How do you Smoke a Boneless Leg of Lamb?

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portlandroger

Fire Starter
Original poster
Dec 23, 2012
61
11
Portland, Oregon
I love lamb, and tried smoking a boneless piece of leg one time.  It turned out dry.

I would love to hear from folks who smoke this delightful meat successfully.

What wood do you use?

What rub do you use?

How hot & how long?

I just bought a 3.7 lb piece of boneless leg of lamb and want to try it again.

Your comments are really appreciated!
 
As a sheep producer i'm glad your willing to give it another go. We will put 3 +lambs in the freezer each year and sometimes an extra if need be or I get mad at one. Anyhow I cook mine on my homemade reverse flow smoker  that runs between 250-275 degrees using red oak and cherry and i will use a water pan

I might through on a stick of apple depending whats all on the cooker. I am coking whole boneless legs that are netted weighing  8-10 pounds and plan for 5 hours +or - and or pull them at 135 and let them rest which  will take them to 140 ish for  rare to medium rare depending on how they are going to be served.  Off the cutting board or in a roster for a while. the most i have done at one time was 11 legs for a heck of a party.

if you season with SPG and rosemary you won't go wrong I  will also add some tyme occasionally but that should get you a good rub.

be sure to serve it warm after it has rested.

on you 3.7 pound piece you may only be looking at 3 to 4 hours? but watch the Internal temp
the 6 legs of lamb on the left and there were 6 sirloin tip roast on the right wrapped in bacon for my friends daughters grad party this last spring.   good luck with your cook   PABEEF
 
Late to the party but I cant resist helping a PNW neighbor.

Looks like you are using a WSM, which is a great smoker!

Can you tell us a bit more about your procedure? What IT did you take the roast too?

For lamb, like other lean cuts it is really easy to over cook. I was taught that it is important to get lamb up to room temperature prior to cooking it. I am not so sure that is really needed but I still do that.

If your boneless leg is not netted or trussed, get out your butcher twine and tie it up. This will help keep the roast in shape, allow for even cooking and allow the juices to remain in the meat.

This cut is great for the rotisserie if you have one for your WSM.

Mild woods work best in my opinion for lamb. Cherry, pecan, alder, apple, peach, kiawe or mixtures of these are all good.

I prefer to run the smoker hotter for a lean cut like this. I'll shoot for 325°. Because lamb is a mild meat you don't need much smoke so the higher temp works. If I was oven roasting the lamb I'd start at 450° for the first 15 or so minutes then drop down to 325°. But in the smoker it's straight 325°. Most important thing like any meat is to not overcook. If you had dry meat its because you overcooked the meat. We prefer medium rare and I pull the lamb at 125° and let the carry over during the rest take it up to the final temp. Which you need to rest the meat 30-45 minutes prior to slicing. I do this with loosely tented foil.

Rare:  120 to 125 degrees F – center is bright red, pinkish toward the exterior portion

Medium Rare:  130 to 135 degrees F – center is very pink, slightly brown toward the exterior portion

Medium:  140 to 145 degrees F – center is light pink, outer portion is brown

Medium Well:  150 to 155 degrees F – not pink

Well Done:  160 degrees F and above – meat is uniformly brown throughout

So that means that you need to have a good therm to test the IT (internal temperature). iGRill2, Maverick 732 or 733 are good multi-probe digital therms that allow you to monitor pitt and meat temps. The Lavatool Javelin is a great inexpensive instant read therm.

Along the lines of pit temp, don't trust the one in the lid of your WSM. Mine are off by 20-30 degrees. Use a good remote therm to monitor pit temps.

Now with all that said there is no need for water in the pit to get moist meat. If you over cook it all the water in the world isn't going to help you. I run a dry smoke pit and the only time I get dry meat is when I inadvertently over cook it. Happens to the best of us.
 
Bend Oregon! Great Place.

I cooked it the other day.  IT was 140° and it was perfect.

It cooked at about 300°.

I jazzed it up with garlic, S&P, Rosemary & Olive Oil.

Next time I'll just use S&P.  I used a little apple wood &

didn't really like that.  I've been using Pecan on everything

lately, so I tried something different. Pecan might be better

after all.  

It was a Costco meat and was a little to bland

for my liking. I like my lamb a bit stronger.  The texture turned

out perfect though, just a little too mild. The "lamb" didn't

jump out at me.  Costco beef is like that too.  Perfect beef,

but lacking in flavor. Probably because of the mass production.
 
 
Bend Oregon! Great Place.

I cooked it the other day.  IT was 140° and it was perfect.

It cooked at about 300°.

I jazzed it up with garlic, S&P, Rosemary & Olive Oil.

Next time I'll just use S&P.  I used a little apple wood &

didn't really like that.  I've been using Pecan on everything

lately, so I tried something different. Pecan might be better

after all.  

It was a Costco meat and was a little to bland

for my liking. I like my lamb a bit stronger.  The texture turned

out perfect though, just a little too mild. The "lamb" didn't

jump out at me.  Costco beef is like that too.  Perfect beef,

but lacking in flavor. Probably because of the mass production.
Sounds like you had a good cook! Pecan is one of my favorites. My favorite for beef is a 50/50 mix of pecan and cherry which I'm sure would be great on lamb.

Being stuck here in the middle of Oregon we have only a few places to choose from for meat selection. I buy most my pork and beef from Cash and Carry bulk and can't complain about the flavor. Not as good as farm fresh but still better than most. Lamb I buy from one of specialty markets. Whole foods carries it, but I've never tried it from there. I now on your side of the hills there's a couple places place down Corvallis way that many rave about. Bald Hill Farm and Rain Sheep. May be worth the drive.

Now where's the photos???
 
Last edited:
My camera was in my other car, so I didn't have access.  Too bad as the lamb looked great.

I like to shop at Cash & Carry too. Their pork is good as is their beef.
 
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