DIY Sous Vide Rack of Lamb Adventure

This is it, I thought. This is how we’re going to die — a fire inside a church on Greek Easter in Astoria.

My parents and I watched in horror as the priest walked down the aisle holding out two giant bundles of lit candles, one in each hand. The people in the pews lunged, trying to get their candles lit directly from him. For good luck? Who knows.

Large men in leather jackets jostled. The cologne and perfume were overwhelming. Mom smelled burning hair.

After the service, just when we tried to make it out a side door to safety, fireworks burst so close that ash fell on our heads. We ducked. People packed the street outside holding candles. My heart pounded.

The following year we went to the midnight service at a different, quieter church nearby. Greek Easter in Boulder last year was also pretty calm. The real adventure, though, was making rack of lamb for the first time to celebrate the holiday — and doing it using J. Kenji López-Alt’s DIY sous vide method. It has to be said that this is special occasion food. Or, if you’re vegan or vegetarian or don’t want to think about how this meat came to be, this is no occasion food. I understand.

In the past I’d made Rena Salaman’s garlic-studded roast leg of lamb recipe from “The Greek Cook: Simple Seasonal Food.” One year Guillaume and I did two citrus braised lamb shanks because that’s all we could afford.

Rack of lamb is often around $20 per pound if you can even find it. I struggled to locate any even though it was early spring. Kenji recommended New Zealand lamb because it’s sweeter, smaller, and usually less expensive than American. Fortunately, Trader Joe’s had some for a reasonable price.

Guillaume got out his large trusty cooler, I dug up my headlamp, and we got to work. Guillaume tied my candy thermometer to a baking rack inside the cooler so we could see the temperature to maintain it. Now, if you have a sous vide cooker, you don’t have to mess with any of that. Just follow Kenji’s instructions here.

At the end of the process, we discovered that Kenji likes his meat rarer than we do. Guillaume recommends maintaining 140°F for true medium-rare. Also, for the pan roasting part, open your windows to let out the greasy fog.

We served the lamb with Kalamata olives, Greek lemon potatoes, and salad with Dijon vinaigrette. The wine guy at our local liquor store recommended Masseria Setteporte Etna Rosso. Very much worth it.

DIY Sous Vide Rack of Lamb

Serves 4 generously

2 New Zealand lamb racks with 8 ribs each, around 3 lbs. total
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 medium shallots, roughly chopped
4 medium cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Equipment: Large chest cooler, 2 gallon-sized zip-top freezer bags, instant-read or candy thermometer with string, 2 baking racks that fit in the cooler, 10- to 12-inch skillet, very sharp knife. Guillaume used the headlamp to read the candy thermometer since that area had low light.

Season lamb well on all sides with salt and pepper. Prepare the aromatics, dividing them in half. Place each seasoned rack inside a gallon-size zip-top bag with half the aromatics.

Squeeze out as much air from bags as possible with hands and close zip top, leaving one inch unsealed. Either using a large pot of cold water or a sink filled with cold water, slowly submerge the bag until just the sealing edge of the bag is above the water. This should force any air out of the bag. Seal the top completely then repeat with the second bag.

Tie the candy thermometer to the baking rack with string and set it in the bottom of the cooler. Heat at least two gallons of water on the stovetop to 140°F (the range is about 130°F for rare and 145°F for medium), using a thermometer to ensure temperature accuracy. We raised the temperature on the hot water heater and boosted that with boiled water to get the right temperature.

Carefully pour the hot water into the cooler. Add the lamb bags to the cooler, set a second baking rack over them to keep them in place, put the lid back on, and set it in warm spot for one to three hours. Check the water temperature after 15 minutes to ensure that it’s not losing heat too rapidly. Add small amounts of boiling water periodically to get the temperature back up, compensating for lost heat. We topped ours up several times over about three hours.

Once you’re ready, take the bags out of the cooler, remove the racks from bags, letting them rest on a cutting board. Discard the aromatics and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a stainless steel, cast iron, or nonstick skillet over medium-high or high heat until lightly smoking. We went with medium-high since the stovetop runs hot.

Add one rack to the skillet fat-side down and sear until well browned on all sides, turning with tongs as necessary, about 5 minutes total. Put seared lamb on a clean, dry carving board, tent with foil. Sear the second one and tent as well, allowing to rest for a couple minutes before carving. Cut down between each rib and either serve on a large platter or plate the lamb individually.