Smoking Leg of Lamb

Sam Cade · November 11, 2004, 02:37:28 PM

I would like to say that this forum is quite informative. I have just recently purchased a Bradley and was quite successful in my first smoke. Smoking pork ribs...using the Bourbon recipe in the "smoke and spice" book. I used a rub, cooked ribs for about 6 hours...4 hours of smoke@ 195 F. Did not peek until completed. A little shocked when I did open up the smoker...ribs were crusty, dark, and appeared to be dry. Basted them with sauce...wrapped in saran, foil, and towels. Let set for 2 hours. Then re-heated in the oven at 180 F for about 45 minutes. Quite good...I am sure I will get better as time goes.

My present challenge...this weekend. Is to smoke a 5 lb leg of lamb..bone in. At the moment...I plan on using a mediterrean rub. Will lightly smoke with cherry or maple. Will cook between 200 -210F..until digital thermometer reads about 140F. Will also plan on wrapping lamb like I did my ribs. My concern...will the leg be dry? Secondly, would like to have drippings to make a gravy. However, not sure how to accomplish this with the Bradley...or even if its possible.

How about a decent recipe or others experiences with leg of lamb?

I am a South Texan...living in Calgary AB...and have had lots of experience with pit barbeque and water smokers. My preference has always been pork. However, my favourite is lamb on the grill or in the oven. Lots of Texans and southerners I know would scoff. Don't knock it until you try it...right?[:D]

Regards,
Sam Cade

BigSmoker · November 11, 2004, 04:30:32 PM

Sam,
Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the forum[:)].
The Bradley should provide you with moist deliscious food.
It has been my experience with ribs that I haven't cooked them long enough(or way overcooked them) if they are kinda dry. I usually smoke my ribs at 225-235f since I want them to cook to around the 190f range to be that kinda twist off the bone tender. I also smoke spares or St. Louis style and not baby backs. IMHO they have more flavor at a cheaper price.

Leg of Lamb=[:p][:p][:p][:p]
I can usually only get boneless leg where I live so I have never done a bone in but I use plenty of minced garlic, sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and a moderate amount of rosemary. I rub the lamb with EV olive oil first then apply spices. I sear the leg(both sides) at 5-600f on the charcoal grill then pull it off until grill reaches about 375-400(usually takes 20 minutes). Insert polder thermometer cook until 135-140 internal. Let it rest 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with creme' freish and horseradish(not a mint fan). Now I have never smoked lamb and will be very interested in your results. I would think if you want to reserve the drippings hang the leg from the upper most rack with the rack inverted and put a large pan on the bottom shelf to catch the drippings. Me personally I would use a 2 to 1 mixture of 2 apple 1 pecan for no more than 4 hrs of smoke. You should be able to cover the leg with mustard if you are concerned about it being dry but then I would lay it flat on next to top rack and maybe not reserve the drippings or above the lamb place some fatty bacon and let the fat drip as a baster onto the leg. HTH.[:D] One more thought is to make slices into the leg and shove whole peeled garlic cloves into the slices.[;)][:p]

Jeff
www.bbqshopping.com
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

MallardWacker · November 11, 2004, 04:38:48 PM

Sam,

Don't know much about "Leg of Lamb" but glad you became a Bradley convert. Welcome to the forum and don't make your self a stranger around here. Keep us infoirmed on how the Lamb went....

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

Sam Cade · November 11, 2004, 06:43:01 PM

Thanks for the info. One question...will putting a small bowl under the leg of lamb...have any negative affect with heat distribution within the oven[?]

Sam

BigSmoker · November 11, 2004, 07:18:50 PM

I would put the bowl in during preheating. I don't think it will hurt anything but I have never done it.[:D]

Jeff
www.bbqshopping.com
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

Chez Bubba · November 12, 2004, 01:30:29 AM

I would think the bowl would restrict the air/heatflow and not allow the bottom of the leg to cook evenly with the top. Personally, I'd forego the drippings for a superior end product.

Smoked lamb rocks![:p][:p]

Just be careful that your mediterranean rub doesn't have a lot of "leafy" spices (thyme, oregano, basil, parsley) and has plenty of olive oil to protect them. Otherwise, you'll have a hard, crispy-burnt type crust on the outside that hasn't really flavored your lamb, IMHO.

Good Luck! Let us know,

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

BigSmoker · November 12, 2004, 03:24:42 AM

CB,
Are you sure you won't run for Pres. in 08?[:0][}:)]
I know I said a big pan but Sam countered with a small bowl for the drippins'?
BTW where are the posts about your smoked lamb[?] Lamb is a favorite but have been to chicken to smoke.

Jeff
www.bbqshopping.com
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

Sam Cade · November 12, 2004, 04:49:25 AM

Chez,

I think your right about foregoing the small bowl. However , I was planning on using a bowl that is about 7 inches in diameter.

So has anyone taken the step to smoke lamb? Come on guys. Yes pork and beef are great...your talking to a Texan. But Lamb in my books is really superb....would cook it more however up here it runs for about 8.00 US a lb! Alberta Lamb is a great product...beats the heck out on typical new zealand lamb...can be hard to get because the supply is limited and demand is high.

Lets talk about temp smoking this Lamb. Is 190F to 200F being too conservative. I have the time... Will cooking at 220F...other than speeding up the process effect the quality of the end product? My rule of thumb is to typically cook slow and low temperature.

In regards to my rub. Not really a " Med" rub. It will most likely be a wet rub put on the night before and again prior to smoking containing: Cracked yellow mustard seed, dried rosemary, garlic flakes, sea salt, cracked black peppercorns, a little brown sugar, and a little mustard powder, mixed with a little worcheshire sauce and olive oil.

Planning on wrapping with saran, foil, and towels for at least an hour. Is that a good idea? However, plan on pulling off the grill at about 140F (medium rare for lamb)...expecting it to further cook to about 145-150 (medium) with the hopes that it will not be dry. Also plan on leaving what little fat is on the leg..so it will hopefully self baste a little.

Will keep you posted...if it works I'll share the recipe. If it doesn't[V]...try try again...until you get it right. Sometimes you just have to step out there and do it!!![^]

Sam

nsxbill · November 12, 2004, 05:52:06 AM

Sam

You might want to increase the fat by either barding with bacon(Placing on top of meat while it smokes) or considering placing bacon on rack above and let it drip down. Suspect it might impact on catching the juices for gravy.

I really feel the resting wrapped in foil and towel works well to allow a good rest and further breaking down of the connective tissues and fiber.

Bill

Sam Cade · November 15, 2004, 03:01:56 AM

Would like to say that my smoked leg of lamb was quite the success. As stated earlier used a wet rub the night before (cracked yellow mustard and black pepper,little sea salt, a little brown sugar, a little corrieander, minced garlic, and rosemary...not too much,and two table spoons of WO sauce and olive oil to form the wet rub, and rubbed with garlic olive oil prior to putting in the smoker.

Smoked for about 3 hours at 210F using a combination of apple and maple. Wrapped in saran, foil, and towel, for almost 3 hours..took off the smoker at an internal temperature of 149F... and then preheated at 200F in the oven later in the evening prior to serving it. Lamb was medium. Very tender, moist,very rich but the smokey flavour did not overide the wonderful taste of lamb...really enhanced it. Guests raved about it. Obviously, the leg of lamb had enough fat to self baste. In addition, I did spray 3 or 4 times with apple cider. Don't think it could of been done much better.

No way that pork or beef could of competed on this day![;)]

Regards,
Sam

bsolomon · November 15, 2004, 06:46:25 PM

I haven't tried this yet, but I think the "drippings" issue could be solved with some simple engineering. As has been said, you don't want to put in a small bowl above the drip rack because it could effect the heating and smoke circulation. therefore, all the drippings hit the drip pan, and drop out the hole in the center into the catch bowl. You can't move the catch bowl because the bisquettes need to fall into the water. How about a "bridge"?

What I'm thinking is a small bowl or pyrex measuring cup sitting next to the water bowl. Then using some folded up aluminum foil, make a little trough that sits below the hole in the drip tray and diverts the drippings into the alternate bowl instead of the water bowl. I don't think this would interfere much with heating or circualtion of smoke, and the drippings would all collect in the alternate bowl. Alternately, a small metal funnel with a long output tube might be bent to fit and do th exact same thing. Might be worth a try if you really want the drippings.

Cold Smoke · March 31, 2005, 07:22:39 PM

Hey folks- I'm planning on tossing a 4# boneless leg of lamb in the smoker this weekend. I've found an interesting recipe in S&S- Martini leg of lamb- basically consists of rubbing the roast with a paste made up of EVOO, onion, garlic, lemon, gin, S&P. I like BigSmoker's recipe for grilling(much the same but without the gin) but I thought that I'd smoke this puppy. I'm looking for any tips as this is my first lamb effort. Would you inject? Type of wood? IT? FTC?
Any feedback is much appreciated.[:)]

Cold Smoke

TheDude · March 31, 2005, 09:29:59 PM

Sam,

I have smoked rack of lamb, leg of lamb and once a roast that was simply labelled "nearly boneless" (which is odd since it had a great big bone in it...). I have had very good success with all cuts using a dry rub that contains thyme, rosemary, pepper,cinnamon, salt and a few other spices. I have it written down somewhere if anyone is interested. I coat it with the dry rub and refridgerate over-night. Next I let it reach room temperature and wrap the meat in cheese-cloth. Just one or two layers, not more. I think I saw a post where a similar thing was done using an old t-shirt. Smoke/cook it at 220 F for 4-6 hours, depending on the size of the meat, turning the meat over half-way. I like to use pecan/hickory or pecan/oak for 3 hours with the vent half open then I close it for the rest of the cook time.

When the meat reaches the temperature you want (I cook lamb to 175-180) take it out. The cheese-cloth is usually dried to a crisp so I will add a little water or apple juice or beer to dampen the cloth and wrap it all in tin-foil without removing the cheese-cloth. FTC it for a few hours and eat it.

If you want to reheat in the oven, I would recommend taking the roast out at 165-170 F, dampening the cheese-cloth then FTCing the whole thing. When you want to re-heat it, don't remove the tin-foil or cheese-cloth, just take the roast as is and put it in the oven. at 325-350. After about 2 hours, the meat should be cooked and all the flavour that was trapped in the cheese-cloth will be infused in the meat.

I find that the cheese-clothe really helps to keep the meat from drying out and the crusty bark doesn't form on the outside. I use it for most of my roasts, but not things like chicken.

Hope this helps,

The Dude

Chez Bubba · April 01, 2005, 12:35:10 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by TheDude
 I think I saw A post where a similar thing was done using an old t-shirt.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Dude, you haven't been reading too much here yet! Do a search on "t-shirt" & see how many hundreds of posts come up![:D]

Welcome to the forum & we appreciate your early input. Please continue to share your knowledge.[:)]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

Cold Smoke · April 01, 2005, 04:07:00 AM

Hey Dude- thanks for the reply. When you say...

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">TheDude Posted -
I find that the cheese-clothe really helps to keep the meat from drying out and the crusty bark doesn't form on the outside. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

you mean that your intent is NOT to have a nice bark? I will likely try that ol' T-shirt thing with this and might treat it to apple/pecan mixture. I'll keep you posted!

Cold Smoke