Slow Cooked Hogget

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Slow Cooked Hogget:

If life has taught me one thing it’s that slow cooking anything is usually good. A slow cooked shoulder of hogget is something fucking lovely though!

Before anyone starts complaining I haven’t just murdered Bilbo Baggins. A Hogget is just a Lamb that’s made it to the wrong side of its first birthday.


This takes a little while to put together but you can easily feed six on a Sunday and the prep is mostly got out of the way in the morning. First things first; you want the shoulder on the bone, that’s my only stipulation.

Start by making a paste out of your onion, garlic, chilli and ginger and frying this in a good splash of oil. Gently colour in a pan for a few minutes and add the dry spices.

If it’s looks clumpy you haven’t put enough oil in so throw in a splash more. Cook for a few minutes, throw in the shoulder and try to put a little colour on the beast.

Pour in your stock; cover the pan and shove it in the oven for two hours at 200c. Take it out have a nosey and a bit of a stir; put it back in for another three at 150c.

It’s pretty much done at this point so whip out the shoulder and rap it in foil to rest for a while. You might want to make a dahl with the now quite well reduced and sexy stock...

Either way when the meat is well rested serve on a plate and shred it to pieces with a couple of forks at the table. Once you've shredded the meat and delicious fat don't be afraid to season it on your plate.

Eat with plenty of naan, mint yoghurt, some dahl, and maybe a robust Cab Sav or a few cheeky beers and you’ll be sorted!

Recipe:
Shoulder of Hogget
One large Onion
Five cloves of Garlic
Six Green Chillies
A big thumb of Ginger
One litre of good Lamb or Beef Stock
Spices:
A tbsp of each of the following; Cumin, Coriander, Turmeric, Chilli, White Pepper
Six crushed Cloves and four crushed Cardamom Pods