Slow Food Ireland

What invariably passes for shoulder of lamb in an Irish butcher's shop is in fact a fore shank and breast or flank of lamb (indicated in blue in the diagram below). This is a cheap cut that is often discarded, or sold boned and rolled for a fiver (€5). Butchers will do this to get rid of them but they will tell you that for the amount of work involved in boning and rolling, there isn't much in it for them.

Lamb shanks have become a staple of the bistro, but I found my butcher moaned an awful lot (swore an awful lot, actually) whenever I asked for them, because he would have to dispose of the flank. So I started to buy the whole "shoulder", just to keep the air from turning blue.

It is important to have a working relationship with a good butcher, especially one that does his own slaughtering. But I soon discovered I had been missing out by ignoring the flank.

I buy the "shoulders" as they come, other than a few blows of a cleaver to make them easier to cut into large chunks. I still get charged a fiver, though my butcher doesn't discriminate between large or small, so I always make sure I get the biggest. For ten euros you get a lot of lamb.

Saying that, you get a lot of waste too. But if you take the time to prepare this properly you get the most incredible tasting pieces of lamb that can be used for a myriad of dishes.

Slow Cooked Shoulder of Irish Lamb

Serves 6-8

What you need

This is not strictly speaking a recipe, certainly not for people who need detailed instructions. It is more a style of cooking. If you are a regular cook who keeps some basic ingredients handy, what ever you have will most likely work. The must haves are:

Lamb: 2 shoulders (2 foreshanks with flank/breast attached)

Stock: whatever you prefer. I use beef, or lamb if I can get it; probably about 500ml, or enough to at least half-cover the meat in the cooking vessel.

Onions: the more the merrier. I use three large onions cut into chunks.

Tomatoes:  I use a good handful of sun dried/blushed tomatoes, roughly chopped.

Garlic: half a bulb of whole cloves. More if you prefer. Optional.

Seasoning: plenty of freshly ground black pepper (grind until your arm hurts or buy a battery operated mill) and sea salt.  It is a robust dish so you don't need too much salt.

Bay leaves: it is entirely a matter of personal taste, but I use at least 6, usually more.

Wine: a couple of glasses of red if you have it. White will do. So will a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Optional.

Preserved lemons: if you are going to follow the North African variation of this dish (see next page) add 1 chopped preserved lemon. Optional.

After a few hours of slow cooking, you can add more ingredients. There are a number of different finishes you can put to this dish. But for now you want to make the base dish.

Preparation

1. Having had the butcher make a few cuts in the shoulder, portion it into chunks of three to four inches (8-10cm).Trim all the excess surface fat from these pieces. There is more than enough fat and connective tissue left inside the lamb to baste it.

2. Brown these in a pan with some olive oil and put the pieces in a large pot.

3. Add the stock and the other ingredients and give it a stir. The pot you choose should be large enough to hold all the ingredients without having to layer the lamb too much.

At this stage you might throw in some Juniper berries, some allspice berries, or anything you think might enhance the flavour. This is full and robust flavoured lamb, so it will take a lot of ingredients in its stride.

4. Cover with a lid or foil and place in the oven, and cook in a low heat (approx 140c or equivalent) for three to four hours. This is a slow dish.

When this comes out of the oven the meat should be tender and the onions and garlic almost melted. If there is a lot of fat, skim it off. If the meat isn't falling off the bone put it back in the oven until it does.

Where you go from here is entirely up to you. You can keep it simple, by adding some tinned tomatoes, some seasonal vegetables (carrots and fennel work very well), some herbs or spices of your choice, and put the whole thing back in the oven until the vegetables are cooked. If you want to use chunky vegetables, put them in sooner, say after two or three hours of cooking, and cook for longer. There is no point in being too precise. You know your oven best.

You can serve this with potatoes, with rice or with couscous.

Paul Deegan