Cooking a leg of lamb at 150c burnt it black!

[Brian M. Leahy]

I attempted to cook a roast lamb with a Sherry/tomato baste and having done it before I thought, "no problem". Made some slits in the leg of lamb, stuffed them with mixed herbs, a cup of sherry and half a cup of water under the trivet with a mix of tomato sauce and Worcester sauce for covering it and later to baste it.
Started with 20 minutes at 200c dropping it to 150c which I thought would slow cook it yet when I looked at the oven two hours later I found that the dish had burned dry scorching the leg of lamb. I’m assuming that there is a fault with the oven temperature control and if I’m correct is there a way to test it such as a special thermometer or have I made an awful mistake?

 

[d_brennen]

I had a similar thing happen, thermostat had died so the oven just got hotter and hotter regardless of the temp set.

Get a cheap oven thermometer from Amazon or wherever, stick it in the oven at 150c and see if it hits and maintains that temperature.

E: and install the just eat app on your phone for today

 

[Brian M. Leahy]

Many thanks. Will order one now.

 

[Mrs Seabiscuit]

But you left it in the oven for two hours without checking it? Not being funny but that seems too long without checking?

 

[OldKitMan]

possibly set it to oven and grill and not just oven?

 

[Brian M. Leahy]

Not at all. I trust the electrical devices I use in my house and this is the first time that oven failed in close to 15 years.

 

[OldKitMan]

does it have a light that goes out once it's hit the required temperature? Does it go out when it hits that temp, maybe you can see if the heating element stops glowing red once the light goes out?

 

[Quartz]

Did you cover the lamb with foil?

 

[Brian M. Leahy]

"possibly set it to oven and grill and not just oven?" Not possible with this oven.
"does it have a light that goes out once it's hit the required temperature? Does it go out when it hits that temp, maybe you can see if the heating element stops glowing red once the light goes out?" The light was out when I returned but it was still cooking.
"Did you cover the lamb with foil?" Yes and it was burnt away.
I have orderd an oven thermomenter which I assume witth show that if I set the oven to 150c it will show it will just keep rising therby exceeded 150c therfore the thermastat that shold do as the setting switch tells it has failed. I will let you know when the device turns up.

 

[koolpc]

Not at all. I trust the electrical devices I use in my house and this is the first time that oven failed in close to 15 years.

15 years! There is your answer.

 

[mid_gen]

You do need to keep an eye on things that are slow cooking. If you don't have a tight seal on the lid it will lose moisture and dry out and burn.

When I'm cooking lamb for several hours in a cast iron casserole I check it regularly and chuck a bit more water in if necessary to keep it moist.

 

[El_Watcher]

I have orderd an oven thermomenter which I assume witth show that if I set the oven to 150c it will show it will just keep rising therby exceeded 150c therfore the thermastat that shold do as the setting switch tells it has failed. I will let you know when the device turns up.

I would duplicate the original conditions, i.e. set it to 200c first for 20 minutes, check the temp is 200c. Then set it down to 150c and see if it actually drops.
If you just set it to 150c it might go up to that and be fine. It might be the coming back down from 200c that didn't work.