What’s the difference between a leg or shoulder of lamb?

Lamb is well and truly in season, and here at Legges, we know just how much you relish tucking into grass fed lamb (from Herefordshire, of course!).

A question our Butchery Team regularly gets asked is what the difference is between a leg or shoulder of lamb. Both have a beautiful flavour and can be roasted on the bone or boneless. However it’s the way they’re cooked, in addition to their fat content and the final texture you’re left with, which differentiates them…

Read on as we delve into their ins and outs and share Anthony’s top tips:

Roast leg of lamb

…AKA, your prime roasting joint.

A leg of lamb is a conversation-stopping centrepiece when you next have friends and family joining you around your Sunday lunch table. It’s a slightly leaner roasting joint choice than a shoulder of lamb and can be roasted faster, with a rich and mildly ‘gamey’ flavour that’s broadened further by the herbs and produce you pick to cook it with.

How to cook a leg of lamb?

Anthony’s top tip for a perfectly pink in the middle, grass fed leg of lamb is to roast it for 40 minutes per kg in the oven, and then to ensure you have enough time for it to stand and rest before serving.

Do you follow us on Instagram? If you do, you may have seen Private Chef Ellie from The Skinny Pig’s delicious spring leg of lamb recipe with a garlic and herb rub, accompanied by dauphinoise potatoes, honey-glazed carrots and locally sourced tenderstem broccoli. Click here to watch and follow it.

Roast shoulder of lamb

As this is a joint which works incredibly hard, it results in the meat surrounding the bone being succulent and packing a punch. You’ll notice a natural marbling within it, making it an ideal candidate for slow roasting, and Anthony’s top tip for the most tender shoulder of lamb is to cook it low and for as long as you can.

Here at Legges, you can purchase a grass fed shoulder of lamb on the bone, or a boned shoulder of lamb, which our Butchers here in Bromyard have pre-prepared and rolled for you so it’s oven-ready.

If you have a surplus of meat from your joint after your roast, shoulder of lamb leftovers are the best addition to casseroles, curries and tagines! Simply slice up and make another family midweek meal with them!

How to cook a shoulder of lamb?

When we started searching for Great British lamb recipes using a shoulder, we were bowled over by all the tasty ways to roast it. But we had to pick one corker to share with you, and it’s this fragrant and fall-apart six-hour slow-roasted lamb shoulder with a refreshing mint and coriander sauce by Meliz Berg.

If you ever have any questions about what to cook and how to cook it, please just ask our team while you’re in the shop with us, or contact us here if you live further afield. We love hearing from you and talking to you about our locally sourced and in-season meats and produce!