Pressed Lamb Recipes

PRESSED LAMB

Steps:

• To prepare brine: add salt, sugar, and saltpeter to boiling water; stir until all are dissolved.
• Remove from heat and chill.
• Remove bones and sinew from meat and wash and dry thoroughly.
• Sew pieces together for large square or rectangle.
• Flatten out and sprinkle on entire surface salt, pepper, allspice, onion, parsley, and saltpeter.
• Also be sure to cut off all the meat from the bones and spread scraps over the surface.
• Roll very tightly and hold with a meat fork while sewing ends and sides.
• Tie around as you would a rolled roast and place in the brine, which should be chilled thoroughly.
• After 10 days, remove meat from brine and cover with boiling water.
• Boil slowly for 2 hours.
• Place in press until cold.
• If you do not have a press, place between two flat surfaces and place a weight on top.
• The weight should be evenly distributed.
• Slice thin as a cold cut or on open-faced sandwiches.

PULLED LAMB SHOULDER WITH STICKY POMEGRANATE GLAZE

Steps:

• Put the garlic, cinnamon, cumin, oregano and lemon in a blender with 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp black pepper. Blend until smooth. Put the lamb in a large roasting tin and tip the marinade over the top. Massage all over the lamb and leave for 24 hrs in the fridge, or up to 2 days.
• Remove lamb from the fridge 1 hr before cooking. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/ gas 3. Scatter the onions around the lamb, tucking some underneath, then pour over the pomegranate juice. Cover the lamb with foil and cook for 4 hrs.
• Remove the foil, carefully pour the meaty pomegranate juices from the tin into a large saucepan and add the honey. Increase oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7, re-cover the lamb and continue cooking for 30 mins. Meanwhile, bubble the cooking liquid over a high heat until reduced, thick and syrupy - this may take up to 30 mins.
• Pour the sticky pomegranate glaze over the lamb and onions and return to the oven for another 30 mins, uncovered, until the glaze is bubbling and just starting to char, and the lamb is really tender. Mix the yogurt, most of the pomegranate seeds and mint leaves in a small bowl. Shred the lamb at the table and serve with the sticky onions and the minty pomegranate yogurt. Scatter over the remaining pomegranate seeds.