How to bone a lamb shoulder

This superb, thrifty alternative to a leg suits low, slow-cooking for a meltingly tender finale. Ask your butcher to bone and roll it or follow this easy Home Butchery guide.

Easy carve

Slow-roasted, melt-in-the-mouth lamb shoulder is a sure-fire way to impress the crew. Yes, you can cook this cut with the bone in or partially boned. But if you’re looking for a delicious, easy-carve Sunday roast for your next get-together, it’s worth taking the time to bone, roll and truss the shoulder. 

 

HOME BUTCHERY

YOUR STEP-BY-STEP HOW-TO GUIDE

HOW TO BONE A SHOULDER OF LAMB

- To remove the bones from the shoulder, you’re going to remove the scapula bone and the two leg bones. Locate the joint between the scapula and the leg bone. Carefully cut the top layer and underneath to reveal the ‘v’ section of the scapula bone. 

- Cut around the edges of the scapula bone using the point of your knife, releasing the meat. Now you need to find the joint between the scapula and the leg and cut through it. Turn the shoulder over and scrape the meat away from the bone and then gently pull off the scapula bone. 

- Remove the leg bone by cutting from the knee joint to the knob that connects with the scapula. Open up the meat to expose the bone. Score down either side of the bone, remove all the meat and then repeat on the shank. 

- Cut the meat away from the bone all the way down, and the leg bone will come away. Now you have a completely boneless shoulder of lamb, ready for rolling, trussing and slow-cooking. Find delish lamb shoulder recipes here.