<sf> wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:19:54 +0100, (Victor Sack)
> wrote:
>
> > Gîgot d'agneau à la sept heures Ambassade d'Auvergne
> > Ambassade d'Auvergne's Seven-Hour Leg of Lamb
> >
> >Cook lamb for seven hours? For those of us who have religiously
> >followed the rule that "the only good lamb is a rare lamb," this recipe
> >is sheer heresy! I first sampled it years ago at Paris's Ambassade
> >d'Auvergne, and decided that the slow cooking - almost like a pot roast
> >- really worked well with a large leg of lamb.
>
> I'm not against fully cooked lamb, but why over cook a part that
> doesn't need to be over cooked? It's akin to braising a beef fillet.
It is not overcooked, it is cooked just right. There is more than one
way to prepare a piece of meat. The proof's in the eating - try it and
see. As to braising a beef fillet, it is done too - and I posted a
recipe fairly recently - see
<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/7f178261191bccb6>.
Seven-hour leg of lamb is an old, traditional French recipe, much loved
by a lot of discerning people, not just Patricia Wells but, for example,
Anthony Bourdain, who includes a recipe in his Les Halles cookbook, or
Heston Blumethal, a Michelin three-star chef, no less. Here is
Blumenthal's version, from
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4304720,00.html>.
Victor
Gîgot de sept heures
Although this is called seven-hour leg of lamb, this is the shortest
time you should cook it for.
Serves six to seven.
1 leg of lamb, around 3kg
30 g Maldon sea salt
1 bunch thyme
Olive oil and pepper
2 carrots
2 onions
1 1/2 star anise
1 head garlic
1 bouquet garni consisting of a bay leaf, plus lots of thyme and
rosemary
300 ml white wine
100 g cold unsalted butter
2 tbsp chopped parsley (optional, but it really does make a
difference)
You'll need an oven tray big enough to hold the lamb and vegetables. The
dish should have a lid, but tightly sealed tinfoil will do.
Two days before cooking, rub the meat with half of the sea salt and half
the thyme. On the day of cooking, wipe off any excess salt and brown the
leg in olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan with a tight-fitting lid.
Pepper the meat and set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 65°C. Peel and roughly chop the carrots and onions.
Pour out excess fat from the pan and lightly brown the vegetables with
the star anise, adding a little fresh olive oil if necessary. Place the
meat on the vegetables and the head of garlic, cut across in half,
either side. Add the bouquet garni and 300 ml of water, and put the lid
on. Place the pan in the oven.
Every half an hour, remove the tray from the oven and baste the meat
with the juices, adding more water when necessary. Maintain the water
level for the full seven hours. Half an hour before the meat is ready,
add the remainder of the thyme. Meanwhile, put the white wine in a
saucepan and as soon as it comes to the boil, burn off the acidity by
holding a naked flame to the liquid; just watch your fingers! Reduce the
wine until thick and syrupy, to about 50 ml.
Remove the leg of lamb and set aside. Tip the contents of the pan into a
fine-mesh sieve, placed over the saucepan containing the reduced wine,
pressing on the vegetables with the back of a spoon to extract all of
the juices. Discard the contents of the sieve. Bring this to the boil
and reduce, skimming off any impurities that come to the surface. When
the liquid has a sauce consistency, whisk in the cold butter. Sprinkle
the parsley on the lamb and serve with the sauce on the side.