I live in France and lamb is a pretty common meat here. Before France I lived in Chad, Africa where goat and lamb were staples. Lamb is a great meat, very savory and moist. It is almost impossible not to succeed.
I have smoke 4 or 5 legs of lamb in my homemade smoker. See pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...6&l=ab09d207f0
Lamb does get to temperature and cooks pretty quickly. One of the first I cooked was measured with a Weber meat thermometer and reached temperature for Well Done (I think it was 140) in 2-3 hours. I wasn't ready for it yet and just kept it on the grill, still turned out great.
In Africa they call roasted lamb a Mishwi (at least that's how we pronounce it in English). They roast the whole thing, often stuffing it with rice, inside a huge brick oven usually for all day.
The great thing about lamb is even after a long smoke, unwrapped, it will not turn out dry like pork.
My recipe is simple. Rub the lamb with olive oil, Jeff's Rub and put it in the smoker. I tried some other rubs, pineaple and ginger...but just not my taste. Roasted meat should have a bite to it, not taste like a Pina Colada.
You can smoke it continuously if you like a strong smoke flavor, or only for the first hour or two...as you like. I usually have a can of water in the charcoal to keep the smoke moist.
Count on 30 minutes per pound for well done. I usually let mine cook longer. For an average bone in leg, around 5 hours. The fat layer on the outside of the leg will form a crust with the rub and seal in all the juices.
I usually turn mine over after 2 hours. Then bring it in and let it sit for 30 minutes wrapped in a towel to let the juices and smoke flavor redistribute.
Since you don't need to wrap it up after an hour like pork roast, this is one meat you can put on the grill and forget about until you are ready to eat.
Never have any leftovers !!
I have smoke 4 or 5 legs of lamb in my homemade smoker. See pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...6&l=ab09d207f0
Lamb does get to temperature and cooks pretty quickly. One of the first I cooked was measured with a Weber meat thermometer and reached temperature for Well Done (I think it was 140) in 2-3 hours. I wasn't ready for it yet and just kept it on the grill, still turned out great.
In Africa they call roasted lamb a Mishwi (at least that's how we pronounce it in English). They roast the whole thing, often stuffing it with rice, inside a huge brick oven usually for all day.
The great thing about lamb is even after a long smoke, unwrapped, it will not turn out dry like pork.
My recipe is simple. Rub the lamb with olive oil, Jeff's Rub and put it in the smoker. I tried some other rubs, pineaple and ginger...but just not my taste. Roasted meat should have a bite to it, not taste like a Pina Colada.
You can smoke it continuously if you like a strong smoke flavor, or only for the first hour or two...as you like. I usually have a can of water in the charcoal to keep the smoke moist.
Count on 30 minutes per pound for well done. I usually let mine cook longer. For an average bone in leg, around 5 hours. The fat layer on the outside of the leg will form a crust with the rub and seal in all the juices.
I usually turn mine over after 2 hours. Then bring it in and let it sit for 30 minutes wrapped in a towel to let the juices and smoke flavor redistribute.
Since you don't need to wrap it up after an hour like pork roast, this is one meat you can put on the grill and forget about until you are ready to eat.
Never have any leftovers !!
