Gordon Ramsay’s lamb shoulder is a 1.7kg boned joint studded with rosemary, garlic and anchovy halves pushed into slits across the surface, roasted at the highest oven setting for 15 minutes then lowered to 180°C for another 30 to 40 minutes. Pink in the middle, not falling apart. Ready in under an hour.
The recipe is from Great British Pub Food, where Ramsay says “rosemary and garlic impart a distinctive aroma, while the anchovies add a salty, savoury depth to the meat.” The anchovies melt completely during roasting. No fishy taste, just a rich umami background that makes the lamb taste more like lamb.
Every other shoulder recipe online slow cooks for 4 to 6 hours until the meat shreds. Ramsay does the opposite. Boned shoulder, blasted hot, served medium rare with a pinkish tinge to the juices. The slit technique is what makes it work: flavour gets pushed deep into the meat instead of sitting on the surface.
Gordon Ramsay’s Lamb Shoulder
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings15
minutes55
minutes628
kcal70
minutesRoast lamb shoulder with rosemary, garlic and anchovies from Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food. Boned shoulder studded with anchovy halves, roasted hot and fast to medium rare in under an hour. The same anchovy technique appears in his stuffed lamb breast in Ultimate Cookery Course. Approximately 628 kcal per serving.
Ingredients
1.7kg (3.75 lb) boned shoulder of lamb
Olive oil to rub and drizzle
Sea salt and black pepper
1 head of garlic
Few rosemary sprigs
6 to 8 anchovies in oil, drained and halved
Small handful of thyme sprigs
4 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthways and cut into chunks
4 banana shallots (or 8 to 10 regular ones), peeled and halved lengthways
Directions
- Preheat the oven: Set it to its highest setting.
- Trim the lamb: Place the shoulder on a board and trim off any excess fat, leaving a thin, even layer.
- Make the slits: With the tip of a sharp knife, make slits all over the surface of the lamb.
- Season: Rub the meat all over with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Stud the lamb: Peel and thinly slice 2 garlic cloves. Insert a small sprig of rosemary, a slice of garlic and an anchovy half into each slit, using the tip of the knife to push them in.
- Build the roasting dish: Scatter the remaining garlic cloves in their skins and some thyme sprigs over the base. Lay the shoulder on top and surround with the carrots and shallots. Scatter over a few more thyme sprigs, drizzle with olive oil and season.
- Blast at high heat: Roast for 15 minutes until the meat begins to brown.
- Lower and roast: Reduce the oven to 180°C (350°F) / Gas 4 and roast for another 30 to 40 minutes until the lamb is medium rare and pink in the middle.
- Check: Insert a skewer into the thickest part and press gently. The juices should have a pinkish tinge.
- Rest and carve: Remove from the oven, cover loosely with foil and rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay put anchovies in lamb?
They melt into the meat during roasting and disappear completely. What’s left is a salty, savoury depth that makes the lamb taste richer without any fishy flavour. Ramsay uses the same technique in his stuffed lamb breast in Ultimate Cookery Course, where he lays anchovy fillets across the meat before rolling and braising.
It’s a pattern across his books, not a one-off. The anchovies work the same way Parmesan works in a risotto: you don’t taste cheese, you taste more of everything else.
Isn’t shoulder meant to be slow cooked?
Bone-in shoulder with a lot of connective tissue needs hours to break down. Boned shoulder is a different story. With the bone removed and excess fat trimmed, the meat cooks evenly and fast enough to stay pink.
Ramsay’s method takes under an hour. He blasts it at the highest setting for colour, drops to 180°C for the rest, and pulls it out medium rare. In Ultimate Cookery Course, he writes “fattier cuts need slower cooking,” but a trimmed boned shoulder behaves more like a leg than a shank.
What should you serve with lamb shoulder?
Ramsay says “accompany with new potatoes or roast potatoes with rosemary” in the book. The carrots and shallots roast in the same tin, so the sides are half done already.
Pour his lamb sauce over the carved slices for a proper Sunday lunch finish. The pan drippings from this roast are full of melted anchovy and garlic, which makes an even richer base than a plain lamb roast would.
How is this different from roast leg of lamb?
Shoulder is fattier, cheaper and more forgiving than leg. The extra fat bastes the meat as it roasts, so it stays juicy even if you overshoot by 5 minutes. Leg is leaner and dries out faster.
His roast leg of lamb uses cider and honey with a gravy. This shoulder uses anchovies and rosemary with no sauce because the studded flavours do all the work. Shoulder feeds 6 for roughly half the price of leg.
Can you pan-fry shoulder instead of roasting it?
In the same book, Ramsay has a lamb steaks recipe using shoulder or leg steaks. Pan-fried 1.5 to 2 minutes each side until pink, served with a redcurrant sauce made from red wine, stock, redcurrant jelly and Worcestershire sauce.
If you want the slow braise approach instead, his lamb shanks use the same low-and-slow method that most people associate with shoulder. Shanks braise for 3 hours in red wine until the meat slides off the bone. Same animal, completely different texture and timing.
