To expect a recipe to work?

oldgoat did you by any chance use low fat cream cheese? Not quite the same thing but I have a Mary Berry lemon cake recipe where the frosting has to be made with full fat marscapone to work. I think the fat+ citric juice provides the thickening effect.

kitty Would agree with that, I've never done one with a pesto crust. Have to say lashings of mint jelly or mint sauce and gravy is more my style. Hope it was nice in the end anyway and not just lost in a tipsy haze.

GS and I made Paul Holywood's Ultimate Carrot Cake thinking that any recipe from the Grandmaster would be reliable. The cake was fine but the cream cheese topping was really runny. Had to consult Mumsnet for a solution which involved incorporating a vast quantity of cornflour to stiffen it up. Disappointing Paul!

Difficult to sear it with a pesto crust!! We like our lamb pink but this was almost still raw.

Crown of lamb - what a faff and with the little frilly paper caps on the ends of the bones. Can't remember the proper name for them or even if there is a proper name.
They did taste nice though - the chops that is!

By the way ref the original post, just remembered you are supposed to sear the rack of lamb first before putting in a preheated oven.

Its usually 20 - 30minutes plus another 5 minutes if you want it done more. Pink is usually how the standard menu turns out. I should think at 15 minutes it was still baa-ing!

I love lamb pink and my steaks on the rare side of medium!

I remember it but never cooked it or ate or. It always looked so complicated but very "posh" which I wasn't.

I think when it is what is called French trimmed ie all the fat removed then it needs to be shorter cooking otherwise it will be dry and the French do love things wriggling on the plate. If it's got a decent layer of fat then I do it at 30 to40 min as the fat crisps well and keeps the meat moist .does anyone remember the complicated crown of lamb with stuffing in the centre? Dinner parties of the 70s!

I don't like pink or bloody meat. I like it well done, but not dry.

We went out for lunch last Tuesday and the lady on the next table ordered a sirloin steak "medium". When it came it was red raw in the middle and I could not have eaten it. My neighbour did though!

Yes, this is the time stated in quite a few rack of lamb recipes. I'd trust your instincts and go with what you feel.

I saw a recipe last week where the mince for a cottage pie was only cooked for 5 minutes. While that might be just enough time to 'cook' it, it's not long enough to let the meat 'relax' and release it's juices. No wonder the recipe had all sorts of garbage extras added to try and add flavour.

I have only cooked ones I got from M&S in fact I did one from their Valentine's Dine in for £20 and it had specific cooking times but of course I can't remember, 25 mins rings a bell.
It had 7 "cutlets".

I think it is the modern trend to serve up undercooked meat. I always cook longer than a recipe says and if in doubt I google other recipes and compare. We like well done meat and worry about eating out.

Is it not 15 mins per pound weight ?

I think I would of been suspicious of a 15 minute time for a rack of lamb and maybe would of googled the timings. I'm not surprised it was raw someone must of got their timings wrong when the recipe was written/printed..how annoying I hope it finally was cooked enough to eat.