First smoked leg of lamb

[Smoke Wagon]

Although I'm still working on perfecting my pulled pork, I had a frozen leg of lamb in the freezer from before I had my smoker. I was originally going to make Gyro meat but decided to put the smoker into action!

I closely followed this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ejaRP2W9wE

So special thanks to "drunken sailor brew and bbq"

It was very good. I have never had lamb before except gyros. Next time I would probably cook it to a lower temp and also let it rest longer. I have a feeling the leftovers will be good. I was munching on them as I put them away and they tasted better than it was hot off the smoker.

 

[gregbooras]

Looks really tasty!

Greg

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

I have been wanting to do a Leg of Lamb for the longest time now and how long did you have it in the smoker , Temp setting , and did you make his  cucumber sauce . lol

 

[Smoke Wagon]

I have been wanting to do a Leg of Lamb for the longest time now and how long did you have it in the smoker , Temp setting , and did you make his  cucumber sauce . lol

I cooked it till it hit 143 degrees and then pulled it.  Seems like it took right about 3 1/2 hours in my #2 smoker.  Door was opened twice to baste it.  My wife made the cucumber sauce, but she had her own recipe.  I didn't douse it on like he did, but a little dip did kind of accent the flavor and was worth having.

I just tried some cold chunks (next day now) and they had really good flavor, the meat seemed to absorb the smoke really nicely.  I used three chunks of cherry.

 

[BedouinBob]

Looks like it came out well SW! I assume you didn't reverse seer it. When I did that on a prime rib it came out really juicy and you have the advantage that you can pull it at a lower temp so it stays more rare in the middle.

 

[Smoke Wagon]

Looks like it came out well SW! I assume you didn't reverse seer it. When I did that on a prime rib it came out really juicy and you have the advantage that you can pull it at a lower temp so it stays more rare in the middle.

I like the sound of that.  I will probably try that next time! When you do this method, what temp do you pull at?

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Smoke Wagon how many pounds was that Leg of Lamb ?

 

[BedouinBob]

Pull at medium rare and put it in a 500 deg oven for about 8 minutes. Perfect deliciousness......

 

[Limey]

I remove nearly all the fat from my legs of lamb and replace with a layer of olive oil. You get rid of all the potential gaminess that way. Then I stud the leg with sprigs of rosemary and slivers of garlic, inside and out, assuming the leg is butterflied. Roll and tie with butcher's twine. Salt & pepper and maybe a rub of onion powder, paprika and garlic powder. Smoke at 225 with 4 ounces of cherry and a water pan to an IT of 120. Rest in cooler one hour and then reverse sear on a very hot grill. Delicious, and even better in a sandwich the next day with mint jelly.

 

[Smoke Wagon]

Smoke Wagon how many pounds was that Leg of Lamb ?

Sorry Offshore, I carelessly threw away the wrapping, forgetting to look even though I wanted to remember for future reference. Bigger than the 5lb pork butts I've bought, and smaller than the 9lb I just bought. Maybe 7ish-

 

[Smoke Wagon]

I remove nearly all the fat from my legs of lamb and replace with a layer of olive oil. You get rid of all the potential gaminess that way. Then I stud the leg with sprigs of rosemary and slivers of garlic, inside and out, assuming the leg is butterflied. Roll and tie with butcher's twine. Salt & pepper and maybe a rub of onion powder, paprika and garlic powder. Smoke at 225 with 4 ounces of cherry and a water pan to an IT of 120. Rest in cooler one hour and then reverse sear on a very hot grill. Delicious, and even better in a sandwich the next day with mint jelly.

I really like your guys ideas of reverse searing whether it be a real hot oven or a grill.

I didn't notice any gaminess with this lamb, despite leaving the fat on. Just my experience, might depend on the piece of meat though.

 

[Limey]

Smoke Wagon, in my experience the grass fed lamb, mostly from New Zealand, tastes gamier than the corn finished lamb from the States. In either case removing the fat solves the problem, assuming that you don't like gamey.

 

[DivotMaker]

Wagon, that looks great!  The "reverse sear" method works great on anything you want a medium-rare to medium center on, all the way to the edges.  You slowly smoke, at 200-210, pull at target temp (128 for medium-rare), then throw on a HOT grill, or 500+ oven for a few minutes to finish the outside.  Here's an explanation of it, using prime rib.  It's a long post, but will help you understand the process, and why it works:

Christmas Prime Rib

 

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Funny thing .........................after viewing so many Lamb recipes and cook /smoke time one would think that it would take longer to smoke a five to seven pound leg of lamb then it actually does .