Lamb Shoulder Chops Sous-Vide-Processed

- July 07, 2020

This was my second attempt at making Lamb Shoulder. My first attempt was less than stellar, and from a scale of 1-10, I gave it a 6. On the first attempt, I SV-Processed at 131f for 12 hours with a quick sear afterward. It's been a year in the making, and after seeing these really excellent large American Lamb Chops at the store, I just had to try again. They were literally calling my name, but I needed to check the expiration date because I had no plan. I had several other things going on that were food-related, so I needed at least a 5-day window. Note: Generally speaking, it's been my experience that American Lamb, for the most part, is sweeter and less gamey.

I was able to track down my notes on my previous attempt and modified my Time & Temperature, which proved to be perfect. Take notes- "As time goes by and with experimentation, you gain knowledge and eventually alter methods that you once held true." Here's a great post on Cooking Rib-Eyes but more specifically addressing High-Fat-Proteins. Anyhow the end result was absolutely amazing and brought tears of joys. As I was eating these chops, I was literally giddy with excitement. This was a Giddy-Licious moment for me. It's hard to put into words that feeling you get when something far exceeds your expectations.

Here are those magnificent chops. You might be able to tell from the picture they are a nice size too. Generally speaking, American Lamb is sweeter and less gamey.

As most of you know, I love Dry-Brining all my proteins, so salt is a necessity. I won't go into it here, but Dry-Brining has many benefits besides taste, so hit google up with a search. All the other stuff is a personal choice to perfume the meat and the purge (collected liquid in the bag). I had this on hand, and Mediterranean herbs and spices seemed very appealing. Make sure to season both sides.

Go ahead the Vac these babies up and set in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. I Dry-Brined for 26 hrs, I believe. They were SV-Processed for 18 hrs at 133f. After processing the Lamb, make sure to Shock in Ice-Water. Refrigerate until ready for service.

Meanwhile, I decided to serve some Fried Polenta wedges. A day or two before I served up the Lamb, I made some Polenta. Let's be perfectly honest Polenta on its own sucks. I don't have a recipe, but I have some ratios that seem to work. To every 4 cups of water/stock, add 1 cup of Polenta (coarsely ground cornmeal). In the above pic, I used 6 cups of liquid (3 c of Chicken Stock & 3 c of Water). A caveat to the Ratios- Depending on what else you might want to add to the Polenta, you might need to adjust the liquid ratios. I never measure this stuff. I used Ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, cream, lots of butter and herbs, and spices. I sprayed a springform pan with cooking spray and refrigerated overnight.

Nice and dense!! The Polenta was cut into wedges and fried.

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction- Sorry something else I did not measure. This was one of those moments where you say..... this would be good to serve too. To a pan, add a crapload of vinegar, some sugar, and a pinch of salt. To this, I added some Fresh Thyme and a little bit of Rosemary. Keep them whole and fish them out when it's all done. Taste and taste..... cool to room temp and place in a squirt bottle or whatever you want.

The Bags containing the lamb had some congealed fat, so I toss them into hot tap water to loosen everything up. Using paper towels, the chops were dried off very well. I saved the purge for the sauce. Surprisingly the bags contained very little purge.

Since the Lamb had been seasoned earlier, there was no reason to do it again. You know the routine. Dredge in flour, egg, then panko. Refrigerate until ready to fry. Refrigerating will dry the surface, which helps the breading adhere to the surface. Skipping this part could result in the breading falling off during frying.

Since they were already SV-Processed, I knew they were perfectly cooked, so the oil was a little hotter than usual. Fry until perfectly golden crunchified.

Some side dishes to think of... Seasoned Onions and peppers. Fry just a wee bit to intensify the flavor.

Same thing with the Roma Tomatoes...

Fry these babies up too.... the last 60 secs I tossed in some Sun-dried tomatoes that were packed in Olive oil.

To Serve- First, I had to make a sauce to go along with the Chops. I had very little purge to work with, so I made a traditional veloute. To a pan, I melted some butter then added flour to make a roux. After the mixture started taking on some color, I added a touch of stock and added the collected juices from the bags. Seasonings were adjusted, and it was finished with some extra butter.

Review- I won't change a thing!!! This was absolutely amazing. Everything was spot on!!

Some things to ponder about Sous-Vide-Processed foods. This specific dish would not have been possible without the ability to SV. How is Lamb Shoulder Chops usually cooked? The chops are often browned and finished in the oven to finish cooking. The only way to make these chops edible is to braise them. But this is where SV-Processing shines and comes to the rescue. Not only can you make them edible, but you can serve them medium-rare. To my knowledge, there's no other cooking method that would have allowed one to serve Panko fried Medium Rare Lamb Shoulder Chops.