Tips for Cooking Lamb in a Pressure Cooker
Cooking lamb in a pressure cooker is similar to beef. It requires
several steps, including choosing the lamb, marinating, browning,
braising and resting.
- Cuts – When it comes to choosing the part of lamb to use, you have two
options – boneless sirloin and meat on bones. The boneless meat comes
from the hip area, while the ‘meat on bones’ are from the fore and hind
shanks. The choice of cut also depends on the recipe you’re following.
For instance, most lamb soups require meat with bones because it has
marrow and gelatin that give a distinct flavor for soups.
- Marinating – Some pressure cooker recipes for lamb call for marinating
to help break down connective tissues, while other recipes doesn’t
require marinating.
- Browning – Since raw lamb meat can be unappetizing because of the
aroma of blood, it is recommended to brown the lamb to induce its full
taste and aroma. To do this, you need to heat oil at 300ºF and cook meat
a few pieces at a time, browning all sides. To increase the meat’s
flavor, cut it into smaller cubes of about an inch each.
- Braising – For lamb meat to become tender, its muscle fiber to relax
and for the meat to absorb the gravy for more flavor, braising at low
heat is required. In braising, the lamb meat is partially immersed in
water under low heat. When done in a pressure cooker, the meat is cooked
at 250º F to reach the inside of the meat quicker. However, be careful
not to overcook lamb meat as pressure cooking encourages quicker
cooking.
- Resting – Once lamb meat is tender, allow it to rest for 40 minutes to
optimize the flavor.
Aside from these five steps, you should also follow this basic guideline
in pressure cooking lamb meats. The amount of liquid needed and the
cooking time will vary according to the amount of meat you use. As a
rule of thumb, never fill your cooker over 2/3 full.
| Amount of Meat |
Amount of liquid |
Cooking Time |
Pressure Level |
| Lamb meat |
1 cup |
5 minutes |
High |
| 3 to 6 lbs of lamb shoulder |
3 cups of water |
45 minutes |
High |
| ½-inch thick of lamb steak |
¾ cup of water |
10 minutes |
High |
| 1-inch cubes of lamb for stew |
2 cups of water |
10-15 minutes |
High |
| 4 to 6 lbs of mutton |
2 ½ cups of water |
45-50 minutes |
High |
Tips on Cooking Lamb
in a Pressure Cooker
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