Problem with a recipe...

Conmaicne Mara

I am sure it was me, but I tried this recipe last night as per the instructions and the lamb turned out pretty inedible. Went step by step, had the times, temp, and ingredients correct

http://www.irishheart.ie/iopen24/lamb-shanks-roasted-vegetables-t-7_22_90_109_135.html

Can anyone spot any problem with the recipe?

The Hill Billy

When you say "inedible" - in what way?
Where the shanks too tough?
The cooking time seems about right to me though.

Alun

Did it dry out? Did you keep the foil on at all times? Personally I've only ever braised lamb shanks, in plenty of liquid, and they've always turned out fine, so I'd suggest maybe increasing the initial amount of liquid in the recipe and also checking now and then to make sure it hadn't dried out, and adding more water if necessary.

LaChatteGitane

Without much liquid I guess the temperature of the oven might be a tad too high. 130/140°C.
That is if the 'inedible' part means too tough.

Conmaicne Mara

Hi all,

Yeah it was fierce tough, hard to cut too! Now that I think of it, I asked herself to put in the veg in the last hour, maybe it wasn't covered properly again, I am not sure. I just put foil over the dish and crimped the edges, I didn't completely wrap it in it or anything. There was liquid enough left at the end to make the sauce.

Swiper the fox

For the shank if it is tough and hard to cut that would indicate it was underdone but the timing and heats on that recipe seem fine. As someone else said braising is a foolproof way of doing these with a lovely sauce made from the reduction of liquid at the end,
for your recipe you could reduce the heat to maybe 120 and cook for up to 5 hours, turn up the heat at the end for your veg, braise them next time i'd say.

huskerdu

Is there any chance that the shanks were from hogget or mutton and would
need longer cooking than lamb.

Have you bought shanks from that butcher before ?