Timings are a guide – use your eyes and you can't go wrong
People often ask me, “how do I know when my meat is cooked?” It’s very simple. When it comes to meat on the bone that you have pot-roasted, braised or poached, I do the following. To test whether your lamb shanks are cooked through, towards the end of the cooking time simply look at one of the shanks and, as I said in the video, see if the meat has begun to come away from the bone. If it does this, then you know it’s ready to eat.
When you’re cooking a recipe, remember that the timings are a guideline, nothing more. My stove is different from your oven. My lamb shanks are different from your lamb shanks. You need to use the information that your eyes are giving you. Touch the meat with your fingers, to feel how cooked it is. Try my recipe for Lamb Shanks Stock Pot Casserole, simmered very slowly so that the flavour of the lamb really comes through, and see for yourself what I mean. This is a great dish for entertaining with as the lamb can be cooked a day or so ahead, so that all you have left to do is to cook the vegetables while you reheat the lamb shanks. When it comes to cooking for friends, I’m a great believer in making life easy for yourself. That way you can relax and enjoy yourself too.
