This post features the BlenderBottle that I am giving away. Make sure to visit my BlenderBottle Giveaway post and follow the instructions over there to get your entry in. Contest ends March 1st, at 23h59.

One of the things I could never understand is how people buy the bottled vinaigrettes at the grocery store. Sure, I understand that time can be an issue – the question needs to be asked though – at what cost? By the end of this post, you will be able to make your own vinaigrette with nothing more than a few tools you have hanging around, and you will never have to buy the premade stuff again.

Theory

The main thing you need to remember when it comes to vinaigrettes is it’s a ratio of 3:1. That’s 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar (or acid.) Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, (like if you are my wife and like a acidic vinaigrette, you will be closer to 2:1.) The easiest thing to do is remember that ratio, live it, and breathe it, and you will never have to buy another store-bought item again.

After that golden ratio, the only thing left are two parts: the emulsion, and the seasonings.

Emulsion

There are two routes that I can remember when it comes to emulsion. You can either use egg yolks, or mustard.

When you use egg yolks, the natural lecithin is what emulsifies the mixture. In the case of mustard, it is the natural gums that do the trick. In either case, we use this to help our mixture become stable.

The amount of emulsion to the total mixture seems to hit a sweet spot at around 2% of the whole mixture. I usually run about 1 teaspoon for every cup of vinaigrette that I make. Any less, and the emulsion breaks. It’s not such a big deal, you can always just shake the mixture before using… but if you have it on a buffet serving hundreds of people – you get the idea.

Seasonings

Now we have what makes our vinaigrette stand out from a simple oil and vinegar mix. It can be fresh herbs, chopped up sundried tomatoes, Tabasco sauce – you name it. Liquids and dry herbs are usually added to the vinegar mixture before adding the oil for ease of use. If a liquid is added after emulsion has occurred, the risk is that the vinaigrette will break, or lose emulsion power because the ratio of liquid to oil is upset.

Fresh herbs, chopped items like capers, sundried tomatoes or olives are added at the end once the emulsion is reached. This is so the final tasting and correction of the seasoning can take place. In most cases its so you don’t lose the texture of the garnish. (For example, if you put in sundried tomatoes at the beginning before adding your oil, by the time you are finished you would not recognize the sundried tomatoes.)

Equipment:

One can get all fancy and use a blender, or micro food processor especially for vinaigrettes. Or, you can do what I do.

I use a jar with a lid. (My wife says I have a million of them around the house, so this recipe at least justifies its use.) Today I am going to use the BlenderBottle because it has a whisk inside, which is perfect for my needs. (Don’t forget to enter the contest to win yours!)

Today I am going to make Zesty Italian Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 tablespoons salt
• 1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method:

Get your vessel ready to make a vinaigrette. It could be a jar with a lid, or in this case it’s a BlenderBottle.

Add vinegar, Dijon mustard, water, honey, all the spices to the jar. Close the lid.

Shake vigorously until the mixture foams.

Open lid, add 1/3 of the oil to the bottle; close and shake vigorously.

Repeat, adding another 1/3 of the olive oil, then shake vigorously.

Taste mixture with lettuce; adjust seasonings. I poured it into a container that I will be storing in the fridge. It makes it easier for a person to taste the vinaigrette. Why don’t we just taste it with out fingers? Well, it’s best to taste it with what you are using it for. Lettuce!

Store in container in the fridge, and the vinaigrette will keep for up to two weeks. (If it lasts that long.)

Your Turn

What is your favorite vinaigrette to make? Let me know in the comments!

Connect with the Well Done Chef

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Last Kitchen 101 post showed us the method traditionally used to make a chicken stock. I  can hear what most people jump to when they see a post like that – “I just don’t have time to spend fussing over something as complicated as that.”

That statement blows my mind. Mind you, I am a chef by trade, so most of my lessons in the kitchen began in a “professional” establishment. I have no problem spending a day skimming a sauce, or preparing pasta from scratch. It’s fun for me.

Thing is, I don’t normally slave over a preparation, unless there is a need for it. In the case of my post on stock, there is one skimming, (in the beginning,) that’s it. It’s easier that way. I am not a person to fuss over a preparation. I like things to take care of themselves, with a minimum of hassle.

This recipe is the answer to that. With around 30 total minutes of actual kitchen time, you can have your beautiful stock. The trick is to set it, and (almost) forget it. It will take a good 20 hours, but the results are worth it. Best yet, it can be set overnight before bed for the first step, then the second step can be done before you head off to work. Once you get home, your stock is ready to be strained.

Before We Begin

Before we start, let’s recap some previous posts for a head start on today’s task.

• Butchering a chicken. Once you have your chicken cut up, use the carcass for the stock – the perfect way to stretch your dollar. If you don’t have a chicken to cut up, the bones from a demolished roasted chicken will work fine.
• Secret Laws of Stock Making. We will be following those concepts here shortly.
• Check out the traditional method for making the chicken stock here.

Making Chicken Stock in the Crock-Pot

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken (or turkey) carcass (about 2 lbs.)
• 1 gallon (4 liters) cold water
• 2 teaspoon cup white wine vinegar (or red wine if you prefer.)
• 1 small sized onion, peeled, chopped into 1 inch slices
• 1 carrot, peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 rib of celery, chopped into 1 inch chunks
• 1/2 inch of ginger, sliced in half
• 1/2 bulb garlic, chopped in half
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1/4 bunch thyme

Method:

Here we are pulling a bunch of bones from the freezer. This is my main tip; save those roasted chicken or turkey carcasses. Once they start flying out of the freezer door at you, it’s time to make stock.

Get the main tools needed for stock making in the crockpot. This is all you are going to need. A crockpot, and some bones.

Fill the crockpot, pack the bones in there. The manufacturer suggests that the crock pot not be filled past the 3/4 mark. As you can see here, I totally ignored that. I would find out later the impact of that decision.

Add cold water. Make sure the water is cold! The reason for that is the cold water softens the gelatin for better extraction. If you put hot water in there, you will make your life harder here. See the Secret Laws of Stock Making.

Add a splash of vinegar, cover, and set for 10 hours of cooking.The vinegar helps the extraction of the calcium in the bones. It also makes the stock taste a bit more acidic, which brightens the flavor a bit more.

Cut the Aromatics for chicken stock. We have here carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and ginger. These are known as aromatics. Keep the vegetables large, so they don’t break down while the stock is simmering. Some people will argue that carrots don’t belong in a stock. The choice is personal. I like carrots. So there.

Add bay leaf, peppercorn, and thyme. The thyme is dried, but fresh will work well if need be.

After 10 hours, add the vegetables, cover, and set on low for another 10 hours. You don’t add the vegetables until later because they would just turn to mush and discolor your stock.

See – it’s too full, and you can see that the liquid spilled out. I learned my lesson… it was too full, and I lost at least 2 cups of awesome goodness. You can tell the stock is fantastic by how long it takes to get the paper towel off the stove. Gelatin is a great glue. You heard it here first!

Finished stock – look at the loveliness. After 20 hours of very slow cooking, your house will smell fantastic, the kids will ask what you are making, and you will be ready for the next step.

Set up a strainer, grab some oven mitts, and strain the mixture. Make sure you pull the works slowly so you don’t have your bones and vegetables falling into your strained stock.

Throw out your waste. Be sure to double bag the waste – it will be hot!

Here is what the strained liquid looks like. Now, you aren’t going to win a culinary competition with this stock – but the gelatin content is second to none!

Here you can see I only get about 3 quarts (liters) worth here. That’s because I lost at least 2 cups on the stove from filling the crockpot too much. This recipe should give you at least 3 liters in the end.

Conclusion

Okay, so that is how you can make your stock hands-off. A little bit of work, (around a 1/2 hour worth,) will get you a nutrient-rich stock for pennies compared to a purchased broth. I’ve shown you that it can be done with a minimum of work, so get to it – show me what you can do with it!

Your Turn!

So, what do you think of this hands-off method of creating stock? Which method do you prefer, the traditional way, or this hands-off approach? Let me know in the comments!

Let’s start today’s lesson off with a question – why do we find ourselves constantly using this?

We are conditioned to believe that our lives are far too busy to make the real stuff, therefore we need to buy the convenient powdered product. Hell, you might not know this, but most major hotels, restaurants, and retirement homes base their whole cooking program on these products.

Why? The answer is convenience, cost of labor, and ease of planning.

The impact of using these products is not fully known. I can tell you a few things though – reading through he ingredients are a quick way to show you that you aren’t just getting chicken goodness out of the deal. It’s a tragedy though – you will soon see how easy it is to make a huge batch of chicken stock for yourself.

A while back, I promised you a video on making chicken stock. I humbly apologize for not having the skills needed to make that video with a Windows Machine. Instead, I figured a traditional post would be the way to go.

Before we start with today’s post, let’s recap some previous posts for a head start on today’s task.

• Butchering a chicken – http://welldonechef.com/k101-butchering-a-chicken.html. Once you have your chicken cut up, use the carcass for the stock – the perfect way to stretch your dollar. If you don’t have a chicken to cut up, the bones from a demolished roasted chicken will work fine.
• Secret Laws of Stock Making http://welldonechef.com/kitchen-theory-the-secret-chef-laws-for-great-stocks-and-broths.html. We will be following those concepts here shortly.

Making Chicken Stock

Ingredients:

• 6 whole chicken carcasses (about 10 lbs.)
• 15 quarts cold water
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (or red wine if you prefer.)
• 2 medium sized onions, peeled, chopped into 1 inch slices
• 1 carrot, peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 rib of celery, chopped into 1 inch chunks
• 1 inch of ginger, sliced in half
• 1 bulb garlic, chopped in half
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 bunch thyme

Method:

Grab the biggest pot you have. You will need to have at least twice as much room as you have bones. You will be cooking this stock over a long period of time; having twice as much water as your bones will ensure you get a good calcium and gelatin extraction from your bones.

Plop the bones into the pot. You can rinse them first if you like. One benefit to rinsing is that there will be less impurities to skim later. (Translation: less work for you!)

Next, you want to use clean, cold water. I am adding white wine vinegar to the water at a rate of 1 teaspoon per 2 quarts. (Notice the extremely accurate measuring?)

Add the water to the pot, and fill until the water is about twice as high as the level of the bones. Turn on your heat to medium and wait for the works to heat up.

Once the mixture starts to heat up, the impurities and fat will rise to the top. First, lower the heat to the lowest it will go. Then, take a clean ladle, and using a circular motion, push the impurities to the sides of the pot. You can dip the edge of the ladle into the water and collect the scum in the bowl of the ladle.

Here you can see what I am talking about. This step is optional, but something you want to do. The work you do here will ensure your stock is clear later on. Never let the stock come to a boil – that will make it cloudy as well.

Now, cut up your vegetables into large chucks. They will be sitting on top of the simmering pot for more than a few hours, so don’t be afraid to cut them into large chunks. We call this cut “mirepoix” in the professional kitchen. Some people will argue that carrots have no place in a chicken stock. I like them in there because they flavor the stock, and make it golden. These are called aromatics. I don’t like to put them into the stock at the beginning. I’ll explain later. How much do you use? A rule that I use is 10% of the weight of the bones. For 10 pounds of bones, that’s 1 pound of vegetables.

After a good 8 hours of simmering, put your aromatics in. Some people will argue with me on that. I go by what gets results. I have found the best way is to put the flavoring agents near the end of cooking.

Here you see what the aromatics look like at the finish. This was after 6 hours of simmering. If you put them into the stock at the beginning, then cook it for the full 20 hours or so, they will break down into your stock and make it more like a puree.

Strain your stock into a holding vessel. (You see I have a huge bowl here.) Don’t rush this step, slow and steady is the key. I have rushed this before, only to have the bones and vegetables fall into my clean broth. Notice the oven mitts? That’s for you, as I am sure you don’t have Teflon hands like I do.

Here is what the end result looks like. I am used to a clearer product, but this one will do. As you can see here, there is a lot. That’s okay – it freezes well, and is easy to pull out and use.

So, here is the final product, complete with it’s packaging. In all, I got 10 liters of stock here, all for the cost of the bones, a bit of vegetables, some spices, and a bit of time. This is going into to the freezer for later use.

That’s all there is to making a great stock. I have shown you how you can use your stove to your advantage, and have a product that has great nutritional benefits over the convenience product you buy in the store.

Your turn

Now that you know how to make chicken stock, what do you plan to make with it?

People are always asking me for advice on their next kitchen equipment purchase.

This week’s Kitchen 101 series will deal with what you need to start cooking on your own. By the end of the week, you will have understand what you need to cook on your own – with the minimal amount of hype associated with each pick.

Nothing is scarier than walking into the kitchen section of the store and figuring out what you need to have, and what to buy. There are so many options, with a lot of “science” behind each pick. Should you buy that celebrity chef’s cookware? What makes a good knife? How will you make your money last? What is the absolute barest essential you need to get started?

My goal is to cut through all the “magic,” and give you the know-how to purchase the items you need, and stretch your dollars the furthest they can go.

Each post will deal with a sub-set of kitchen equipment, as a whole it is way too much information to digest in one article. What I have lined up for this week are:

Stoves, ovens, (microwaves) – Without this set of equipment you aren’t going to go vary far. What to look for, what you actually need.

Pots, pans, and roasting pans – The trilogy of the kitchen. Find out what the experts use, and how that will save you money in the long run by avoiding the hype the marketers throw at you.

Knives – What to look for in a knife, and why. Also, I’ll let you into the surprising secrets a lot of pros have, and how that will save you hundreds, if not THOUSANDS purchasing your next set of knives.

Small wares – The biggest money pit of the whole kitchen – cut through all the clutter and get what you really need to do day-to-day cooking.

Nice-to-haves – This set is the optional equipment for the kitchen. Once you have your basics down from the posts above, you can save up your hard-earned cash and eventually purchase these. Better yet, get them second-hand and save a bundle!

That’s this week in a nutshell. I am so excited to pass off my knowledge to you, I can’t wait to get started!

Do you have a question for me? You can contact me through the Ask the Chef! page, my Facebook Fan Page, my TuDiabetes account, my YouTube Channel, or my Twitter account.

I recently read a nice message on Facebook from my Aunt the other day. You can read the result on my post over at my personal blog.

Today we concern ourselves with the nitty-gritty. How to make this difficult dressing that will KILL the competition!

The Competition:

Sure, the dressing itself might cost peanuts:

Sure, the stuff is 3.99$ for 500 mL. Not bad, a cost of 8.00$ per liter. Let’s look into the ingredients, shall we?

Straight from Renee’s site, here are the ingredients:

Fresh buttermilk, canola oil, vinegar, water, frozen egg yolk, salt, fructose solids, cultured, dextrose, whey powder, spices, onion powder, garlic powder, xanthan gum, flavour.

Wow.

The only problem I have is when you are paying for something that is just not all that convenient. Plus, when you are just getting vegetable oil flavored with milk products, I have a problem with that.

Why is canola oil the second ingredient there? If you read between the lines here, you get what looks like a basic vinaigrette – oil, vinegar, water, egg yolks, and seasonings, (including dextrose.) To that they have added buttermilk, whey powder (presumably to bulk up the milk flavor.) Finally, there are two things that disturb me – Xanthan gum, (a thickener and stabilizer,) and flavour.

What does flavour mean anyway? What kind of flavor?

A Caveat

Look – the point is not attacking this stuff – please keep that in mind. A lot of people will reach for this because it is convenient. I mean, who has buttermilk these days just hanging out in the fridge? (You Southerner’s DON’T answer that!)

What I want to offer is an easy alternative to buying that convenience product.

Go look over at my Personal Blog for a quick video on how the following recipe is executed. I made this recipe in 2 minutes, with a hovering wife in the background. It is not as convenient as grabbing it off the shelf, but I think you can agree that it’s not that inconvenient!

Southwestern Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Servings: 10

Ingredients:

• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup whole milk and 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
• 3 chives (with flowers), minced
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1-2 drops hot sauce

Method

1. Grab a clean, tall mason jar with a lid. Combine all your ingredients together inside the jar, Cap the jar with the lid; shake vigorously while dancing. Ignore the looks from your spouse or partner. You’re making Southwestern Dressing, Baby!
2. Keep tightly covered in the fridge for up to the same expiry date as the buttermilk. If it lasts that long, it will keep.

A nutritional comparison:

Just for giggles, here is the nutritional breakdown for my recipe, based on Living Cookbook 2011 stats. Note that I don’t make the serving size 1 tablespoon because NO ONE only eats a tablespoon of dressing at a time!

Nutritional Information from the Competition?

With this Nutritional Information, keep in mind that a normal person would eat 3 times that amount in a salad just to make it taste good!

For a real serving of this stuff, we are looking at 180 calories, 3 grams of carbs from sugar, and not much of anything else.

Here is my version, both with and without buttermilk:

With Buttermilk

All natural ingredients in my recipe, A full 160 calories less, almost 1 gram of sugar carbs less, less sodium, and gasp! Less sat fat as well. Definitely a case to DIY – because it is so easy!

If you don’t have buttermilk, then by substituting the whole milk and sour cream:

Without buttermilk - 'cause who has that stuff lying around?

As you can see, it still comes in at a 1/3 less than the competition, with still less carbohydrates!

There you have it! What do you think,will you be buying the “convenient” stuff, or will you make your own?

Sometimes there is so much information out there that you don't know what to follow!

You know what? I need to take a moment out here and tell you all a little something. (While I am still searching for the best way to put videos together so I can pump out that content for you all!)

I am not in any way, shape or form saying that I totally subscribing to the Paleo or the Primal WOE. (Way of Eating)

I know that comes as a bit of a shock, but I came full circle with the whole circus. when I was diagnosed, it became clear to me that I was only going to get my blood sugars under control by going the low-carb route. That naturally led me to the Primal Blueprint, and the Paleo Solution.

I read those books, no DEVOURED them. I subscribed to a lot of sites that were in line with the philosophy. I went that way for a bit.

Thing is, all the information was just too much. Conflicting paradigms, don’t do this – do this. It seemed too much.

I recently stumbled over a really awesome post over at Whole Health Source. In it, I noticed a gem. See if you agree:

I think that an optimal diet for lean healthy people is probably not restricted in macronutrients, and if anything a diet biased toward carbohydrate is better for overall long-term health than one biased toward fat.  However, obesity and diabetes are important factors in health, and if a person finds that reducing carbohydrate attenuates them, then it’s worth considering.

I totally concur here. The reason being is that I notice with the complete cutting of carbs you will find the weight gain from the reintroduction because of a rebound effect. That is, when you limit that one macro nutrient for so long, you become less insulin resistant. That’s cool in the context of insulin, but the endocrine system is NOT all hinged on one hormone. Leptin, etc., are just now thrust into the picture.

As a type 1 diabetic, I learned fast about low carbing to get the blood sugars under control. I also learned about the swing later from introducing them back.

What has worked for me is allowing the carbs in the diet, adjusting for insulin needs, but also exercising at low-level intensity mixed with HIIT workouts 3 times a week. The walking/hiking is always at a fasted state, with recovery carbs and insulin injections to allow the carbs to replenish the glycogen levels. I am now at a stable weight, but I can still eat the carbs.

I know that in the short term I can go low carb to lose the weight, but then I can reach stasis later by reintroducing the carbs. In my books, that is far better.

I think too many people put too much weight on one diet, or WOE. It is a little more complex than that. The only thing that I insist is to eat REAL foods as much as possible.

What do you think? Am I on crack? Let me know in the comments!

I am on a challenge to go Primal for 25$ per person per week. Yesterday I talked about how before we get started on our Budget Primal Challenge, there are a few things that need to be worked out: Inventory, Flyers, Shortlisting, and Menu Planning. Today I answer BJ’s question about paleo prep time and cost:

BJ Wrote:

I will be thrilled if you can pull this off!!! It is costing us way more than that, and the time we spend in the kitchen is unbelievable. At our house, there’s 5 of us (one of whom is a celiac) and the kitchen is warmed up at 6:00 a.m. every day. 3 out of the 5 want to give it up….I’m not one of them tho so I’ll be watching you!

Watch below BJ, this is for you!

Total cost for the day will be posted tomorrow!

I wish I had the original video, I guess that’s how it rolls. Did I suck?? Tell me what you all think in the comments.

My last post had me talking up how I was going to go Primal for 25$ per person per week. You’re ready to go right?

Whoa! Before we get started on our Budget Primal Challenge, there are a few things that need to be worked out: Inventory, Flyers, Shortlisting, and Menu Planning.

I walk you through my MADNESS and share how us chefs get it done! You can do this at home as well, it just takes a couple of hours, is all.

After all, AREN’T you worth the time and effort? With the money you can save by this simple step, you could invest it in a side of grass-fed beef later on!

Mise en Place, super important!

Let me know what you all think in the comments.

Recently on Kitchen 101, we roasted a leg of lamb. Today we are going to use the leftovers to make a delicious, nutritious soup.

I’ve been looking deeply at myself for a few days now. What I discovered is that I’m guilty of the biggest crime to a chef – I have wasted food. Perhaps it’s the lack of employment lately that’s caused me to examine my habits. I recently re-discovered frugality, and the ways of those more affluent than I am. They all have something in common; they get the most use out of everything they buy.

Now, I’m not suggesting that following those of Extreme Couponing, or hording everything you walk by, or even making your own laundry soap in order to emulate those people. No, what I am saying is that it would be a shame to let that lovely lamb bone with the delicious marrow go to waste. Plus, I can get 3 meals out the lamb. Not bad for a 20$ piece of meat that originally fed 6 people!

In the tradition of Kitchen 101, there is no recipe, just the method. After all, technique is what matters.

Lets get started:

This is what a lamb leg looks like the day after your family decimates it. Cut through the joints, (there are 3,) so it will fit in the pot. We are looking for maximum extraction of gelatin and flavor.

There it is, in the pot. Are you as excited as I am?

Next, add a good quality stock. I used chicken stock because I already had some of it defrosted, (and I was too lazy to defrost the veal stock.) I still had some lamb jus left over, so no worries about the flavor. You can use either, or plain water. (One day I will actually get a video done so you can see how I make the stock!)

Next throw in your aromatics. In this case, carrots, onions, celery, and the bits of pepper top. (Remember, waste nothing!) For spices, a nice bay leaf, and rosemary stems. (Nonna would be so proud. Yes, I save my rosemary and herb stalks, because they are a great way to get flavor from something you would otherwise throw out.)

Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. When the meat is falling off the bone gently lift it out and put it aside to cool.

After the meat is cool, shred it with your fingers. Don’t throw the bones away! Eat the cartilage, and give the bones to your dog. (And shush anyone who says that bones are bad for dogs – don’t believe the hype!)

Put the meat back into the simmering pot. Taste the soup. In my case it looks and tastes… insipid. Perhaps if I had used the veal stock? Bah! All you need is bit of seasoning, and my secret weapon; the grainy mustard pan drippings from the lamb! Tell me, doesn’t that look like pure flavor to you? How much do you think I could sell it for?

Finally, because I am a frugal dude now, I wanted something starchy in the soup. This is completely optional for you out there, but I think that tradition dictates starchy items for frugal dishes. (Just kidding – I love lentils though!)

I bought this can back in the day on sale. For 85¢, it’s a deal! Simply rinse the lentils, and add it at the end of the soup to heat through.

Taste the soup, adjust the final level of salt and pepper. I think lamb always needs rosemary, or perhaps mint. I don’t have any fresh mint right now, but I do have rosemary! Add it to the pot.

A final touch: if you like all 4 food groups in your dish, feel free to add a dollop of crème fraîche to the top. Enjoy!

There you have it. A delicious soup!

Lamb has its problems – So let’s Simplify

I have heard from several people that they either hate lamb, or are afraid to cook it. I guess it comes from a bad experience they had eating it, or troubles in the kitchen. Today I will teach you how I was taught to make a succulent roast at the restaurant.

In its most basic, what we are doing is following the rules to roasting a piece of meat. In the tradition of Kitchen 101, there is no recipe today, just a few ingredients, and the basic steps to execution.

Steps to a perfect roast:

1. Trim any fat or sinew from the roast. You don’t want to have a thick layer of fat as it will collect on the bottom of the pan and start to smoke as the roast cooks. You only need a good 1/4 inch of fat to allow the meat to self baste. If the roast has no visible fat, you can wrap bacon slices around it, and it will be just fine.
2. Season the meat aggressively. A lot of people make the mistake of under-seasoning their roasts. You need to remember is that the only outside is getting salt and pepper. If you season the roast like a steak, you will have a tasteless roast.
3. Roast the meat at the desired temperature. For smaller pieces, you want a higher heat at all times so you brown the meat by the time it cooks. If you are roasting a larger piece, start off at a high temperature for 15 to 20 minutes, and lower the temperature to slowly cook the meat. You will get more meat that way; there will be less liquid lost in the roasting!
4. If you are planning to make a pan gravy, add your aromatic vegetables (usually carrots, onions, and celery) to the pan in the last 30 or so minutes of roasting. This will flavor the drippings. (This step is totally optional.)
5. Cook to the desired temperature. When do you pull it out? Here it gets a little tricky. I always use a thermometer for large roasts and chickens. Depending on the size of the meat that you are roasting, the temperature you pull it out can change. A good rule is to remember the desired doneness at the end, and remember that the meat will continue to cook as it rests. To make it simpler, follow the guidelines below. — If you are cooking a small roast (like a rack of lamb) then you can expect the temperature to rise about 5 to 10 degrees while it rests. For a medium sized roast, the amount goes from 10 to 15 degrees. For a really large roast (like a hip of beef) it can go up as much as 20 degrees. Take the roast out at the finished temperature minus the resting temperature. So, for a leg of lamb, medium, I would pull it out at 130°F.
6. Let the meat rest, covered with foil, until the juices return to the center of the roast. For a small roast, that will be around 5 to 10 minutes. For a medium sized roast, (like our leg of lamb here,) it would be around 20 to 30 minutes. For a large roast, (like our beef hip above,) it will take around an hour to rest! Don’t skip this step! All of your work will be ruined if you do.
7. While your meat is resting, you can make your sauce from the drippings in the pan. (That will be covered in another post.)

Roasted Leg of Lamb With Rosemary Blood Orange Crust

I managed to get a nice sized leg for a little over 20$ Canadian, enough to feed the 5 adults and 2 children, plus leave enough for a soup later on. (That’s a later post, I promise!)

After that, I had:

• Olive oil
• Rosemary
• Grainy mustard
• A blood orange (you could substitute a regular orange for it if you like.)
• A dash of Worcestershire sauce

Now, let’s use the principles above to make a nice leg of lamb!

Defrosting the lamb leg:

I bought the leg of lamb at the last minute, so it was frozen solid. An hour in the sink thawed it enough for our purposes.

A photo of the crust mixture. Equal parts olive oil, grainy mustard, blood orange juice with the zest. Worchestershire sauce and rosemary complete the profile.

While waiting for the leg to thaw, mix up the ingredients for the crust; equal parts by volume olive oil, grainy mustard, and blood orange juice. Zest the orange first before you squeeze the juice into the bowl, otherwise you will be looking at fiddling with a squeezed orange half. (You know I am speaking from experience on this! I forgot to do this, and was cursing as I was trying to micro plane the zest into the bowl!)

Don’t worry if you don’t have blood oranges for this exercise; a regular orange will do. I was supposed to put a lemon in there, but I forgot to buy the lemon. Lucky for mw I had a blood orange handy!

Chop up a sprig of rosemary, (a tip – sprinkle a bit of salt on the rosemary first so it doesn’t fly everywhere.) A dash of Worcestershire sauce, then mix it up.

Here you see that the leg is cleaned of sinew, and the fat is properly trimmed..

Don't be shy with the salt and pepper!

Once the crust is mixed up, all that is left to do is wait for the leg to become defrosted enough to throw into the oven. Place it on a pan that has a rack so you can catch the drippings. Rub it all over with a bit of olive oil. (That way the salt and pepper will stick.) Give it an aggressive amount of salt and pepper.

Rub the crust mixture on the lamb:

Spread the mixture evenly all around the roast, and get it into the oven.

Put the lamb into the oven at 400°F for 15 minutes. This will caramelize the crust and set the sugars in the protein of the lamb. Some people will argue that the crust will seal in the juices, some will say it won’t. For our purposes here, we are more concerned about flavor. The caramelization will lend flavor to the final result.

Next, lower the temperature in the oven to 325°F. If you leave your roast in the oven at 400°F, the outside would be burned before the inside came to the desired temperature.

I am constantly asked the question, “how long do I cook it for?” The answer is always, “as long as it takes.”

Before you call me a smart-aleck, there are too many variables to give you an exact answer. That’s why it’s important to use a thermometer to know exactly what the temperature is. A rough guideline for the lamb is 15 to 20 minutes per pound. For this particular roast, it was 3 kg, so that is 180 minutes, or 3 hours.

Here is what out lovely roast looks like after 2 hours 35 minutes. The temperature was 135°F, so right around perfect for our needs.

After the oven, cover it with foil and leave it alone for 30 minutes. Seriously, don’t touch it.

Resting on the board:

After smacking your family off from clawing at your roast to get a taste, the meat is finally ready to be savored. Get your nicest knife and start slicing. Yes, I know that the knife in this picture is broken. It’s a long story.

A thief looking to profit from this lamb:

I hope that I have demystified the process of cooking lamb. Follow these instructions, and even the harshest critic of lamb, (like my FIL) will be converted.

The principles apply to any meat you are roasting. Until the next Kitchen 101, have fun!