Shoulder

Following the shoulder of lamb taken from Ginger Pig, noticed at reference 1, we thought we should see what our own butcher in Manor Green Road could manage. Which turned out to look rather different, with much less fat, fat which had a yellow tinge to it in real life, lost in the snap above. Was it reared up on the South Downs?

Entire, with all bones present, weighing in at 5lbs 8.5oz.

Radiation said 27 minutes to the pound, plus 20 minutes plus resting time.

Which made 150 plus 15 plus 20 plus resting equals around 3 hours. So into the oven just after 10:35, aiming for 13:30. Say 10:40 at 160°C.

With the prior question being to oil or not to oil? In the event I went for rape seed oil. I declined the BH insertion offer of slivers of garlic.

The next prior question was green vegetable, with my thought being that a proper green vegetable was needed, that is to say not leeks, not a white cabbage and not a chou pointu. With the result snapped above from the Saturday market of the day before. Not quite spring greens, but at least a sturdy green on the outside. With the outside leaves being prepared by removing, splitting and then chopping the central stalks. More or less no waste at all.

BH was left in charge of the cannelloni beans, the rice and the dessert. From where I associate to the country fair we once went to in the Vendée where they offered lamb with white beans on white paper plates for lunch. Presentation not too good, but the combination worked well. After which we were entertained by a competition between the four man hunting horn consorts from all the villages round about. I think the hunting horns were straight rather than curled up like a French horn, but I'm not sure about that now, maybe thirty years after the event. But I am sure that there were no stops, with pitch being controlled by the mouth.

The shoulder stretched during the cooking, leaving it more like, in shape not size, the leg of a rabbit, for which see reference 2.

Wet enough outside that the jelly lichen had made an appearance. Nothing like it has been in the past, but it is still hanging in. Although, in all fairness, not clear to me how much of the dark at reference 3 is jelly lichen rather than moss or some other kind of lichen. From the days before telephones came of age as cameras.

On the serving dish.

On the plate. Beans, enhanced with various bits and bobs from the BH recipe bank, just about visible at the back. White rice better for these purposes than brown. Meat quite lean and more like leg than usual.Cabbage spot on and well worth the extra trip to get it.

Towards the end of the first shift. The last bottle of Fleurie from Waitrose just about visible right. It has served well. A wine we first came across in the  unlikely setting of the Bugle of Brading - where bugle is a sort of cow, with Brading having once been an important place in the Island's cattle trade. According to Webster's, a bugle is young steer and a steer is either a bull castrated before it is mature or an entire bull. Which is a bit confusing. I shall settle for bullock.

I think it must have been the second outing for the date slice. Given the amount of meat taken, it seems  unlikely that we would have done more than half the date slice, particularly as I took it without cream, yoghurt or any other lubricant of that sort. BH favoured the Greek flavoured yoghurt from Sainsbury's.

The sun was appearing by fits and starts by the time that we had finished up, so I was able to sit outside for a bit. The only catch being that you can't see what you are doing on the Microsoft phone outside, so the angle of the snap above is not quite right.

Cammasias left in the green pot, showing two flower buds, to be transplanted to their permanent home in the autumn. The ones acquired getting on for a year ago in the course of the garden visit noticed at reference 4. Sage right in the brown pot, looking a bit sorry for itself, but BH assures me that all will be well by the middle of the summer. No need to replace it just yet, this despite advice from TB that one should change them every couple of years.

Nearing the end of the second shift.

Nearing the end of the third shift. Always impressed by the texture of the interior of socket joints, just visible, discarded, top left.

The last knockings, a couple of days later. More economical than might at first appear, having got seven adult portions out of it.

Roasting voted spot on. We don't want shoulder to be pink and dripping, on the other hand it should still be damp, at least when still warm out of the oven.

PS 1: Bing is fairly clear that French hunting horns are curled, like the French horn of the orchestra, with one of the examples it turned up being included above. An example with two curls. Memory wrong again.

PS 2: I have now checked with OED about bugles. Nothing about either steers or bullocks, just bulls. And BH points out the the bull ring - a nose ring set in the road used to restrain a bull while it is baited with dogs - is quite near the Bugle. I don't suppose baiting bullocks would be quite the same. Odd that Webster's should differ from OED - on which I believe it was originally based - on such an important point.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/03/near-mutton.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/04/cheese-with-rabbit.html.

Reference 3: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2012/07/extravagant-plants.html. From volume No.1.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-house-and-garden.html.