On 2/2/2012 1:57 PM, Victor Sack wrote:

>> The ten-pound leg of lamb went into a turkey-sized roasting bag and the
>> slurry was added along with some bay leaves. The excess air was forced
>> out, the bag was sealed, rolled around, and massaged to get the
>> flavoring liquid into every crevice of the lamb, then the bag was put
>> onto a sheet pan and and into a 250°F oven for seven-and-a-half hours.
>> It was fantastic.
>
> Steamed leg of lamb, eh? It is a time-honoured method, to be sure...
> Jöel Robuchon's lamb roasted in salt crust comes to mind. Also, there
> is the Peking cuisine beggar's chicken, baked in clay, and I have now
> come across a basically similar leg-of-lamb one from Calabria. The
> boned leg is wrapped in paper, then in clay and cooked in the oven at
> the highest temperature for two hours. The recipe, cosciotto di agnello
> nella creta, is from what is perhaps one of the most interesting
> collection of Italian recipes published in the past few decades,
> _Ricette di Osterie d'Italia: 630 piatti di cucina regionale_, published
> by Slow Food Editore. Unfortunately, there is no English translation;
> there is a very imperfect German one, though.

The closest analogy I have to cooking in those bags is cooking in
parchment. The bag inflated considerably, which means there was less
pressure than if it had been sealed and not allowed to expand.

It was the first time I'd tried using those bags, and I was happy with
the result.

Bob