Confit Lamb Shoulder in Secateur’s Chenin

 Laurent Soragna of Wine and Only made this amazing Confit Lamb Shoulder using our Secateurs Chenin Blanc. 

Ingredients

For that recipe you will need (serves 4 meatlovers like me, 6 regular people otherwise)

-          A whole lamb shoulder (1.5 kgs or more) bone in

-          Fresh Thyme

-          Fresh Rosemary

-          Some nice pepper (I would suggest Sichuan, but a good Madagascan one will do the trick)

-          A bottle of AA Badenhorst Secateur’s White (the most critical part of the recipe!) or more…

-          Maldon salt

-          A good olive oil

-          2 whole garlic heads

-          Patience

-          Love

-          And 5 hours…

Preparation

1. Take your shoulder out of the fridge and leave it at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, preset your oven to 90-100°C (no more, this is one of the key elements!). If you’re not sure about your old oven, put a small bowl with water in your oven. If after 20 minutes, it starts boiling…your oven is wrong…lower it down. We want the meat to “confit”, it has then to be just a little below boiling point!
2. In the meantime, open your chilled AA Badenhorst Secateur’s white. Have a little sip! Put back in the fridge. Go to step 2
3. With a sharp knife, cut the thyme and rosemary until fine.
4. On a board, rub the lamb with olive oil, then salt (don’t be shy, the salt will help get the skin crispy), crushed pepper, and the herbs.
5. Transfer to a large plate and put in the oven. Add the garlic (break the heads into pods, but leave the skin on)
6. Have another sip of Secateur, you deserve it!
7. Let the meat in the oven for 1 hour. By then you should have a little rendered fat. Baste the meat with it.
8. Add about 20 cl of Secateur on top of the shoulder. (I know it’s hard…)
9. From now on, baste the meat once every 30 minutes.
10. You don’t have to drink leftover Secateur every 30 minutes, but I highly recommend it!
11. Put another Secateur White in your fridge…You never know…
12. After 3 hours of cooking, wrap the shank (only the shank!) in aluminum foil (to prevent it from getting dry). Take the garlic pods out, they should be soft and golden. Put them in a bowl.
13. Have another sip of Secateur.
14. After 4h30-5 hours, your meat should be ready, almost melting in your mouth. The Chenin mixed with the rendered fat will have coated the meat, leaving a shiny gloss on it…Let it rest 15 minutes in your oven (opened door) to release the juices.
15. Serve the meat very quickly and enjoy with a red blend from AABadenhorst (a perfect match!)
16. As side dishes, you can either serve a nice homemade mash (potatoes or sweet ones, with the added confit garlic pods), green beans, or whatever you like. There will be no sauce, so you can always serve with good French mustard.
17. Enjoy with friends

Some tips :

-          I guess you could do the same with a leg of lamb, but the meat of the shoulder is fattier helping it to “confit”.

-          Serve it whole on your table for a maximum wow factor, cut it and put the slices on a hot plate as the lamb fat tends to congeal quite fast.

-          Adapt the cooking time to your oven

-          Have fun

-          Have another sip of Secateur’s white before serving if you’re unsure about your dish…

Laurent Soragna

www.wineandonly.com