Slow Roasted Rosemary Garlic Lamb Shoulder

1. Lamb shoulder -not to be confused with lamb leg which is a leaner cut of lamb with different cooking qualities. For lamb leg,use this recipe - Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb. Shoulder is fattier and therefore juicier, and with better lamb flavour.

Smaller lamb shoulder (around 1 kg) - cut down roasting time while covered by 20 minutes (doesn't change by much, shoulder meat needs a minimum time to breakdown); Boneless lamb shoulder -reduce covered cook time by 20 minutes. A 1.8kg bone in lamb shoulder will weigh about 1.3kg with the bone removed; Rolled boneless lamb shoulder (~1.1 - 1.3kg)- cook time per recipe. 2 x ~1.5kg/3lb shoulders - fit into one pan (they will shrink, so ok if touching), add 30 minutes to cover slow roast time.

2. Roasting potatoes - If you are making the Truly Crunchy Roast Potatoes, place the pan with oil in it in the shelf beneath the roast at step 8 i.e. when the lamb is being browned. Refer to separate recipe for full instructions.

3. Servings - a 1.5kg/3lb lamb shoulder yields about 700g/1.4lb of meat once cooked. This is because the meat shrinks while cooking, there's a giant bone running through the middle and a thick layer of fat on the surface that mostly melts. I find that a shoulder of that size serves about 4 people. Maybe 5 (not in my family!).

4. Nutrition per serving. This does not take into account the fat discarded before making the gravy and also assumes that all the gravy is used.

Originally published February 2015, updated with new photos, new commentary and video - AND Life of Dozer added!