Roasted Rack of Lamb Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What temperature should a rack of lamb be when cooked? ›

Buy and use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature. Look for about 125-130 degrees as a final internal temperate of the center of the meat. The outer edges will be done more, but the center should be medium-rare. Take it out the pan at about 120 degrees.

Roast leaner cuts of lamb in a hotter oven (450°F) to get a lovely brown crust and a well-cooked center; cook fattier cuts of lamb low and slow (325°F) to render all the fat and allow the lamb to cook in its juices. Due to residual heat, your lamb will continue to cook even after you pull it out of the oven.

Cook the lamb.

Arrange the lamb with the ribs pointing down. Cook for 15 minutes at 450ºF, then flip over and cook for another 10 minutes until the lamb has an internal temperature of 130ºF.

A rack of lamb, also known as carré d'agneau (though this term may also refer to other cuts), is a lamb cut that is perpendicular to the spine and includes 16 ribs or chops. In retail, it is commonly sold as a 'single' rack, which means it is sawn longitudinally and includes the 8 ribs on one side only.

Whether boneless or bone-in, the perfect leg of lamb should be either oven-roasted until blushing pink on the inside (with an internal temp around 130°F) or roasted long and slow for several hours until the meat is very tender and falls apart to internal temp around 175°F (I often use the slow cooker for that).

Arrange the oven rack, so the lamb will be in the middle of the oven. Score the fat, sprinkle with salt and pepper, wrap bones in foil, place in pan fat side up: Score the fat, by making sharp shallow cuts through the fat, spaced about an inch apart.

Slow cooking in liquid transforms tougher cuts of lamb into fork-tender meat. Neck, shoulder and belly, either diced or as whole joints, are the best cuts for slow cooking and need to be cooked for at least 2 hrs at 150°C to soften the meat.

Also, roasting tends to be done in an uncovered roasting pan, whereas baked goods may sometimes be covered. When it comes to temperature, roasting requires a higher oven temperature of above 400°F for the cooking process, while baking takes place at lower oven temperatures around 375°F and below.

Fattier cuts of lamb should be roasted long and slow at a low temperature, while leaner cuts of meat should be cooked at a high temperature for the first several minutes and then at a lower temperature the rest of the time. Braising is a popular technique for cooking less-tender cuts of lamb.

The other very important thing: Make sure your rack of lamb is room temperature before you cook it. This is a good rule for any protein you're cooking. If you're concerned about leaving meat out at room temperature- it's fine up to two hours.

Do you cut a rack of lamb before cooking? ›

Whether you're dividing a larger rack into smaller ones before cooking (like, say, turning an eight-bone rack into two four-bone racks) or slicing individual chops after cooking, you need to pay attention to how the rib bones and loin of meat align in order to divide them evenly.

Surprisingly, meats consists of many vitamins, but lamb meat includes vitamins that are particularly good for the skin. In addition, vitamins in lamb help nutrients transform into energy smoothly, and prevent fat storage. Therefore, lamb meat is great for a healthy diet.

How many does a rack of lamb serve? If you're not familiar, the rack is a section of ribs with the loin meat attached; delicious and incredibly tender. One rack can be divided into 8 lamb chops to serve 2 to 3 people. You can count on about 2 to 3 lamb chops per person.

The main rib section of the lamb, the rack is made up 16 ribs, also called chops. Although it's made up of two sections, each of 8 ribs, it is mostly sold halved. When sold whole, it's called a double rack of lamb. A rack of lamb consists of tender, lean and flavorful meat as well as the rib bones.

Cook all raw lamb steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145° F (62.8° C) as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming.

Very soft = rare – bright red, raw centre. Soft = medium rare – pink inside with a red centre. Springy = medium – pink throughout. Firmer = well-done range – mostly brown inside.

Mean temperature of Merino lambs was found to be 102.8°F with a range of 100.2°– 104.0°F while the mean temperature of Shropshire lambs was 102.7°F with a range of 101.2°–104.4°F.