Recipe for lamb rump sous vide
A wonderful and simple recipe for lamb culotte cooked in sous vide.
It is a tradition to serve lamb at Easter, and fortunately, this is also the season for Danish lamb. Danish lamb is far better than imported, so seize the opportunity when it arises.
Many people opt for leg of lamb, but why not serve lamb culotte instead? It’s easy to handle, and if you prepare it in sous vide, it doesn’t get any simpler or better.
I got my hands on this fantastic Danish lamb culotte, and it deserved the absolutely best preparation I could think of: Sous vide.
Here, I will explain how to get the best out of the lamb culotte, so it turns out perfectly every single time.
I’ll, of course, cover sous vide times and temperatures, but we will also take a closer look at why we traditionally eat lamb at Easter.
What is lamb culotte?
The lamb culotte is located on the leg of lamb and can be easily cut off and cooked separately. It is a fine little cut, easy to find, and one of the best parts you can get from the lamb.
Its small size also makes it perfect for smaller gatherings.
Lamb for the Easter lunch
There are many traditions associated with Easter, and it’s not all chocolate eggs and yellow chicks.
In old times, the traditions were a bit more bloody, literally. A lamb was always slaughtered for Easter, and its blood was used to smear on the doorframe, to prevent the angel of death from entering. In Hebrew, Easter means “to spare” or “to pass over,” directly referring to the angel of death.
Today, we serve lamb at Easter for somewhat different reasons: It tastes wonderful, and we’re used to it being “the way it’s done.” There’s almost nothing that evokes spring more than really juicy lamb meat!
Lamb culotte in sous vide
Sous vide is a perfect cooking method for most things, and lamb culotte is certainly no exception. I almost want to say that lamb culotte in sous vide is one of the best lamb dishes you can have.
The meat becomes incredibly tender and juicy, with very little effort on your part. You just need to know the right temperature and time.
Lamb culotte sous vide time and temperature
I’ve previously experimented a lot with dry aging lamb, and this freshly slaughtered Danish lamb I used for this recipe was dry-aged for 60 days. This means I could afford to give the meat a slightly shorter time in the sous vide.
I know that most people probably don’t have a dry-aged lamb culotte on hand, and in that case, I would recommend adding 1 hour to the cooking time. If the lamb culotte comes from a good quality butcher, you can still follow the cooking time I used for this recipe.
The water temperature depends on how you like your meat, but if you ask me, lamb culotte should be pink. If you don’t prefer pink lamb but like it well-cooked, you can increase the temperature by 4 degrees.
Lamb culotte sous vide sear
When the lamb culotte comes out of the water bath, it’s actually cooked, but you need to add a sear before serving.
You can sear the lamb culotte in various ways. If you already have the grill fired up, it’s obviously perfect to throw it on there. The most important thing is to have the temperature on high, and to only let it sit on the grill for a very short time – it should only get a sear! It’s a good idea to coat the meat in oil first, as this transfers the heat to the meat even faster.
You can also just throw it on a regular frying pan. Here, I usually use ghee (clarified butter), but you can also use a mixture of oil and butter.
If you have a blowtorch, it’s also entirely ideal to use. The advantage of a blowtorch is that it’s easy to get a good sear all the way around.
Lamb Rump Sous Vide
Equipment
- Sous Vide
Ingredients
- 500 gram Lamb Culotte
- Salt and Pepper freshly ground
- Ghee Can be replaced with a mixture of oil and butter
- Flake Salt
Instructions
- Score the fat layer crosswise with a sharp knife.
- Season the meat with freshly ground salt and pepper on both sides.
- Vacuum seal the meat and place it in your sous vide.
- Cook the meat for 4 hours at 56 degrees Celsius (133 degrees Fahrenheit). If unsure about the quality of your lamb rump, give it 5 hours. If you prefer it well-done, simply set the temperature to 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Take the bag out of the water bath and remove the meat from the bag.
- Dry the meat thoroughly. I usually use a clean tea towel for this, but paper towels can also do the job.
- Heat a pan until it is as hot as possible (do not use a Teflon pan, as they typically cannot handle high heat).
- If you have ghee, I find it the best for frying. Add it to the smoking hot pan and fry the meat for 30-60 seconds on each side. If you have "only" butter and oil, add the oil to the hot pan. Once the oil is hot, add the butter and meat simultaneously. Be careful not to let the butter burn.
- Slice the meat into thin pieces, sprinkle with flake salt, and serve immediately. Enjoy.