Leg of lamb on WSM

i have a boneless leg of lamb i got from the costco a couple months back and i am going to cook it on the WSM this weekend. what i would like to do is give it a nice adobo style rub and drink beer while it cooks with the water pan in until i can pull it apart for tacos. but after searching the interweb and LTH i cant seem to find anybody raving about cooking a lamb leg like this. can somebody out there tell me, "yes, joe, this will work"? or should i just roast it without the water pan?
Thanks.
Joe

I will be doing the same thing on Sunday. I will be using a bone in leg so slightly longer cook time but other than that same deal.

I personaly will not use the water pan and smoke at 225 until done. I will say though that lamb shoulder would work best for cooking to a higher shredable tempature and still have planty of moisture. I am planning on strong smoke at 225 and cooking to medium.

I am sure it will be great. Are you planning on brining or rubbing your lamb first?

Regards,

Bourbon

I do Leg of Lamb on the WSM a lot, but always as a "grill smoke" - no water pan, on the top grill. I love grilled lamb, but HATE the charred taste you get from flared-up fat when the meat starts to burn. This really helps with that, plus it gets a nice smoke flavor. There are still crispy edges, but none of that burnt fat thing going on. I do a marinade of red wine, rosemary and garlic or white wine, lemon, oregano and garlic.

Joey A wrote:can somebody out there tell me, "yes, joe, this will work"? or should i just roast it without the water pan?

I've done it (using bone-in leg o' lamb) and it definitely works. I used the water pan, kept the temperature at around 225 and had delectable, pullable lamb after about 6 hours (iirc). I rubbed the lamb with a paste that I made from a variety of reconstituted, toasted dried chiles (ancho, pasilla, guajillo), olive oil, garlic, Mexican oregano and a wee smidge of orange zest. I let it sit overnight in the fridge before I smoked it. It was great; a real crowd-pleaser, too.

=R=

i'm gonna take a crack at ronnie's cook, more or less. also on the smoker this weekend: 3 racks of babies, a small flat cut, mac and cheese and some beans. and a whole mess of grilling. i'll take somes pics if i'm not too housed and maybe figure out how to put 'em up here. shizzz....
thanks, y'all.
Joe

Hi,

I have sampled Leek's leg of lamb cooked directly over fire on the WSM, which was medium rare in the middle with a nice exterior crust as I like it.

My preference for rare lamb is directly influenced from Julia Child's Kitchen book. For roasting in the oven, I stud the lamb with lots of garlic, then rub soy sauce onto the meat followed by olive oil. I have been meaning to do direct grill it on a WSM for ages.

Regards,

Leek's cook sounds great to me too and i'll give it a try this summer, i think. this one, though, is for a large group and will be served along side some other items so i would like to offer it in the most accessible way possible and in my limited view that's the taco. i love tacos.

Joey A wrote:Leek's cook sounds great to me too and i'll give it a try this summer, i think. this one, though, is for a large group and will be served along side some other items so i would like to offer it in the most accessible way possible and in my limited view that's the taco. i love tacos.

I love this as tacos, too. I had a very similar dish at Huarache Azteca #1 in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles back in 2008 (thanks, to Erik M who took me there) and I came home with a burning desire to recreate it. Mine was delicious but still paled in comparison to Azteca's version.

=R=

Huarache Azteca #1
5225 York Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90042
(323) 478-9572

With a nod to Cathy2's oven prep - I do bone-in leg o lamb smoked with hickory on the BGE with plate setter and no drop pan between 225 and 250 for about 5 hours or so. I stud the leg o lamb with plenty of fresh garlic (piercing the flesh and inserting sliced garlic cloves) rub liberally with half-lemons, fresh groung pepper and oregano, with a final drizze of olive oil. The meat is pullable once finished and has a nice citrus zing from the lemon in addition to the heartier garlic and oregano flavors.

Never thought of doing tacos! Sounds like a plan for the next leg o lamb at the Davooda ranch.

Davooda

One think I learned about smoking lamb from the guys in Owensboro is that some Worcestershire (¿wooster?) sauce should be used in the rub. So I do it that way. I'm just sayin'....

Geo

I have done a direct grill Butterfly Leg of lamb for years to rave reviews that sounds similar to Cathy's.
We call it Madame Butterfly LOL,
and marinate it for a while (whatever works)
in orange juice and zest
sherry, soy sauce , garlic, ginger, and maybe some other stuff (I don't have the recipe in fromt of me.)
I grill it over medium coals/fire for 10-15 min/side to medium/med rare
it gets crispy bits carmelization, and it juicy inside.
The flavor is so wonderful. It's a crowd pleaser, and non-lamb lover converter.

Haven't tried one in the smoker yet, but what could be bad?

I definitely do a lot of trimming on the boneless leg of lamb prior to marination. The reason I started doing it in the WSM was because it kept catching on fire if I put it right on direct heat on my little grill, but I didn't like it just smoked like normal.