roast lamb

Mcmuffin81

I am cooking 2 legs of lamb today. Do I need to cook them for the same length of time as 1 or by the weight of both of them. It's a fan assisted electric oven.

Pink Fairy

Mcmuffin81 wrote: »

I am cooking 2 legs of lamb today. Do I need to cook them for the same length of time as 1 or by the weight of both of them. It's a fan assisted electric oven.

Not for the same length of time as one, it's more meat, less space for the fan oven to do its job, so you're going to be cooking by weight

swampgas

Mcmuffin81 wrote: »

I am cooking 2 legs of lamb today. Do I need to cook them for the same length of time as 1 or by the weight of both of them. It's a fan assisted electric oven.

Same length of time should be fine.

swampgas

Pink Fairy wrote: »

Not for the same length of time as one, it's more meat, less space for the fan oven to do its job, so you're going to be cooking by weight

Depends though, doesn't it? If the oven can maintain the temperature what matters is the size of the individual pieces. Assuming they are similar sizes it should be okay to cook both at the same time. Cooking by weight could end up overcooking the two pieces quite a bit.

Edit: you might need some extra time but not double. You'll have to keep an eye on it.

The Hill Billy

Pink Fairy wrote: »

Not for the same length of time as one, it's more meat, less space for the fan oven to do its job, so you're going to be cooking by weight

The key thing is internal meat temperature - not the oven temperature.

OP - Cooking times based on the weight of the individual joints will do fine.

rubadub

Pink Fairy wrote: »

cooking by weight

Times given for cooking by weight presume it is a normal intact shaped piece of meat. It takes a long time for heat to get to the core. So going by weight would be too much extra time, you would not cook 4x100g chicken fillets for the same time advised for a monster 400g one.

I have cut up a medium sized turkey before and cooked in under an hour.

Pink Fairy

rubadub wrote: »

Times given for cooking by weight presume it is a normal intact shaped piece of meat. It takes a long time for heat to get to the core. So going by weight would be too much extra time, you would not cook 4x100g chicken fillets for the same time advised for a monster 400g one.

I have cut up a medium sized turkey before and cooked in under an hour.

Yes, I agree, but similarly, the suggestion was that 2 pieces of lamb should be cooked for the same amount of time as 1, and that is incorrect.

Personally, both legs of lamb in a tray of vegetables, a little oil and garlic, cover and leave at 150° for about 4 hours

Mcmuffin81

Thanks everyone for the advice. I cooked them for just over 2 hours and they were perfect

Pink Fairy

Mcmuffin81 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the advice. I cooked them for just over 2 hours and they were perfect

All's well that ends well

Boskowski

From my experience the best way to cook a leg of lamb and a lot of such roasts is using a thermometer with an alarm. Just takes the guess work out of it. You always end up with something that is just right, cooked to your liking, but still juicy and full of taste.

I set the thermometer to medium to well, can't remember exactly think that setting is 80 degrees for lamb, then when the alarm goes off I turn off the oven and leave the leg there for another 5 minutes and then let it rest for a while wrapped in tin foil (outside the oven). I have done this a few times now and the leg was perfection every time. Just beyond a hint of pink in the middle, as in 5 minutes ago there would have been a hint of pink, now there just isn't and the leg is tender and full of juice and flavour.

The other method of 'this leg looks like a 2 hour leg' is a bit of a lottery. Actually I can't remember ever cooking a leg of lamb for 2 hours. 2 hours sounds like a fairly deadish leg of lamb to me.

duploelabs

@80 degrees you'll be past well done (75). The mystery of roasting meat (temp, length etc) is taken away by using a digital meat thermometer.
This can be used as a guideline temps.
http://www.knorr.co.uk/article/detail/404254/temperature-guide

shrapnel222

duploelabs wrote: »

@80 degrees you'll be past well done (75). The mystery of roasting meat (temp, length etc) is taken away by using a digital meat thermometer.
This can be used as a guideline temps.
http://www.knorr.co.uk/article/detail/404254/temperature-guide

this. talk about overcooked :eek:

i take mine out at 48-50.