Oven-Braised Lamb Shoulder | Bone-In Cut on a Bed of Vegetables

Pat the shoulder dry with paper towels. Use the tip of a knife to make twelve slits, 2 cm deep, in the thick parts of the meat, and push half a garlic clove into each. Mash the softened butter with the finely chopped thyme, the salt set aside for the meat, and the black pepper, then rub it over every side of the shoulder.

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Peel the shallots and leave them whole. Cut the carrots into 5 cm pieces and spread them in a deep roasting pan. Sprinkle with half the vegetable salt, pour the water into the bottom of the pan, and set the shoulder on top of the vegetables, fatty side up.

Cover the pan tightly with foil and cook on the middle rack of the oven for 100 minutes. The meat will not brown during this time; it will just begin to soften. The vegetables cook in the water and the fat released by the meat.

Peel the potatoes, cut them into large 4 cm pieces, and toss them with the remaining salt. Remove the foil, arrange the potatoes around the shoulder in the liquid in the pan, and spoon some of the pan juices over the meat. Cover again with foil and cook for 60 minutes more.

Remove the foil, raise the oven to 200°C / 390°F, and cook for 30 minutes, spooning the pan juices over the meat every 10 minutes. It is ready when the shoulder is deep golden brown and the meat around the bone has pulled back, exposing the bone tip.

Transfer the shoulder from the pan and rest it under loosely tented foil for 15 minutes; this is inactive time. Pull the meat into large pieces along the bone using two forks. Arrange it with the potatoes and vegetables, and spoon the pan juices over the top.