The only thing you need to know for perfect roast lamb leg
I have a lot to say about roasting any kind of meat. Especially Australia’s favourite roast – the great lamb leg. But there’s really only one thing you need to know to make perfect roast lamb leg, every single time: GET A MEAT THERMOMETER!! It’s the only way you can take the guesswork out of cooking lamb leg so it’s perfect blushing pink and ridiculously juicy inside. Because – and here’s something Aussies don’t like to talk about – lamb leg is actually very lean so if it’s not pink, it’s dry. Full stop, end of story!
OK, I do have a few more “how to make the perfect roast lamb leg” tips!
What you need for roast lamb leg
Starting with the hero ingredient – the lamb leg! Get the best you can afford – yes, meat is like wine, the more you pay, the better the quality. Quality of life of the animal also comes into play there. All that red ink you see is perfectly safe to eat and actually, you only see it on better quality lamb. You don’t typically see it on supermarket lamb. Cut bone – Some (most?) butchers and almost all supermarkets sell lamb leg with the shank (bone) cut. Either fully cut off or partially cut so it folds. This is simply for practical reasons – shelf storage and packing space. For grandness, I like the bone in tact. But it doesn’t matter ,it’s purely a visual decision!
Rub for roast lamb leg
Here’s what you need for the rub: rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Use fresh rosemary – dried is not the same!
Roast lamb gravy
All you need for gravy is flour for thickening and beef stock/broth for the liquid. You shouldn’t need extra salt for the gravy. I find the salt on the lamb that ends up in the pan drippings plus the salt in the beef stock is enough. But taste and add more if you want! Why beef rather than lamb stock? Well, there’s a reason lamb stock is not typically sold at grocery stores! It’s just very…lamby. 🙂 Beef has a cleaner flavour. It doesn’t make the gravy taste beefy at all because there is so much lamb flavour from the drippings. Why not chicken stock? It works fine but the gravy colour is paler. I like my gravy for roast lamb leg to be a really deep brown colour!
How to make roast lamb leg
Rub with rosemary and garlic, roast in a hot oven to get the colour going then continue at a lower temperature for 1 hour or until the internal temperature is 53°C/127°F (for blushing pink perfection). Rest for 20 minutes before carving. It will still be very warm even after 1 hour – enough time to make duck fat potatoes! The lamb leg pictured is a 2.75 kg lamb leg which is about the average size you get from good butchers. Supermarket lamb legs tend to be a little larger from slightly older animals which makes the meat a little less tender and a little stronger “lamby” flavour. Albeit, as you’d expect, cheaper than from butchers.
How to make gravy for roast lamb leg
Gravy for lamb leg is made using the pan drippings after roasting the lamb. “Drippings” simply refers to the fat and meat juices left in the roasting pan after roasting the meat and it’s our express, free path to a killer gravy. I do this rubbing step in the roasting pan – why dirty a cutting board?? Check the internal temperature at the 45 minute mark. Never rely on a recipe cook time for roast meat, use your thermometer! So many variables can affect the exact roasting time, from oven strength to pan heat distribution, the shape of the lamb leg and how cold the meat is right in the middle. See below for more information on lamb doneness and different size lambs. Also during resting, the lamb juices get re-absorbed by the meat fibres so when you cut into the meat, the juices remain in the meat and eventually end up in your mouth. If you do not rest the meat then the meat juices leak out everywhere when you start carving the lamb. Take the lamb out when it hits the “temperature out of oven”. After resting for 20 minutes it will rise to your target level of doneness. So if you want medium rare, perfectly pink lamb leg, you need to take it out of the oven once the internal temperature reaches 53°C/127°F. At this temperature, the lamb is rare. But when you rest the lamb for 20 minutes, it will continue to cook and the internal temperature will rise by 9°C/17°F to 62°C/144°F. This temperature is medium rare, the optimum doneness for lamb leg so it’s beautifully juicy. Any more and the lamb meat is drier than ideal, because lamb leg is a lean meat.
And that, my friends, is everything you need to know to be the king (or queen) of roast lamb leg from this day forth. The precision by which you roast your lamb to blushing pink perfection will be admired. Your gravy will be whispered about in your circles – the flavour!!! It’s incredible! Just smile sedately, sit back and bask in the praise. There is no need to reveal your recipe source. 😎 The lamb leg in this post is pictured with duck fat potatoes (the best crispy potatoes in the world!) with peas and steamed carrots tossed with a little butter and parsley. If you don’t have duck fat, make my classic crunchy roast potatoes instead. They are still way crunchier than your usual way of making them. Go forth and enjoy your new lamb-alicious world! If you’ve got your own lamb leg secrets, sharing in the comments below – readers love hearing what you have to say. – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Originally published October 2016. I have been very neglectful not updating one of my favourite recipes with sparkling new photos and a recipe video!
I told you – I LOVE roast lamb! See?
Life of Dozer
Original photo from when I first published this recipe in 2016 still holds true, so no need to update: DOZER. Don’t breathe your stinky dog breath over my friends while they eat!
