Leg of Lamb Med mashup

Combining honey, rosemary, lemon, garlic and balsamic transforms lamb into a delicious barbecue dish more often found in Europe…less so here in the USA. Not quite the simplicity of “as my Welsh grandmother made it” and that’s always something to be careful with (Welsh Lamb simply roasted and served with mint sauce is just fantastic) but these flavours combined with a little char, bring a bit of the South East Mediterranean to lamb – think Greek Island evening beach barbecue.

Lamb itself is harder to find here in the USA, and when it is available, it’s a little pricier.

This whole lamb leg was again sourced from our local Wheaton Butcher – a reliable purveyor of all staple meats for outdoor grilling. First fun part was the deboning, for which I’m grateful I have my Japanese boning knife all the way from Tower Knives, Osaka. I’ve had this a few years now, and the usual rules apply. Keep it in a special drawer, in its special box. Never in the dishwasher, and never drop it. What they say about boning knives rings true, when you work with one of these. The point of the blade and the general thickness of the steel gives some confidence that working into and around the hard bones of the joint won’t cause any damage (to the knife !).

End result of the deboning is a lot of meat, although it’s surprising the amount of manipulation that’s needed to free the top/bottom/knee joint of the bones from the leg. Meat goes into a ziploc bag ready for the marinade.

The recipe for this one came from a mashup of two recipes I couldn’t decide between. One was a British BBQ recipe book I have called Grill Stock. Grill Stock is (or was) one of the key BBQ events in the UK which I attended once. My memory of that place was lots of meat, competitions, long queues and also Tito’s cocktails made with beef jerky ! Anyway, they’ve made a pretty decent job of collecting some good recipes, and presenting them in an attractive format. Recipe number one was their “Seared Smoked Leg of Lamb”. The second was something I found on the Internet when I searched for “Roast Lamb Shoulder” (that brought in the honey) and I just knew I wanted to try Balsamic Vinegar.

Possibly too many flavours in all of this, when all’s told… but as always, each of my cooks is an experiment.

The Kamado Joe (Classic, Indirect Heat – for those who care) makes short work of lamb. It’s a relatively hot and fast cook (160C / 320F – 15 minutes over direct heat and 45 minutes indirect), and with all those sweet ingredients you really do need to make sure the charring doesn’t become a cremation. End result was pretty close to what I expected. Maybe too well done, but still juicy and flavourful nonetheless. Served with pitta bread, tzatsiki and some salad…

Next experiment with lamb might well lean towards simplification, the way my nan used to make it. And served with mint sauce, potatoes and gravy….probably on a Sunday !