Anyone cooked a whole lamb shoulder sous vide?

[FaineantFreddy]

Been wanting to try this for a while to see how it would come out. This would be a whole shoulder, on the bone and I'd probably sear the outside before SV'ing it and maybe a short blast in a very hot oven at the end. I'd be aiming for a 'falling off the bone' result.

I've found a few sous vide'ers who have done it but temperatures and times vary greatly.

Douglas Baldwin and a few others seem to go for 80-83°C for 8-24 hours, while others have gone for 57-63° for 24-48 hours.

Anyone done this?

[Pferdestarke]

Can't say I have but then I can't imagine the results being markedly different from a low oven wrapped in foil for 10 hours at 90c with a quick blast at the end for crispness.

[21TonyK]

Just bought a 30 litre stirred tank so starting to play around a lot more. Did some veg the other day... was okay. Going to play around with some ideas in the next week and just happen to have half a lamb to hand (as you do). Might try a small shoulder, probably pack it with some herbs and go for 65 degrees for a couple of hours then sear in a red hot oven. I'll let you know how it works.

Currently doing sous vide wood pigeon with a date and coffee preserve, celery herb and confit garlic chips.

[FaineantFreddy]

Do you think a couple of hours at 65 will do it?

I'm currently thinking of going 48 hours at 63 starting tomorrow night, so by Friday night I might have an idea of whether it worked or not and if not we've still got time to get something else for Sunday...

[21TonyK]

I'll have a read today (Keller Sous Vide) but I've found it's often less than books say. Might be how I'm doing it. I tend to fill the bath with warm water. Get it to temp and them put the stuff in. Plus the fact it's a large volume of water means cooking relatively small amounts doesn't reduce the water temp much so little recovery time.

I did a batch of 12 steaks the other day, 75 minutes at 50 degrees plus finishing in butter, came out perfect (rare) but as intended. A shoulder isn't that thick really, maybe 3 inches, so I wouldn't think it would take that long.

Only one way to find out.

[Pferdestarke]

I'd have thought the connective tissue would need ages to render? Unless you've seamed it and it's in individual muscle pieces.

[FaineantFreddy]

Well it's in the bath. 63 degrees from now until Friday night. Fingers are crossed.

[21TonyK]

Pferdestarke said:

I'd have thought the connective tissue would need ages to render? Unless you've seamed it and it's in individual muscle pieces.

Very good point

[FaineantFreddy]

We had the shoulder for dinner last night and it was a definite success. Sorry, didn't take any photos as we were in a bit of a rush.

To recap on the method, on Wednesday night I seared the shoulder in a dry pan to get some colour on it, then seasoned it and vac-bagged with 2 cloves of garlic (sliced), a handful of chopped rosemary and about 50g of butter.

Then it went into the bath at 63°C until Friday night, when I took the bag out, cooled it all down quickly in iced water and then shoved the bag in the fridge until we were ready to eat it.

On Sunday, the shoulder came out of the bag and was popped into the oven, uncovered for about 40 mins at gas 8 to crisp the top and give it more colour.

The meat itself was firmer compared to slow cooking in the oven but it wasn't at all dry and was perfectly tender.

Some of the collagen hadn't broken down as much as I'd expected but that wasn't a problem and it's easy to avoid when serving.

As always with this method of cooking, all the meat juices are trapped in the bag so you have the makings of a very tasty gravy as soon as you snip it open. The convenience of being able to pre-cook the meat a few days before so a roast dinner can be conjured up in 45 minutes can be a big help too.

Next time, I'm going to try a higher temperature for a shorter time just to see how it compares. I also think shanks would turn out very well with this method, especially with supermarket lamb, which tends to vary in quality.

[Matt80M]

Would it have worked better to go directly from the bath into a seriously hot oven - that way you wouldn't be waiting for the middle to warm up again and you might retain more of the slow-cooked tenderness?

[FaineantFreddy]

I can't see how it would make any difference to the tenderness by cooling it first. Most restaurants using this method will batch SV food and then hold it in dry store/fridge/freezer until it's needed, so the intermediate cooling method is well tried and tested.

For me, it's perfect as I can SV food mid-week and finish it off quickly at the weekend, so it gives me much more time to enjoy the weekend without spending all of it in the kitchen!

[Matt80M]

FaineantFreddy said:

I can't see how it would make any difference to the tenderness by cooling it first. Most restaurants using this method will batch SV food and then hold it in dry store/fridge/freezer until it's needed, so the intermediate cooling method is well tried and tested.

For me, it's perfect as I can SV food mid-week and finish it off quickly at the weekend, so it gives me much more time to enjoy the weekend without spending all of it in the kitchen!

But a whole leg of lamb - by the time the middle is hot, the outer parts must be recooked?

I can certainly see the reason for something a bit smaller like a shank?

[tontoro]

i'd have thought the 60s would be too cool for this, I would go with 70s or even 80s. It is all about rendering the fat and getting rid of the collagen. I would probably also do it in the oven, it's a very forgiving cut whatever you do.

[Gwagon111]

Go to the fat duck and ask Heston.