Slow-Roast Rosemary-Garlic Lamb Shoulder

Ingredients

• 1.8 kg Lamb shoulder, bone inSee the yield note for smaller, boneless and rolled shoulders.
• 2 tablespoons Olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper
• 1 Onion, quartered
• 1 Garlic, whole head, halved horizontally
• 3 Garlic cloves, cut into slivers
• 8 sprigs Rosemary
• 1 cup, plus ¾ cup more if the pan runs dry Water

Yield: The source's recipe card gives 4 servings, and its notes say a 1.5 kg shoulder gives about 700 g of cooked meat, which feeds about 4. Source times: 15 minutes preparation and 3 hours 30 minutes cooking, plus resting. The source's adjustments: for a smaller shoulder of around 1 kg, or a boneless one, cut the covered time by 20 minutes; a 1.8 kg bone-in shoulder weighs about 1.3 kg boned; a rolled boneless shoulder of about 1.1 to 1.3 kg takes the recipe's time as written; two shoulders of about 1.5 kg each fit in one pan with 30 minutes added to the covered time. The source also gives a pan gravy, which is left out of this record.

Method

1. Heat the oven to 240°C conventional, or 220°C fan-forced. Both figures are the source's. The source names no shelf; a middle shelf is this project's ordinary default, not a source instruction.
2. Rub the lamb with the oil, salt and pepper. With a thin, sharp knife make 12 deep cuts in it, without going through to the underside, and push rosemary and garlic slivers into each one.
3. Put the onion, the halved garlic head and the remaining rosemary in the bottom of a roasting pan, sit the lamb on top and pour the water around it. The source gives no pan size; one the shoulder fits in with a little room is enough.
4. Cover with a lid or tightly with a double layer of foil. Put it in the oven and turn the oven down straight away to 180°C conventional, or 160°C fan-forced. Roast, covered, for 3 hours.
5. Take off the foil and check there is still liquid in the pan; if not, add ¾ cup water. Turn the oven up to 220°C and roast for 20 to 30 minutes more, until the outside is brown and crisp. The source gives no fan figure for this last stage, and none is converted here.
6. The source's test is tenderness: the meat should part easily with two forks. It is not a temperature, so check one with a thermometer in the thickest part, clear of the bone. Health Canada's figure for a whole lamb cut cooked well done is 77°C internal, and FSANZ recommends at least 75°C in the centre for a rolled roast; this project expects meat that pulls apart this easily to be past both, but that is an expectation, not a source figure, so measure rather than assume.
7. Lift the lamb onto a plate, cover it loosely with foil and then a couple of tea towels, and rest it for at least 20 minutes and up to a couple of hours. Pull the meat off the bone with tongs to serve.