Teriyaki lamb shoulder

There are two ways to get the best out of a chunk of lamb – you can roast it fast and hot to preserve all the fragrance (see Frangelita’s take on it, which sounds fantastic), or you can cook it slowly at a low, low temperature for maximum tenderness and flavour. Frangelita’s honey/soy mixture got me thinking in the direction of teriyaki, and the shoulder of lamb in the freezer suddenly started to look a lot like serendipity.

This lamb is cooked for six hours, so the fat melts into the flesh. The fibres in the muscle will be coming apart so the meat is falling off the bone; you should be able to carve it with a blunt spoon. The skin becomes crisp, and the teriyaki sauce and juces from the onion permeate the moist, tender flesh until it’s perfectly delicious. I served the lamb with rice, and some spaghetti squash tossed in parsley and butter. If you’re using spaghetti squash, just prick it a few times with a fork, pop it in the oven an hour before serving at the same temperature as the lamb, and remove the seeds when it comes out of the oven. Fluff some butter, salt and fresh parsley through with a fork before serving.

To serve four, you’ll need:

1 shoulder lamb
1 wine glass full of teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon grated garlic
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 onions, peeled and quartered
Water

Preheat the oven to 150° C.

Lay the onions on a non-stick baking dish with their cut sides facing skywards. Rub the garlic and ginger over the lamb, and place the joint in the tray, surrounded by the onions. Drizzle the teriyaki sauce over the lamb’s skin and dip the cut sides of the onions into any that leaks onto the bottom of the dish.

Place the baking dish into the oven. Check every 45 minutes that the liquid isn’t boiling dry – if it looks as if it may be, add a few tablespoons of water. Use the liquid to baste the onions and the lamb.

After six hours the onions will be caramelised and gooey. The lamb will be incredibly moist and tender, with a crisp crust. Rest for ten minutes before pulling the meat apart with two forks, and serve with rice to dribble the onion-y juices over.