Lamb Stew (in-depth guide to stewing)

on my last trip to france before the pandemic i had a truly spectacular lamb stew the spicing was reminiscent of a moroccan tagine with notes of cinnamon cardamom and cumin so today we're recreating that melt in your mouth dish and learning all about stewing and working with one of my favorite cuts of meat the lamb shoulder [Music] if you want to get away with one cutting board chop all your veggies first and then do your meat i like to use lots of shallots for this dish but you can certainly switch that up for a yellow onion a student asked me recently what size should a medium onion or medium garlic clove to tell you the truth i have no idea precision in measuring your onions and garlic is not at all important if you're planning to cook them they become so mild that it's difficult to have too much of them asking how big an onion should be is a bit like asking how far your nose should be from a rose bouquet for optimal aroma just try things and adjust to your liking next time but in case you want a number i ended up with 220 grams of shallots and 10 grams of garlic the reason it looks like a lot of garlic is because i'm chopping it for three different dishes i'll only use a third of it in the lamb stew now let's talk about the meat the best cut of lamb for stew is the shoulder i feel like it's the most underused cut of lamb in america have you noticed how every store has a leg of lamb i don't know why i hate that cut it has a few good parts but most of it is too tough for medium rare but too lean for us too the lamb shank which is the bottom of the leg is indeed lovely lamb shanks would work great in this dish if you can't get a shoulder you can brown and cook the shanks whole the two things the shanks have going for them is that they are widely available and make an impressive presentation with their huge bone but they are way more expensive than the shoulder once you take into account that at least half of the weight in the shank is the bone and its texture is good but not shoulder good when the shoulder is done it tastes like salt the fibers are so fine they just melt in your mouth the good news is that many stores actually carry the lamb shoulder they just don't put it out into their meat case i asked at my local whole foods and the guy went on the back and brought me this beauty nicely de-boned at all why do they hide it i don't know i'm guessing it sells a lot better as ground lamps maybe they keep it for that stews and braces shrink a lot so plan on buying about 10 ounces per person this three and a half pound shoulder will feed about six i prefer to trim the fat cap a little bit a boning knife comes in handy for this a thin layer of fat is wonderful but i prefer it to be no thicker than a couple of millimeters because big slimy chunks of fat in the finished dish are unappealing let's cut up this unruly piece of meat into some logical parts i like to switch to the chef's knife for this this is also a good time to dry the meat if the meat sticks to the pen it doesn't brown well it's because it's damp you can certainly do this after you cut it up into cubes but i find it a lot faster and easier to do this when the meat is still in big chunks make your cubes twice as big as you want them to end up because this will turn into this if you notice big chunks of fat that were hard to access before cutting up the meat switch back to the boning knife and trim them let's set a large heavy oven safe pot over high heat i'm using a dutch oven but it's not absolutely necessary a nice stainless steel pot would work too preheat your pot over medium high heat when it's hot add about a tablespoon of neutral oil like canola and place a single layer of meat into the pan in case your meat has a leaner and the fattier side place it fatty side down we'll have to cook our meat in two batches because i have too much of it to fit in a single layer let it brown without disturbing until it releases easily from the pan if it's not releasing it's not brown enough you might be wondering why i didn't salt my meat you could definitely salt it before browning but you have to be careful to place it in the pan as soon as the salt goes on if you wait the salt will draw the moisture to the surface and the meat will become damp reducing browning and encouraging sticking since i'm cooking my meat in two batches it's easier to brown everything and then salt everything the long and slow cook that we have ahead of us will give salt plenty of opportunity to penetrate don't get overzealous with browning turn down the heat as necessary you don't want the heat so low that the meat starts to sweat but you don't want it so high that the brown bits on the bottom of the pot start to burn if that happens you'll have to wash out the pod before proceeding which would be a shame since the brown bits pack so much flavor i find that the first side usually needs a pretty high heat but once the pan establishes some brown bits i can lower to medium our first batch looks good let's get it out and put the rest of the meat in i don't brown more than two batches of meat in one pan even if you use a moderate heat by the third batch the brown bits start to burn so if i want to double this recipe i'll set the skillet next to my dutch oven and we'll brown the other two batches in the skillet then combine all the four batches in the dutch oven deglaze the skillet with whatever liquid i'm using for my stew so that i don't waste those brown bits and pour them all into the dutch oven when your second batch is almost done turn down the heat to low this way your pan will have a chance to cool off a bit before you cook the shallots get the second batch out this is the happiest site in all of cooking for me the beautiful brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot put your shallots in a generous pinch of salt stir them around cover and let them sweat on low heat for 5 minutes this is a good time to preheat the oven to 300 degrees while the shallots are cooking season you meet with salt and pepper i goofed and forgot to hit the record button for this step so by the time i remembered the meat was mostly seasoned you'll need more than the tiny pinch that got recorded but not as much as you would use for a medium rare cut during the long slow cooking the meat will shrink in half so use about half of the salt you'd use on this amount of say steak keep in mind that adding more salt is very easy in the end of cooking since it will easily dissolve in the sauce but taking the salt out is kind of impossible when the shallots are translucent and tender give them a stir add the garlic and let it cook for a minute then add whatever spices you want to use i like to add cardamom coriander cumin turmeric smoked paprika and a grating of nutmeg i'll also add the cinnamon stick later but you can replace it with a teaspoon of cinnamon now stir all the spices together for a minute on low heat to wake them up add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste mine is frozen that's why it looks so weird alternatively you can add a cup of chopped canned tomatoes and boil them down until pasty add a couple of cups of dry white wine i'm using charles shaw savion blanc from trader joe's turn up the heat and bring to a simmer at some point give it a good stir to dissolve the tomato paste add a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses it wouldn't be a hell of recipe without it if you don't have it replace it with half balsamic vinegar and half honey or maple syrup add the bay leaf and a couple of cinnamon sticks i forgot the cinnamon sticks till later but movies are magic so we can pretend like i added them now add the lamb with all its juices now we need enough stock to just cover the lamb if your stock is not the homemade gelatinous step it's a good idea to spike it up with some unflavored gelatin sprinkle seven grams of gelatin over one cup of chicken stock and let it sit without disturbing for 5 minutes before adding it to your pot with lamb push the meat into the sauce so that it sticks out as little as possible and if necessary add more stock don't worry about the gelatin in the final splash of stock 7 grams that you've added will be plenty to give you a nice sauce having the meat stick out a little bit will help it get nice and toasty if you have some thyme on hand scatter it on top cut a piece of parchment paper to fit your pot and press it into the sauce tuck it in with a spoon so that it makes a bubble over the meat this will allow the sauce to reduce nicely but will protect the meat from drying out you can certainly cover the pot with a normal lid if you don't have parchment paper the main difference is that the parchment results in a more gentle simmer since it doesn't allow the steam to build up but it's a very forgiving dish and will taste great either way place the pot in the oven for two and a half hours let's see how a lamb is doing it's done when the meat pulls apart with no resistance don't undercook or the meat will be tough remove and discard the thyme and the cinnamon sticks and let the stew cool for a couple of hours as all stools and braises it will taste a lot better the next day letting the meat cool in the cooking liquid will allow the meat to reabsorb some of the moisture it expelled during cooking and will give you a much better texture after a few hours remove the meat from the sauce with a slotted spoon and pour the sauce into a container this will make it a lot easier to do grease the next day after the fat solidifies you can keep this two in the fridge for up to five days or freeze it for a few months to warm up combine the meat and the degreased sauce in a pot cover and summer gently until it warms up about 10 to 15 minutes you might want to give it a stir once in a while taste and correct for salt i like to finish it with a teaspoon of cream and a teaspoon of butter for each portion that i am warming up but that's up to you today i'm serving it on top of saffron rice with raisins but it goes great with every starch imaginable a little cilantro or mint is nice on top forget the fork this meat is spoon tender i love braised beef and pork but the lamb has a really incomparable texture this is that part of the video where i am supposed to come up with the best superlative to use but all i can say is yum here are more very detailed culinary tutorials for you to check out and the link to my online classes is in the description below

Channel: Helen Rennie

Views: 43,854

Keywords: lamb stew, lamb shoulder, how to cook a lamb shoulder, how to stew meat, how to make a stew, moroccan lamb stew, moroccan lamb tagine, spoon tender lamb, how to make lamb tender, stewing technique, braised lamb, spiced lamb stew, helen rennie, helenrennie

Id: qjC_E4nF7Bk

Length: 12min 18sec (738 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 25 2021