Salt Baked Leg Of Lamb – That Looks Interesting..

The cuts don’t need to be deep. Just enough to let the flavours in.

This is to allow the lemon zest, rosemary, pepper and remarkably little of the salt to permeate the meat. Zest the lemon.

Cook’s tip: When it comes to lamb, lemon works really well with rosemary.

Slice the rosemary. If you can do this without it flying all over the work surface, you are doing better than me. Rub the rosemary, pepper and lemon zest all over the meat, being sure to rub it into the shallow slashes in the flesh.

This is quite an aromatic mixture. It smells nice too.

Separate the eggs. Reserve the yolks for the dog (That’s what happened to them in our house anyway. But, that’s a different story).

The hound made off with the yokes. Her coat has been glossy since.

Heat the oven to 180ºC. Add the whites to the salt and mix to combine. This is another thing that one might want to leave off the things to try list as the egg/salt mixture is a strangely disgusting consistency.

It needs a good mixing to combine. Yuck!

Lay enough of the mixture, on which to seat the lamb, in a roasting pan. Sit the lamb on top and completely cover it with the salt mixture.

Yes, that’s a leg of lamb in there.

Place it in the oven and roast for about an hour and fifteen minutes. If you are lucky enough to own a meat thermometer, take the lamb out of the oven when it reaches about 49ºC. Let it rest in the salt crust. Mine cracked along the edge but no harm was done.

I thought we were in trouble when I saw the fissure (great word that). But, all was good.

While the lamb is resting, you can use the hot oven to bake some thyme potatoes. these are cubed potatoes drizzled in olive oil with lots of thyme and some black pepper. They are delicious.

New season potatoes are great for this as one can leave the skins on.

The lamb makes a great centrepiece with lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” when the crust is removed. It came away easily in my case.

The “Taaa Daaa” moment. See the crust comes away in large pieces.

I have read elsewhere that fish or meat ‘salt baked’ is not too salty. Elsewhere is right. The salt crust added a slight accentuation of flavour to the outer edges of the meat. There was no salty taste. The meat was extremely tender and delicious. We also had it cold the following day and I would highly recommend it.

This is one of those meals you have to try. It is delightful.

Don’t leave the salt baked lamb in the same category as the two gallons of beer (I know you were shocked by that one). Do try it. You will not regret the experience.