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Gigot d'Agneau à la Boulangère — Leg of Lamb Baked on Potatoes

Gigot à la boulangère ('baker's wife style') is one of the great French country roasts — a whole leg of lamb placed on a bed of thinly sliced potatoes and onions moistened with stock, the entire assembly roasted together so the potatoes absorb the lamb drippings and become rich, golden, and saturated with meat flavour. The name derives from the tradition of bringing the prepared dish to the village baker's oven (boulangerie) after the bread was done, using the residual falling heat of the wood-fired oven. The preparation: take a 2-2.5kg bone-in leg of lamb, stud with 12-15 slivers of garlic (insert into small incisions made with a paring knife, pushing the garlic 2cm deep into the flesh), and season aggressively with salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence. Thinly slice 1.5kg waxy potatoes (3mm, using a mandoline) and 3 large onions. Layer the potatoes and onions in a large roasting dish with thyme, bay, salt, and pepper, then pour over 400ml hot lamb or chicken stock — the liquid should reach just below the top layer of potatoes. Place the lamb directly on the potato bed. Roast at 220°C for 20 minutes, then reduce to 180°C for a further 60-70 minutes (25 minutes per 500g for rosé, 55-58°C at the thickest part of the leg). The lamb juices drip continuously into the potatoes below. Rest the lamb on a board for 20 minutes. Return the potato dish to the oven for 10 minutes at 220°C to crisp the top. The potatoes should be golden on top, creamy and lamb-flavoured beneath. Carve the leg at the table, serving thick slices with generous spoonfuls of boulangère potatoes.

‹Swipe for the next dish›
ServesFour portions
Total2 hours 20 minutes (including rest)
Sourced2of 10 in BC
Cook
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I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

2–2.5 kg
bone-in leg of lamb
Your own market
12–15 slivers
garlic
cut into thin slivers
Your own market
1.5 kg
waxy potatoes
Charlotte, Ratte, or Kipfler — sliced 3 mm on a mandoline
Origin · FranceLekker · Vancouver →
3 large
onions
thinly sliced
Your own market
400 ml
lamb or chicken stock
hot
Your own market
1 tsp
herbes de Provence
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
4 sprigs
fresh thyme
Origin · FrancePurely Artisan Foods · San Diego →
2
bay leaves
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
to season
fine sea salt
Your own market
to season
black pepper
freshly ground
Your own market

Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.

II

The Method

1
Using a paring knife, make 12–15 small incisions 2 cm deep all over the leg of lamb. Push one garlic sliver into each incision so it is fully embedded in the flesh. Season the lamb aggressively on all surfaces with salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence. The garlic is hidden inside the meat; it will perfume from within rather than burn at the surface.
From the canon — Herbes de Provence is far more than a commercial spice blend—it is a living expression of Provence’s garrigue landscape, the sun-baked limestone hillsides wh… Herbes de Provence: The Wild Aromatics →
2
Slice the waxy potatoes to exactly 3 mm on a mandoline. Slice the onions thinly by hand. Layer the potatoes and onions in a large, deep roasting dish with the thyme and bay leaves, seasoning the layers with salt and pepper as you build them. Pour the hot stock over the assembled bed; the liquid should reach just below the surface of the top potato layer — fully submerged potatoes will steam without crisping, while potatoes that stand above the stock will char before cooking through. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies.
From the canon — Roasting operates between 190-230°C/375-450°F for most proteins and vegetables, using the oven's dry, radiant heat to drive surface dehydration and trigger t… Roasting — Dry Heat and the Maillard Reaction →
3
Set the leg of lamb directly on top of the potato bed, bone side down. Place the dish in an oven preheated to 220 °C and roast uncovered for 20 minutes, until the lamb surface colours to a deep golden brown.
4
Reduce the oven to 180 °C and continue roasting for 60–70 minutes (calculate 25 minutes per 500 g). The lamb drippings fall continuously into the potatoes below. The leg is done at rosé when an instant-read thermometer reads 55–58 °C at the thickest part of the leg, away from the bone.
5
Transfer the lamb to a board and rest it uncovered for 20 minutes. During this time the potato dish goes back into the oven, now raised to 220 °C, for 10 minutes. The top layer of potatoes should emerge golden and beginning to crisp at the edges, while the layers beneath remain creamy and saturated with lamb-flavoured stock. Remove when the surface is visibly golden and the edges show a light crust.
6
Carve the leg at the table into thick slices. Serve with generous spoonfuls of the boulangère potatoes, ensuring each portion draws from both the crisp top layer and the tender, stock-laden layers below. The potatoes should smell richly of meat and thyme.
III

Quality Hierarchy

01
Reserve — Milk-fed or salt-meadow (pré-salé) leg, aged waxy potatoes with firm, dry flesh, home-made lamb stock reduced to a light jelly, and garlic from a named provenance such as Arleux or Lautrec.
02
Estate — A well-hung bone-in leg from a known butcher, Charlotte or Ratte potatoes, a good commercial lamb or veal stock, and fresh thyme from the garden.
03
Market — A standard bone-in leg of lamb, any firm waxy potato (Kipfler, Désirée), ready-made chicken stock, and dried herbes de Provence.
04
House — Any bone-in leg available, waxy potatoes of any variety, diluted stock cube, and dried thyme in place of fresh.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Sight. After the initial 20 minutes at 220 °C, the lamb surface is deep golden brown with no raw-grey patches remaining.
◇Touch. A skewer inserted to the thickest point of the leg meets only moderate resistance and, if a thermometer is used, reads 55–58 °C for rosé.
◇Sight. After the final crisping blast, the top layer of potatoes is uniformly golden; the edges of the dish show a lightly caramelised crust.
◇Smell. As the potato dish leaves the oven for the second time, the scent is of roasted meat, toasted thyme, and sweet caramelised onion — not raw stock or steamed starch.
◇Where it lives or dies. The stock level in the potato bed — reaching just below but not over the top layer — decides every texture in the dish: too little and the base scorches before the potatoes cook through; too much and the top never crisps to its defining golden surface.
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VI

What to Pour

A structured, moderately tannic southern French red — a Gigondas, Bandol rouge, or Costières de Nîmes — with enough body to stand against the richness of the dripping-saturated potatoes and enough Provençal character to echo the herbes de Provence and garlic of the seasoning.

The whole pairing
Pillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance

The hands behind the plate.

Lekker
Vancouver · waxy potatoes
→
Purely Artisan Foods
San Diego · fresh thyme
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