Avocado, Cashew nuts, Fennel, Fennel salad, Fried shallots, Lamb, Lamb backstrap, Lime, Lime juice, Lime zest, Poppy seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Red onion, Sesame seeds, Sunflower seeds
Sous vide lamb backstrap
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The lamb backstrap is the eye of loin. The loin is from the hind quarter and near the vertebral column. Loin chops are like small T-bone steaks and then there is the tender loin which I think is one large muscle bundle with minimal fascia and long muscle fibres.
As I was grocery shopping in Coles I came across a pack of lamb backstrap and thought it would be nice cooked by sous vide. In my mind a cut like this wouldn’t be great just simply pan-fried, it would need some tender loving care.
I went to the Anova Culinary Recipes page and found a recipe for lamb backstrap. The temperature setting and duration of cooking are different than the beef steaks I’ve been cooking.
The suggested temperature was 60 °C/140 °F and the cook needed to go for 3 hours. This makes sense given lamb tends to be a bit tougher than beef and a longer cook would help break down connective tissue.
Recipe
- Lamb backstrap
- Iodised salt flakes
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Fresh rosemary
- Avocado
- Chives
- Crushed cashew nuts
- Fennel
- Crushed fried shallots
- Lime
- Lime juice
- Lime zest
- Parsley
- Poppy seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Red onion
- Sesame seeds
- Spring onions
- Sunflower seeds
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Season the lamb with iodised salt, cracked black pepper and garlic powder and then vacuum seal with sprigs of rosemary. Keep the meat in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook.
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Set the precision cooker to 60 °C/140 °F and then place the meat in the water bath for 3 hours.
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Towards the end of the cook, start preparing the fennel salad.
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Finely slice the fennel, red onion, spring onions, chives and parsley.
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Crush some cashew nuts and fried shallots. Mix in some sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds and sesame seeds.
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Remove the zest from a lime and extract the lime juice.
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Slice an avocado. I only had Shepard but Hass is my favourite avocado variety.
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Mix all the salad stuff together and add a little olive oil.
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When the lamb has finished cooking, release it from the vacuum bag and pat it dry with paper towel.
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Sear the meat in a hot frying pan with a little grape seed oil and butter. Continue to sear the meat with a cook's torch.
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Slice the lamb thinly across the grain of the muscle fibres.
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Serve with the salad on a plate.
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Shoot a photograph.
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Eat the meal and enjoy the tender moist meat.
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Wash the dishes.
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Write the recipe.
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Write a blog post.
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Hope my friends share the post on social media.
Disclaimer
I have no culinary training nor qualifications.
This post is not intended to convey any health or medical advice. If you have any health concerns about anything you read, please contact your registered medical practitioner.
The quantities are indicative. Feel free to vary the quantities to suit your taste.
I deliberately do not calculate energy for dishes. I deliberately default to 500 Calories or 500,000 calories because I do not make these calculations.
Photographs
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Questions and answers
Do you prefer beef or lamb?
In my opinion, it’s hard to beat a really nice beef steak, preferably cooked on the bone. For slow cooking though, I love a shoulder of lamb. The fat and connective tissue render into the most unctuous of flavours with the meat which just falls apart.
Do you have a good appreciation of various cuts of meat?
Sadly no. I wish cuts of meat were described like human anatomy. It would make things so much easier.
I really wish I had been a butcher’s apprentice.
The salad looks delicious. What sets it apart from other salads you’ve made?
The crushed cashews and fried shallots along with the seeds give the salad a really great nutty texture which makes it more interesting than just an ordinary fennel salad.
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Final words
If you’ve never tried lamb backstrap, I reckon you should try it. Preferably cook it sous vide to guarantee tenderness of the meat.
hi i like my lamb more on the rare side, being back strap wouldn’t say 2 hours @ 54 work better?
Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.
Gary you are really into sous vide now! Looks fabulous!
Thanks very much Serina. I’m really enjoying it.
I adore backstrap Gary, but haven’t had it in a long time. I think due to the cost really. I like how you handled it with due care and cooked it so gently.
Thanks Kirsty. It was more expensive than I anticipated but it looked at me from the shelf and I knew I had to buy it.
Never heard of lamb backstrap, but that does look very nice indeed.
Thanks Emma, it’s loin meat. It’s long and lean.
Oh I’m surprised, I thought lamb would be more tender than beef. It looks delicious though 🙂
Thanks Lorraine. I tend to think of joints being more tender but this backstrap was a very lean piece of muscle. No obvious fat at all.
It was delicious and I’ll be trying more lamb.
I shared your Meater and Sous Vide cooking ideas with my team as gift ideas for a food loving colleague, very useful Gary thanks!!!
Cool, thanks Michele. I much appreciate having stuff shared 😃😃😃
Looks delicious!
Wow, a post on a Friday night. About time for your bedtime, Gaz 😃 I also don’t know much about cuts of meat. To me, so long as there is a good chunk of soft and tender meat, and juicy, then it has my approval. Learning from you as you are experimenting with your new cooking toys these days.
Also your salads seem to be getting more colourful and crowded in a good way – more kinds of nutrients all round 😃😃
Thank you very much Mabel
I scheduled the post because I’m away this weekend.
I just landed in Brisbane to see my family.
It was lovely and tender 😃😃😃
I hope you have a good weekend, if I get a chance I’ll do a diary blog too 😃
Lovely to hear you are up in Brissie this weekend. Bit jealous you get to experience warm and moist. Your skin will be singing. Soak it all up 😃😃😃😃😃😃
Really like those blog diaries of yours. Have fun, eat well, enjoy the company 😃
Thanks Mabel, the weather in Brisbane is much nicer than Canberra is at the moment.
I will eat very well I’m sure 😃👍