stevez wrote:

T Comp wrote:

G Wiv wrote:.
Steve Z really knows his way around a Leg O Lamb.

And yes, lamb tasted as good as it looks!

Do you know what those pictures do to a lamboholic? In spite of my Saturday night loin chops to fortify myself for a lambless Easter, with White Borscht (or some say Zurek) being our tradition, I'm now in full withdrawal mode.

Thanks. That was my first leg of lamb effort. Next time, a little more herbs and a little less smoke.

We stopped in Blue Ribbon Meat Market on Austin in Oak Park today.



Ordered a leg of lamb for Easter, and I thought I might smoke it using GWiv's recipe listed above. I'm curious, though, about your comment regarding a "little less smoke." One concern I had was that the smoke flavor would collide with the equally intense lamb flavor. Is that why you thought you'd go with less smoke?

Be sure to have the butcher remove the leg joint and tie up the end for you. It is worth the extra $$$. The joint is a PITA to remove and requires the skill of a surgeon (and a scalpel sharp knife).

I have had pretty good luck poking holes into the lamb and filling them with cloves of garlic. I brush the lamb with Greek olive oil and lemon juice, salt it with sea salt and place some rosemary stalks on the outside. I cook it in a weber kettle using indirect heat over tin foil until it is about 120 degrees, then wrap it in foil and place it in an igloo cooler for 45-60 minutes, where it continues to cook. It comes out a nice deep pink color, but not bloody, and doesn't get overcooked at the edges. I do like my lamb pretty rare, so you might adjust the temp accordingly.

d4v3 wrote:Be sure to have the butcher remove the leg joint and tie up the end for you. It is worth the extra $$$. The joint is a PITA to remove and requires the skill of a surgeon (and a scalpel sharp knife).

I have had pretty good luck poking holes into the lamb and filling them with cloves of garlic. I brush the lamb with Greek olive oil and lemon juice, salt it with sea salt and place some rosemary stalks on the outside. I cook it in a weber kettle using indirect heat over tin foil until it is about 120 degrees, then wrap it in foil and place it in an igloo cooler for 45-60 minutes, where it continues to cook. It comes out a nice deep pink color, but not bloody, and doesn't get overcooked at the edges. I do like my lamb pretty rare, so you might adjust the temp accordingly.

Sounds like solid advice, Dave. Thanks. We're going to be cooking a big leg, maybe around 14 pounds or so. Was the leg you prepared this way about the same weight?

Whoa, Lambasaurus Rex. No, I think the legs I usually cook weigh in at about 7-8 lbs. I don't think I have ever seen a leg that large. Isn't that bordering on Mutton? Is that with the joint bone removed?

d4v3 wrote:Whoa, Lambasaurus Rex. No, I think the legs I usually cook weigh in at about 7-8 lbs. I don't think I have ever seen a leg that large. Isn't that bordering on Mutton? Is that with the joint bone removed?

That's with the joint bone in there.

David Hammond wrote:Ordered a leg of lamb for Easter, and I thought I might smoke it using GWiv's recipe listed above. I'm curious, though, about your comment regarding a "little less smoke." One concern I had was that the smoke flavor would collide with the equally intense lamb flavor. Is that why you thought you'd go with less smoke?

That leg of lamb was cooked several years ago. Asking me to remember it is sort of like going to the butcher and asking him if he remembers a specific pork chop he cut for you in 2008. Since I made that leg of lamb, I've switched to making them on a spit over charcoal on my Weber Kettle. I think the higher heat and rotation lends itself better to this particular cut of meat.

To answer your question the best I can, I think what I meant was that giving a leg of lamb the same amount of smoke as a pork shoulder, which is probably what I did, was too much. Although the lamb has a strong taste, the smoke competes with it as you postulated. Now I use much more garlic and herbs and just a kiss of smoke. It's quite the Easter treat.

I'll second using the Weber rotisserie without any additional smoke then from the hard wood charcoal. We get our legs from a Wisconsin producer (Pinn Oaks)and the lambs are on the small side, about 6-7 #'s. This year, a baby lamb is on order from Spartan Bros but I will have to probably cut off the head to fit the lamb on the spit.-Dick

I agree with everyone that you don't want to use a lot of smoke on a leg of lamb (unless you're doing the full out Owensboro style BBQ lamb). I usually add a chunk or two of apple wood to the lump at the beginning, and nothing after that. I usually indirect grill at around 350.

There's a great Rick Bayless recipe for Grilled Rack of Lamb with Honey Pasilla Glaze that I've adapted in a number of ways for leg of lamb. First I marinade in a mix of Guajillo, Ancho, Cumin, Salt, Pepper, Balsamic, and EVOO. I add honey to the marinade and use that to baste (and glaze) it as it cooks. I direct grill it at the end to carmelize the glaze. It's a great thing to rotisserie if you have one.

budrichard wrote:I'll second using the Weber rotisserie without any additional smoke then from the hard wood charcoal.

I do add a couple of small chunks of olive wood to the lump charcoal when cooking my lamb, but not too much.

Just decided to cook my first leg of lamb tomorrow, and I'd love some guidance.

I bought a 3.5 lb bone-in leg of lamb (it was originally about 5 pounds, but the butcher chopped off the foot-end--is that the shank?--for me). I loved the Mechoui (slow-roasted leg of lamb sprinkled with salt & cumin) I had in Morocco and would love to do something similar.

I found a couple recipes here and here. Anyone have any suggestions or recipes of their own?

A few notes:
1. No access to a grill, so I'll be roasting this in the oven. I'd prefer a low-and-slow recipe.
2. Other recipe suggestions are welcome, though I'm not a fan of sweet-savory combos or mint-lamb combos.
3. I probably won't have a chance to start marinating tonight, so nothing that requires 24 hours from start to finish.

Thanks!

G Wiv wrote:When doing roasts I tuck fresh garlic into slits in the roast. Fresh rosemary is a nice change from dried rosemary (dried or fresh oregano works nicely as well), if you use fresh rosemary with roasts or legs tuck a little into slits along with the garlic. I occasionally tuck pieces of anchovy in the slits which lends a subtle rich flavor that no one guesses what is used. There is no fish or anchovy taste/flavor/smell whatsoever.

Setting up a light marinade to grill a Costco rack-o-lamb and thought anchovy works well for leg, why not a glug of fish sauce in the rack marinade. Slight uptick in savory quotient and overall flavor intensity, a 'trick' that goes directly into my bag-o. Even with overcooking the rack past rare/med-rare fish sauce saved the flavor day, or maybe it was the aleppo pepper.

Marinated asparagus, Lamb, Risotto, Sauteed Ramps

Being of Greek and Italian heritage, I was very much into the "garlic-fresh herbs" versions of lamb either in an oven or on a grill. However, this Alton Brown lamb recipe is simple and the result is outstanding.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

Speaking of leg of lamb recipes, I decided to try out Ina Garten's 4-hour lamb and french beans, it was fabulous:



http://www.foodnetwork.com/barefoot-contessa/perfect-french-dinner-party/index.html

j0emv wrote:Speaking of leg of lamb recipes, I decided to try out Ina Garten's 4-hour lamb and french beans, it was fabulous:

I don't know what it is about that picture, but I can't stop staring at it. I can almost smell it through the screen. I wonder if the recipe would work in a pressure cooker? 4 hours of lamb scent might be too much for me to bear. I mean that in a good way. I love shopping at Devon Market when they have their lamb roaster fired up.

ps: The beans are lovely also. I must add them to my repetoire of side dishes. Thanks for the great photo. I would make it my screen background, but I would probably gain weight just staring at it.

j0emv is that a bone-in leg or was it deboned?

It was a boneless leg of lamb I got at trader joes. I really wanted it with the bone in though, that would have been awesome but I threw this dinner together really quickly and it turned out wonderfully and fell apart. I don't know about the pressure cooker but I think a slow cooker would work better. A pressure cooker would decimate the lamb...

chgoeditor wrote:Just decided to cook my first leg of lamb tomorrow, and I'd love some guidance.

I bought a 3.5 lb bone-in leg of lamb (it was originally about 5 pounds, but the butcher chopped off the foot-end--is that the shank?--for me). I loved the Mechoui (slow-roasted leg of lamb sprinkled with salt & cumin) I had in Morocco and would love to do something similar.

I found a couple recipes here and here. Anyone have any suggestions or recipes of their own?

A few notes:
1. No access to a grill, so I'll be roasting this in the oven. I'd prefer a low-and-slow recipe.
2. Other recipe suggestions are welcome, though I'm not a fan of sweet-savory combos or mint-lamb combos.
3. I probably won't have a chance to start marinating tonight, so nothing that requires 24 hours from start to finish.

Thanks!

Well, instead of something like Mechoui, why not make Mechoui. Granted, it's not exactly the same if you don't have the pit, but it's not that hard to get close. Most Moroccan cookbooks include it, but I'll share my version, if you don't have a Moroccan cookbook. (And I agree, it's a might fine form of lamb.)

My current favorite thing to do is just to sprinkle a little salt on the leg of lamb and then to cover the whole outside with a paste made from crushed garlic and crushed coriander seeds. I try to leave it on the lamb for a little while before cooking -- say about as long as it takes to get the lamb to room temperature -- and then I just follow the Joy of Cooking temperature guidelines, pulling it out while it's still pretty rare. Mighty tasty -- and the drippings are amazing. Though I live alone, I usually aim for a 5-pound or more leg, then slice it, stick it in individual portions in the freezer, and reheat slightly every time I want leg of lamb but don't have hours to cook. Heavily spiced like this, there is almost no degree of doneness that isn't good.

Here are some more Mechoui recipes - the chowhound one is for whole lamb, but has more details about serving
most are for in the oven, not the grill - this sounds good, I might do my next leg of lamb this way!

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/lambrec ... eglamb.htm
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/387826
http://www.chubbyhubby.net/blog/?p=456