Leg of Lamb or shoulder

[Applejack87]

We love lamb but it is fatty , I’d like to get some for Xmas which in your opinion do you prefer leg or shoulder ?

That would depend upon how many are eating it and how big your joints available are.

A lot of the fat can be trimmed off first.

You can sear it in a hot pan, turning it to do all sides, before draining the liquid fat. That can get rid of quite a lot.

Or cook it on a rack with a pan beneath to catch the drippings.

Definitely leg, much less fatty than shoulder. Can be cooked pink (preferred in this house) while shoulder is better cooked long and slow imo.

I love shoulder, it's one of my favourite things to cook! So long as you cook it long and slow, all the fat melts away and you end up with lovely, sticky, rich, falling apart meat . I don't like leg so much because you have to be much more careful with timings/oven temperature, which is harder to control if you're doing a bit Xmas dinner. Plus some people may not like it pink, and a well-done leg is no good to anyone.

Leg if you are roasting - make sure it can drip.

Shoulder if you are slow cooking.

Thankyou 🙂

I cooked a slow roast lamb shoulder this weekend and it was so tender it literally fell off the bone, leaving it clean. Incredibly tender and utterly delicious according to the family (ironically I'm vegetarian so don't eat it myself!) and still tender the following day with leftovers. I was surprised how fatty it was - this was M&S and I usually buy from the butcher - but of course the fat helps the flavour and tenderness with a 3 hour slow roast and there was little discernible fat once cooked so I assume it had all rendered down.

Sounds delicious