Sous vide rack of lamb with a crunchy Dijon panko crust. (The name of this recipe should be "Elegant lamb popsicles with a crispy crust".) Sous vide is the foolproof way to cook lamb to a perfect rare temperature (or medium-rare if you prefer), then give it a quick sear on the grill to add a browned, caramelized crust. Then, brush the lamb with Dijon mustard (but of course), and sprinkle it with toasted panko crumbs to add a crunchy bread crumb crust. Cut into individual lamb chops, serve, and enjoy!
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Jump to:
I love the way sous vide cooks meat to medium-rare. If I want to cook to a warm pink interior, sous vide is now my default technique.
Back in the day, sous vide was crazy molecular gastronomy, something only mad scientist chefs would use. I would sit over my grill, watching, poking, taking temperatures, and hoping that I wasn't overcooking my lamb.
If the steak gets immediate medical attention, we can save it
That's how my mom wanted her lamb (and beef) cooked. It hurt when I made her a steak, she cut into it, and it was more pink than red. (Or, even worse, more gray than pink). Mom would put on a brave face, and act like it's OK…but mom wasn't that good of an actor. I knew I had let her down.
That was then, this is now. I'm spoiled thanks to sous vide - medium-rare is easy. Vacuum seal the meat, drop it in a water bath set to 131°F, and wait an hour. Medium-rare, on the nose, every time.
I served these lamb chops on Mother's day, and mom's eyes lit up. Perfect rare, exactly how she liked it.
This is an updated version of a recipe I wrote back in 2014. Mom has since passed away, but I still serve rack of lamb, medium-rare, on Mother's day in her honor.
Equipment
- Sous vide water bath (I use a sous vide immersion circulator and a dedicated sous vide container)
- A vacuum sealer and vacuum bags
You can jury-rig a sous vide water bath with a beer cooler sous vide full of hot water, and zip-top plastic bags instead of the vacuum sealer - but sous vide equipment is cheap and easily available nowadays, and makes the process easy. I would buy a sous vide setup if you're going to sous vide more than once. (And you will if you like rare or medium-rare meat.)
Ingredients Notes and Substitutions
- Rack of lamb substitutes: If you can't find rack of lamb, lamb loin chops are a good substitute (see my sous vide lamb loin chop recipe here). If you don't like lamb, you can sous vide beef, but that's a bit different - check out my many sous vide recipes, including sous vide New York strip steaks, sous vide filet mignon, even a whole sous vide boneless ribeye roast.
- Trimming the fat: I chickened out on my trimming. I should have Frenched the rack of lamb, trimming off all of the fat between the bones, leaving nothing but the eye of meat. I didn't - I left a thick fat cap on the top of the rack. Next time, I'm going to trim ruthlessly.
- Bread crumb crust: As you can see in the recipe, I'm toasting the bread crumb crust separately. This gives me the flavor of it browning in the oven, even though the lamb is already cooked when it is patted on. The panko gives it saltiness and body, and the rosemary adds a nice herbal flavor to the crust - but either or both can be skipped.
- Skip the bread crumb crust: The panko bread crumb crust is not essential. Brush the lamb with only the Dijon for a mustard crust. Or, skip the mustard and panko crust and just have a simple rack of lamb. (I do that version all the time - nothing but meat and salt and a sear. It's fantastic.)
Tips and Tricks
Use the grill to sear
To keep that perfectly cooked interior, we need to sear the outside of the lamb as quickly as possible. The shape of a rack of lamb is not good for pan searing - the round exterior and bones mean it will only be browned in spots. A grill solves this problem, especially a charcoal grill - the flames and heat go up and around the lamb, searing the sides as well as the bottom.
I don't have a grill to sear, now what?
If you don't have a grill, you can make do with a heavy pan. Heat a cast iron, carbon steel, or steel-clad aluminum pan until it is ripping hot. Put the lamb in the pan, and hold it in place with kitchen tongs as you move it around to brown as much of the outside as possible, about 1 minute per "side". (Pretend it has sides, even though it's round.) It won't be evenly browned, but the bread crumb crust will cover that up, and you'll get the browned meat flavor from where it was seared.
Can I cook my rack of lamb from frozen?
Absolutely! Add 1 extra hour of sous vide to cook it through, so 2 to 5 hours of cooking time.
1 hour to 4 hours? Why the wide range of cooking times?
That's the beauty of sous vide cooking. You set the doneness temperature you want, and the lamb will get there, but never go over. It takes a while to cook through - that's the 1 hour part - and it can sit in the water bath for hours and not overcook. (After about 4 hours the meat will start to get a little soft from holding the heat for so long, but it's still fine to eat.)
That's one of the great things about sous vide - you can set it up ahead of time and you don't have to serve at an exact time. Whenever everyone is ready for dinner, pull the lamb out of the water bath, sear it, and serve it. Perfectly cooked lamb can be on the table in 15 minutes or less.
Will the crust stick to the lamb?
Yes, the mustard acts as a binder, so the crumbs stick to the lamb. You are going to lose some of them when you slice the rack into individual chops, but most of them will stay stuck to the outside of the meat.
Do I need to rest the meat after searing?
No! With regular cooking, you have to rest the meat after cooking, because the temperature between the outside and inside of the meat needs to even out. With sous vide, the meat is the same temperature all the way through, so no resting is needed. (A quick sear isn't enough to start cooking through to the center of the meat. That's why we want a hot and fast sear, to brown the outside quickly.)
How many people does a rack of lamb serve?
Normal serving suggestions are 2-3 people per rack of lamb. (In my family of carnivores, 2 people per rack is just right.)
How do I keep the ends of the bones from piercing the bag?
I usually don't have this problem with lamb, but just to be sure, I check the ends of the bones to see if they feel sharp. If they do, I fold a small piece of extra vacuum bag over the end of the bone before vacuum sealing. (Some vacuum bags come with bone guard pieces for this exact reason.)
Print
Sous Vide Rack of Lamb with Dijon Bread Crumb Crust
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Description
Sous vide rack of lamb with a crunchy Dijon panko crust
Ingredients
- 1 rack of lamb, about 2 pounds
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Dijon Bread Crumb Crust
- ¼ cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
- 1 tablespoon (½ ounce) shredded Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Sous vide the rack of lamb: Set the sous vide for 51.5°C/125°F for rare (55°C/131°F for medium rare; 59°C/138°F for medium). Sprinkle the rack of lamb with the salt, then vacuum seal in a large (gallon size) bag. Drop the bag in the sous vide and cook for 1 hour, or up to 4 hours.
- Toast the bread crumbs: While the lamb is cooking, put the bread crumbs in a medium fry pan and toast over medium heat, stirring and tossing often, until the crumbs are toasted and brown. Pour the crumbs into a bowl, let cool for a minute, and then toss with the shredded Parmesan and rosemary.
- Sear the lamb: Take the rack of lamb bag out of the sous vide, cut the bag open, and pat the rack of lamb dry with paper towels. Preheat a grill to high (or get a fry pan ripping hot over medium high heat), then sear the lamb on all sides, about 1 minute a side. Immediately move the rack of lamb to a serving platter.
- Add the bread crumb crust: Brush the lamb with the Dijon mustard, then sprinkle on a thick layer of the bread crumb crust and press firmly so it sticks to the mustard. Let the crust rest for 5 minutes, then move the lamb to a carving board and cut between every bone to make single-bite-sized chops. Serve and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: half a rack
- Calories: 455
- Sugar: 0.9 g
- Sodium: 1951 mg
- Fat: 15.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 11 g
- Fiber: 1.4 g
- Protein: 63.5 g
- Cholesterol: 168.1 mg
Scaling
You can cook as many individually vacuum-sealed racks of lamb as you can fit in your sous vide container. An extra large container will hold enough lamb to serve large crowd.
Make ahead
Sous vide is great for make-ahead cooking - drop the vacuum sealed lamb in the water bath hours ahead of time, and it will be ready to go whenever you need it. After the hour of sous vide cooking, you've got a 4 hour window where the lamb will be perfectly cooked.
Or, cook straight from the freezer - as I mention above in the FAQ section, you don't have to thaw the lamb. Put the frozen, vacuum-sealed rack in the water bath and add an extra hour of cooking time.
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Sous Vide Chicken Thighs with Garlic and Herb Pan Sauce
48 Hour Sous Vide Grilled Short Ribs (with sous vide Q&A)
Sous Vide Filet Mignon with Sous Vide Egg and Fresh Herb Salad
Sous Vide Chuck Steak (24 hours to tenderness)
Sous Vide New York Strip Roast With Bourbon Cream Pan Sauce
Sous Vide Tomahawk Ribeye Steak
If you're looking for something else, here is my index of Sous Vide Recipes.
Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe to DadCooksDinner via email and share this post with your friends. Want to contribute directly? Donate to my Tip Jar, or buy something from Amazon.com through the links on this site. Thank you.
Comments
No Comments