Seasons Greetings Dearest Readers, Isabella Here!

Happy Unofficial Spring!

What are you looking forward to cooking this season? We’re looking at potentially opening up a seasonal cooking class what are your thoughts? Reply and let us know! Although summer is the time for cooking all of the great summer favorites i.e. burgers, STEAKS, sausages, BBQ everything, and TACO everything….I’m REALLY into seasonal eating.

While I’ve spent time away from the store I’ve also managed to pick up a small (okay, a massive) cooking obsession with Julia Child’s book series "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" . I recommend all of the books listed for the home cook who considers themselves to be above average. These books will IMMEDIATELY challenge you to upgrade your cooking game on a deep creative level. I recently completed her famous Boeuf Bourguignon and let me tell you….it was silky and gorgeous and beautifully divine. I urge you to buy her series (or read it again) and learn from her stories! It’s fun!

Now, if you’re reading this saying “Isabella there’s absolutely no flipping way I’m spending all of that time on one meal”. I hear you, I get it, I live there too take a deep breath! Let’s start with micro steps, I recommend leaving a meal like this for a special occasion where you’re either celebrating or you simply feel like creating something elegant, it’s fun…I promise! You could even divide the work with friends and bring it back to the 50’s with an elaborate mid-day luncheon. Particularly as we’re entering the season of planting seeds, make it seasonal!

Seasonal eating is not only fun to create it’s SO much more nutritious and not to mention sometimes a little bit of a creative challenge! Most of us in the Northeast are still in Winter(kind of) I want to talk about some SIMPLE bone-in cooking methods that we share with our customers who come in and are just freaked out by the entire situation. We’re here to put you at ease and to reassure you cooking with the bone-in is simple and extremely satisfying! The only downside to cooking with the bone-in is the amount of time required, the outcome far exceeds this minor downside in our opinion. Trust yourself and experiment! Cheers to creative cooking!!

Demystifying and Debunking Cooking a Bone-In Leg of Lamb: Our Cooking Marching Orders

1. Know Thy Eaters Before You Enter Thy Butcher Shop:

The first thing to know about cooking ANYTHING is to know your eaters and how many people you’re ACTUALLY feeding. This is particularly important because butchers don’t know your guests better than you do, we always recommend going (a little) heavy. Why? When the food is good and you’re going through all of the preparation motions you’re going to want left overs and your guests will go back for seconds (trust us). With that being said, in our store our goal is NEVER to oversell you on a product that you’re not going to use. Not only is it a waste of the product above all we want our customers to be completely 150% satisfied.

We can’t guarantee that for other places so automatically assume average eaters will eat 1/2 lb per person. Now, children will generally eat 1/4 lb each unless they have a considerable appetite. Don’t assume women will eat 1/2 lb either because I can personally eat about 1 lb of meat on my own and alternatively some women will eat around 1/4 lb of food. Like I said it’s extremely important to know your eaters you don’t want to run out of food and have your elegant dinner become every Nonna’s worst nightmare!

2. Know Thy Method of Cooking:

Please, I beg of you do not sous vide a leg of lamb. I know it’s tempting, don't do it. Get uncomfortable and try roasting it’s generally the same timeframe different result. If you want something fun to watch check out this video with Julia Child and Jaques Pepin skip to 06:00 mins if you’d like to just see the leg of lamb.

The largest reason why we like roasting or braising at a low temperature for several hours is because the meat will generally cook evenly in the oven (heat on top and bottom); therefore, it’s juicier and overall incredibly decadent. Roasting with the bone-in creates a whole new level of flavor. Why? The bone effects the flavor and the texture of your meal because when you cook with the bone it releases albumen and collagen (famously known as juices) within the meat; therefore, upgrading your meal entirely.

A full leg of lamb will generally be about 6-8 lbs TRIMMED. Why am I specifying that it’s trimmed? Because if you’re purchasing a full leg of lamb you’re paying for 1-the price of the product and 2-the price of a tradesperson (butcher or their apprentice) to prepare the product for your family so you don’t have to do anything but season, brown, roast, and eat. If you’re “butcher” doesn’t do this for your then they’re not a butcher. Furthermore, if you go into a grocery store they’re most likely not going to know how to remove the aitchbone (see #3), stick to a butcher they generally know what’s best when it comes to proteins.

If you’re saying 6-8 lbs of meat is ridiculous for 4 people you’d be absolutely correct! In these instances, we recommend purchasing a half of a leg of lamb.

3. Know Which Bones You’d Like Removed:

Knowing which bones to remove in order to make your life easier is extremely important. We’re talking about the aitchbone (hip joint) in this instance. The viewable lamb chart illustrates that the aitchbone has already been removed (see video).

4. Prepping, Cooking, Eating:

After trimming and the aitchbone out a full leg of lamb weighing around 6-8 lbs will roast in the oven at 350 degrees for 2 hrs. Internal temperature should read between 135 and 145 degrees for medium rare.

If you’re preparing a 1/2 of leg of lamb for a smaller crowd you’re looking at 1 hr still 350 degree oven same internal temperature.

Prepping TIPS:

• Make sure the meat is room temperature and dry before you season.

• season about 30-45 mins prior to placing into the oven.

A classic way to prepare lamb is with rosemary and garlic. Particularly in spring because they are two ingredients that are available in the garden. Rosemary is considered a bombproof herb (in my humble opinion) and pre-planted garlic is just starting to ripen if you’re in the appropriate gardening zone. If you’re not into gardening these two ingredients are most likely in season and are available at your local farm stand or local market.

We hope this was fun for you, we’d love to know what you’re cooking up in the kitchen. Tag us on the socials #northforkbutcher @southoldwaysidemarketsouthold . We’re still offering our 40+ page ebook on meat grading, it’s filled with fantastic info so be sure to subscribe! Comment, Click, Share with your friends. Just know, we appreciate you.

From our table to yours,

~The Rutigliano’s