Bit of a beginner question this, but I've never tried it before and so hope to receive some kind of reassurance before buying an expensive cut of meat... Question is, how easy (or otherwise) is it to butcher a raw leg of lamb to obtain useable lamb chunks of the right kind of size for currying?  I'd hope to produce about 4kg of raw lean lamb to pre cook for curries, so guess I would need up to three lamb legs.

The source of the question is that I've noticed Asda have whole leg of lamb at

Quote from: fried on September 13, 2012, 05:29 PM
Not sure, but my butchers' uses a band-saw type thing to cut through the bone. Not sure how easy this would be unless you have a decent selection of knives and a meat cleaver.  Could always use a black and decker I suppose.

I don't think you'd need to cut through the bone in order to get the meat into curry-sizes pieces, and if you did, a cleaver wouldn't help you (but a good hacksaw with a coarse blade would).  Sharp knives, yes.  And if you are risk-averse, chain-mail gloves and apron.

** Phil.

natterjak,

I used a couple of sharp knives and did this with a tescos special.
It did not work out so special as I wasted about 1/3 of the leg of lamb,
bone and fat etc

I would not do this again as my local Indian store does this in front of me
for just over 8 quid per kg.

I would say watch out for the hidden unwanted costs and the time it takes

Hope this helps.

Chris, i've done it a couple of time and it's fairly easy once you get the hang of it.  You need a sharp thin bladed knife.  Insert it into the flesh at the base of the leg and cut to the bone.  Continue to elongate the cut upwards cutting to bone until you have reached the top of the leg.  Then simply part the flesh either side of the cut and score cut right up the leg, paring the meat from the bone.  Continue doing this until you have gone completely round the leg bone and you end up with one lump of lamb and the bone is out.  Then cut into large chunks.  Remember lamb reduces by 50% approx when cooked so your pieces will  need to be twice the size you actually want them in the finished dish.  Hope this helps.  It's a lot easier doing it than it is describing how it should be done 
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Thanks guys. Sounds like it's possible but maybe a good idea for me to check to see what my local butcher will charge first.