven, but the following are some of the best.

Recipe number 1. Lamb in the oven

For this recipe, you will need products such as: lamb - about 1 kilogram, 100 grams of tail fat, you can lard, tomato paste, onion, garlic, a few fresh tomatoes, spices, adjika, herbs and salt.

Lamb meat and lard are cleaned and carefully washed, after which they should be cut into cubes and thrown into the pan, it is necessary to fry over low heat, stirring constantly. Oil should not be added to the pan, it is much more important to remember to cover the meat during frying with a lid.

While the meat is being cooked in one pan, in the other it is necessary to fry the onion and tomato paste, bring to readiness, a sign of which is the darkening of the tomato paste. As soon as the sauce is ready, it is necessary to transfer the stew, mashed garlic with salt, spices and spices into it from the first pan, mix and continue to simmer for a while over low heat. The same can be done in the oven by placing the meat, the necessary seasonings and sauce in a cauldron. The oven temperature should be at least 180 degrees.

Before serving, the stew is sprinkled with chopped parsley, cilantro and basil and laid out in shallow plates.

Recipe number 2. Lamb stew with vegetables

In order to cook stewed lamb with vegetables you will need good piece lamb shoulder, brisket, or neck. The meat must be washed, cut together with the bones into pieces weighing 40-50 grams, sprinkled with salt, pepper and fried in lard, or in butter. Fried pieces of meat should be put in a saucepan, add tomato paste, browned flour, which must be diluted with broth and simmer for about 45-60 minutes. after the set time has elapsed, you need to put sliced ​​\u200b\u200band fried potatoes, carrots, onions and parsley in a saucepan, mix the ingredients and put in the oven.

Lamb with vegetables should be cooked in the oven for 30 minutes under tightly closed lid until the vegetables are ready.

For 600 grams of lamb meat, you need 2 tablespoons of lard or butter, 5 potatoes, carrot and parsley roots, 2 onions, 1 tablespoon of wheat flour, 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste, 1.5 cups chicken broth, can be replaced with water, salt and pepper.

Recipe number 3. Lamb stew with mushrooms

To cook lamb stew with mushrooms, you need the fatty part of the brisket or shoulder blades. The meat is cleaned and washed, chopped into pieces along with the bones, the pieces should turn out to be small, regular in shape, they need to be salted and fried in sufficiently heated lard or butter, adding tomato paste at the end of cooking. Also, it is necessary to add passivated onions, pre-cooked and cut into small pieces of mushrooms into the dish, pour over everything with water and simmer in the oven. Approximately 10-15 minutes before the final readiness of the dish, you need to add passivated flour diluted with cold broth, pepper and a few bay leaves to it. Ready lamb is removed from the oven and seasoned with crushed garlic.

Lamb can be served with mashed potatoes and gravy, in which lamb meat was stewed.

For 500-600 grams of lamb, you need 2-3 tablespoons of lard or butter, 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, 2-3 onions, 20 grams of dried mushrooms, 1 tablespoon wheat flour, 1.5 cups broth, salt, pepper and Bay leaf.

Recipe number 4. Lamb dushenina in the oven

Lamb flesh is cut into wide strips with a thickness of at least 1.5 centimeters, salted, peppered, rolled in flour and fried in boiling lard or butter in a pan. A layer of peeled, sliced ​​potatoes is placed in a cauldron, interspersed with onions, bay leaves, allspice and salt. The second layer of lamb meat is laid on the first layer, a layer of potatoes is again laid on top. The cauldron is poured with broth made from roasted lamb bones, and put in the oven until cooked under a tightly closed lid. The finished dish is seasoned with grated or crushed garlic and laid out on deep plates.

For 400-500 grams of lamb meat, you need 1 tablespoon of wheat flour, 2-3 tablespoons of lard or ghee, 2-3 onions, half a parsley root, 1 kilogram of potatoes, salt, pepper and bay leaf - all this to taste.

Recipe number 5. Lamb stew in the oven with eggplant and tomatoes

Lamb meat is fried with fat in a deep frying pan. Eggplants and tomatoes are washed, cut into cubes, also served with onions.

Put the vegetables together with the jar in a cauldron, or a deep baking sheet, add finely crushed garlic, parsley, cilantro and basil, pour the cauldron with water so that it does not reach 2 centimeters to the edge, but at the same time covers the meat and vegetables for at least by 1 centimeter. The cauldron must be tightly covered with a lid and simmer in the oven until fully cooked.

To prepare the dish, you need 500-600 grams of lamb, about 50-60 grams of butter, 3-4 fresh eggplant, 5 tomatoes, onions, a few cloves of garlic, herbs, salt and spices.

Recipe number 6. Irish Braised Lamb

Lamb is cut into pieces, carrots, onions and potatoes are peeled, cut into small slices, while onions are cut into rings. Part of the vegetables should be laid out in layers in a cauldron, salt, pepper and sprinkle with herbs. On top of the layer of vegetables, you need to lay out the meat, also pepper and salt it and cover with the rest of the vegetables, salt and pepper again.

The cauldron is poured with broth and placed in the oven for about 2 hours, at a temperature of 190-200 degrees. After the first tasting and the recognition of meat and vegetables as stewed, you can serve it on the table. It is important to remember that Irish lamb stew is served exclusively hot, after some time after cooking it will need to be heated in a pan or in a cauldron.

For 4 servings of lamb stew, you need about 500-600 grams of meat, 8-10 medium-sized potatoes, 4-5 carrots, 3 large onions, salt, pepper, dry parsley, thyme and meat broth.

Meat prepared according to this recipe will simply melt in your mouth and will please everyone without exception.

Recipe number 7. Caucasian lamb stew

Lamb is a favorite type of meat among the peoples of the Caucasus, it is there, among the impregnable mountains, they know how to cook lamb better than anywhere else in the world. But in order to try a real delicious mutton ham to the Caucasus, it’s not at all necessary to go, it’s enough to open it and follow a very good and even wonderful recipe for cooking Caucasian mutton stew in an oven.

For the dish you will need ingredients such as: 1-2 kilograms of fresh lamb, 3 small heads of garlic, allspice peas, cloves, bay leaf, lemon, salt and pepper.

Cooking lamb stew is necessary in the following sequence:

1. The first thing you need to do is prepare the meat. Lamb is cleaned of veins and excess fat, washed under cold running water and dried with paper towels.
2. Garlic is crushed, mixed with salt and pepper.
3. The meat must be stuffed with cooked garlic, the meat must also be rubbed with garlic, salt and pepper on top.
4. For the dish, you will need to purchase food foil, which is necessary so that the meat does not burn on the baking sheet. On a large sheet of foil it is necessary to lay out a bay leaf, cloves and peppercorns, put a large piece of lamb on top, processed as described above.
5. The meat should be sprinkled with freshly squeezed lemon juice and wrapped in foil, leaving it in this form for several hours to soak in the marinade.
6. After the required time has passed, the meat is placed on a baking sheet; one should not forget about the need to put foil under it. From above, the meat is poured with a small amount of water and placed in an oven heated to 200 degrees for 1.5-2 hours, depending on the freshness and quality of the meat. Fresh water will need to be added periodically, so a mug of water should always be kept ready, if this is not done, the meat will become tough and lose the taste and smell inherent in lamb stew.
7. As soon as the time is up, the meat must be removed from the oven, freed from the foil, pouring the excess juice into a separate container and put the lamb back in the oven for 30 minutes, pouring the collected meat juice over it. The result is juicy and soft lamb under a crispy crust.

You can serve lamb with separately baked potatoes, vegetables and herbs, do not forget to sprinkle with coriander and basil.

Recipe number 8. Moroccan lamb stew

Lamb cooked in the Moroccan oven is, first of all, very tasty and fragrant, the dish is rich in the most different spices forming a unique bouquet, giving it originality and exoticism.

For lamb stew, you will need the following list of products - several pieces of young lamb, preferably a loin, canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, tomato paste, 1 tablespoon of cumin, ground cinnamon, coriander seeds, ground red chili pepper, a few fresh stems cilantro and mint, as well as vegetable oil, salt and pepper.

The dish is prepared in this way:

1. The first step is to prepare all the necessary ingredients, from meat to vegetables. After everything is cleaned and washed, you can proceed to direct cooking.
2. Garlic and onions must be peeled and finely chopped, greens should be removed from long branches, leaving only the leaves themselves and also finely chopped, like onions.
3. The oven before laying dishes in it must be warmed up strongly, setting temperature regime 180-190 degrees.
4. The meat is placed in a deep bowl and mixed with prepared seasonings and spices.
5. The bottom of the cauldron is heated, a piece of butter is put in it, the boiling process is expected to begin, and the lamb rolled in spices is laid on top. The meat is fried on the stove for 10 minutes, it requires constant turning for a golden crust to appear on each side.
6. As soon as a golden brown hue appears, the meat should be removed from the stove, finely chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and pepper should be added to it and put in the oven for 1 hour, pouring a glass of water on top. It is important not to forget to put a lid on the meat so that the water does not evaporate so quickly.
7. At the last minute of cooking, steamed green beans are added to the lamb stew.

Some general rules for cooking lamb stew in the oven

1. When starting to cook lamb, you should always remember that meat does not always have nice smell and taste, only the meat of young lambs under the age of one year is good for stewing and serving, the meat of old sheep is tough and completely tasteless, it is more suitable for cooking cutlets and sausages
2. Not all guests love lamb, this is largely due to the smell that, as already mentioned, comes from it, which is why it is extremely important to be able to pick up such herbs and roots that would muffle or even nullify the entire aroma, leaving only a gentle taste.
3. The more onions and carrots in a lamb dish, the better. Onion, regardless of the method of its preparation, neutralizes the unpleasant specific aroma inherent in lamb better than other vegetables. And if other types of meat can be served on the table with any side dish, then for lamb there is no the best side dish than vegetables in large quantities.
4. Stewed lamb is always cooked under the lid, which makes the meat more juicy and tasty. The lid is removed only as a last resort, if desired, lightly fry the already cooked meat.

Lamb lovers love this meat in all forms. cooking. Lamb stew according to this recipe is different mild taste, abundance delicious gravy, the aroma of vegetables that are part of the dish. But in order for the lamb to turn out to be soft, it needs to be stewed for a long time, do not rush to turn off the fire, let it simmer enough and then it will be tasty, fragrant lamb you are guaranteed!

Ingredients

To cook lamb stew you will need:

lamb - 1 kg;

carrots - 3 pcs.;

onion - 1 pc.;

tomato puree- 1 glass;

water - 1 liter;

vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l. - for carrots;

vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l. - for frying lamb;

zira - 2 tbsp. l.;

salt, pepper, spices - to taste.

(!) Tomato puree can be replaced with 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste or 3 fresh tomatoes.

(!) Zira is desirable, but not required.

Cooking steps

Heat the vegetable oil in a cauldron and place the chopped long straw carrot. Fry carrots for 7 minutes.

Add chopped onion to carrots.

Place the zira in a mortar and grind a little. If there is no mortar, you can grind with a rolling pin or just your fingers. Zira must be rubbed somehow, only then it will give off its unique aroma.

Cut the lamb into medium pieces and fry in vegetable oil in a pan on both sides until golden brown.

Transfer the fried pieces of lamb to a cauldron, on top of vegetables. Top up hot water, add salt, pepper, spices. Close the lid, bring to a boil, reduce the flame to the smallest and simmer for 1.5-2 hours. During this time, the lamb stew will become very tasty and will amaze you with its delicate, mild taste and aroma!

Arrange the cooked lamb stew on plates and serve.

Bon appetit!