Cooking more than one meat – will I have to adjust the cooking time

lambporkroasting

So I’ve got two amazing recipes for pork and lamb shoulder. The pork takes 6.5 hours at 150°C with the last thirty mins at 220°C to get the crackling right. My pork (de-boned) weighs 3kg and will have some water in the tray for the gravy.

I also have a lamb shoulder that weighs 3kg (bone-in).

I only have one oven. It is a modern Bosch electric oven.

I want them both, ideally, to go in the oven at the same time, with the pork on top. I’ve cooked both these meats separately before.

Will I have to adjust the cooking time?

I was going to cook this so that it’s ready 2 hours before serving, then resting it for thirty minutes before I then wrap it tightly in foil and leave it in my boiler room.

In this time my potatoes will be roasting. Once the potatoes have roasted I’ll be putting the meat back in the oven – with the foil removed for fifteen minutes or so to come to temperature.

Does it sound like my cooking times will be OK? I’m hoping for melt in the mouth meat.

Best Answer

Yes, you can put both meats into the oven at the same time and take it out at the same time. However:

  1. You need to sear both before putting them in the oven to keep the juices inside and you will need to cut thin strips from the lamb when serving and then put it back in the oven as it will not be cooked to the bone.

  2. Bake the potatoes before the meat as leaving the meat out for 2 hours will cool it down too much. Subsequently, re-heat the roasted potatoes for 2 min in the microwave at 750W for 2 minutes, let rest for 1 min and then another minute at 1000W. (or the highest setting) just before serving them. No one will notice the difference.