Chinese-Style Braised/Roasted Leg of Lamb, Part 1
What is it about holiday meals? Why are they so often the last resort of the hackneyed, the familiar, the tried-and-true?
Is it because of Great Aunt June's harping on politics? (What is it with her and Grover Cleveland? Did they have a thing back in the day?)
Is it because someone's bound to bring up something uncomfortable? ("Dear, I remember fondly those lovely daffodils that I gave you last year and that you managed to kill.")
Or are we just so jangled in this modern world, so made-nuts by bloviating pundits and know-nothing wags, by bail-outs and world-wide collapses, by wars compounded on more wars, that we finally succumb to the ordinary, if only to (as Annie Dillard once wrote) "stick a nickle's worth of sense into our days"?
Whatever the cause, I'm here with a cure. For the Easter doldrums. (Other things will have to wait.) This Chinese-style leg of lamb will turn the table on its head and offer something new among the staid traditions: the pastel hats and foofy dresses.
Or you can fix this wonder anytime and be glad of it.
First, choose a covered roasting pan or large soup pot big enough to hold a 3 1/2- to 5-pound, bone-in leg of lamb. Really check it out--put the leg in there; make sure it fits.
Take the joint out and mix all of the following in that pan or pot: 1 chopped large yellow onion, 1/4 cup peeled and julienned ginger, 5 to 7 dried small Asian red chiles (the kind often found in stir-fries), 4 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth, 2 cups red wine, 1/3 cup jarred bean sauce or hoi sin sauce (the latter is sweeter), 5 tablespoons light or superior soy sauce, 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1 tablespoon dark (or thick) soy sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder. Stir it until the sugar dissolves.
One note: light soy sauce is not a reference to the salt content. Rather, it's a reference to its viscosity (and sweetness). Light soy sauce is probably the kind you know: it will not coat a bottle when shaken. Dark soy sauce is quite thick, often with sugar in the mix, and will definitely coat the bottle when shaken. (It's the one on the right in the photo.) If you don't have it on hand, consider 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce as a substitute.
Set the leg back in the mixture and turn a few times. Cover and bring to a full simmer over medium-high heat, stirring once in a while to make sure no sugar falls out of suspension and gets glued to the bottom of the pan or pot.
Reduce the heat to low and continue simmering slowly, covered, for 1 1/2 hours, turning the leg once in a while as it braises.
Cool in the liquid for 20 minutes or so, then shove the whole kit and caboodle in the refrigerator overnight.
What's next? Find out tomorrow.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 11:38AM | in Bruce's Asian Obsession, Comfort Food, Hunks of Meat, Main Courses Easter, braise, chinese, comfort food, family drama, holiday, lamb, leg of lamb, nerves, roasted
Reader Comments (7)
Oooh, this looks delicious, Mark. I recently made a poached lamb and it was deliciously tender, despite everyone making fun of my "boiled lamb". Plebs, the lot of them.
Two things - we have homemade Chinese plum sauce, do you think that would work? And secondly, a tip for anyone who, like me, didn't have an oval pot big enough - if you get the butcher to just nick the joint between the shank and the top of the leg (no need to cut it off altogether), you can fold the shank bone in and then the piece should fit into a large round dutch oven (which lots of people have at home - we have a big Le Creuset one). Hopefully that's ok, since it looks like the final presentation of this dish is sliced rather than the whole leg?
Celia
Celia: Homemade plum sauce? Bring it on! Of course it will work.
And that's a fantastic tip for the butcher and getting the thing in a slightly smaller pot. But it is a lot of liquid for poaching, so it has to be a deep pot. (Of course, the roasting part is yet to come.)
M.
Ha! I should have guessed they'd be more to this recipe than simply "poach and slice"!
Will wait in eager anticipation for the next installment.. :)
So delicious. If i have more free time,i want to learn to cook.
This DOES look delicious...I'm waiting for 'the rest of the story'...
And thank you for visiting my blog about your ultimate HAM book. I love it! The same entry is posted in the Wild River Review on the Wild Table.
Cheers!
My late-Dad would have loved this. He used to make a mean lamb stew that I adored as a child. It was redolent of star anise, ginger and soy sauce.
Ooo, star anise. A single pod would be a lovely addition.
M.