Smoked Leg of Lamb with Fresh Garlic & Mint Sauce

At Firesmiths this has become a firm favourite for those chilling Sundays having family or friends over. Smoked leg of lamb is extremely tender, delicious, and great way to feed a family or group of friends!

Most importantly, you need to smoke it with a mild, fruity wood (we use our Firesmiths Apple wood chunks for this recipe) as it accentuates the natural taste of the meat without overpowering it. Lamb lends well to earthy herb flavours, so for this recipe we used fresh herbs, salt, pepper, garlic, lemon and then smoked it low & slow to achieve a fall-of-the-bone result full of flavour and succulence. This is so good and easy to make that that we actually cook it in the week as well (not just Sundays!). Give it a try, you will love it!

As a side note in terms of preparation, people always ask us whether to trim the fat or not? Whether to buy bone-in or bone-out? Here at Firesmiths, we are in favour of leaving the fat on top of the leg of lamb as it slowly melts away during cooking, falling onto the coals to create a further delicious smoky vapour as well as infusing deep flavour - without which the lamb meat will not taste as good. Fat also gives texture as it permeates the lamb meat and makes it incredibly tender and juicy - so why give up on the succulent and way more flavourful meat as a result? You can always choose not to serve the fat once the leg of lamb is sliced but honestly leave it on – trust us here ok.

We also prefer bone-in when smoking as you will get better results by allowing the meat a longer cooking time (as bone acts as an insulator and therefore absorbs some of heat) to come out more tender.

Prep Time:  30 mins
Cook Time: 4 hours
Resting Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 5 hours

Ideal Internal Hero Smoker & Grill Temperature: 110 °C

Ideal Cooked Serving Temperature: 62°C (Medium-Rare)

Recommend Cooking Method: Direct hanging of leg of lamb

Course: Main Dish

Servings: 4-6 people

Optional: Place 2 / 3 Firesmiths Apple wood chunks within your charcoals / briquettes to impart further flavour

Ingredients:

 Leg of Lamb:

• 1 x Bone-in leg of lamb (2kg)
• 1.5 x Tbsp pink rock salt
• 1.5 x Tbsp cracked black pepper
• 2 x Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 x Fresh lemons
• 4 x Sprigs of fresh Rosemary
• 6 x Fresh and peeled garlic cloves

Mint Sauce:

• 1 x Tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• ¼ x Cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
• 2 x Tsp of fresh minced garlic
• 5 x Tsp of mint jelly
• 1 x Tsp soya sauce
• 1 x Red onion, finely chopped

Apple Cider Vinegar Spritz:

• 1 x Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 x Cup of water
• Spray bottle

Instructions:

1. Light your Hero smoker & grill according to instructions making sure to stack 2-3 Apple Wood Chunks in between the charcoal or briquettes.
2. Preheat the Hero smoker to a medium temperature of around 110°C.
3. While waiting for the Hero smoker to reach the desired temperature start preparing the lamb and mint sauce.
4. Rinse the leg of lamb and pat dry with kitchen towel on your Firesmiths Hardwood Chopping Block.
5. Loosely cut the rosemary sprigs in half, so you have shorter sprigs, then peel the garlic cloves and slice into smaller chunks.
6. Using a boning knife or steak knife make a few incisions within all sides of the meat and then proceed to stuff with the fresh rosemary and garlic.
7. Once stuffed with the fresh herbs, take the olive oil, and rub it in thoroughly across the lamb. Afterwards season with the salt and pepper and squeeze over ½ of the freshly cut lemon.
8. Use one of your FIresmiths Skewers to skewer the lamb through top to bottom by firstly skewering one whole lemon to the bottom of the skewer, followed by the lamb and then top of with another whole lemon.
9. Once the Hero Smoker & Grill is up to the recommended temperature, place a steel hook through the top-hole section of the skewer and proceed to hang in your Hero Smoker & Grill.
10. Insert a Firesmiths alarm thermometer probe within the thickest part of the meat, near the middle of the leg of lamb (be careful not the press the tip of the probe against the bone) this will help you to monitor the temperature as the meat cooks and it will alert you as well once the targeted temperature is reached. Set the targeted temperature alarm to 58 °C. It should reach this temperature after roughly 4 hours, but that time can vary depending on outside weather conditions, the burn rate of your charcoal / briquettes as well as thickness of the meat. Do not worry though, lamb is very forgiving so if you go a little over the temperature it will just dry out a bit - but not so much that it won’t still taste yummy.
11. Every hour, spray the lamb with some of the apple cider vinegar spritz. A few light sprays are fine. Do this every hour until the end of the 4-hour cook.
12. While waiting for the leg of lamb to cook & smoke, start preparing the mint sauce by simply combining all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Once done place in the fridge.
13. Once the lamb reached 58°C remove it as well as the Firesmiths alarm thermometer and cover with some foil. Allow to rest for 30min.
14. While resting, the lamb will slowly continue to cook and reach a temperature of 60°C for medium rare.
15. Slice, serve and enjoy some great lamb!

Chef’s note:

• When buying lamb, we recommend you support your local butcher and if possible, buy AAA meat. You are going through effort to make the dish. Might as well get the best cut possible and therefore best flavour.
• When buying bone-out leg of lamb be sure to either ask your butcher to tie it up properly or do yourselves at home. This is vital otherwise the meat will fall-off during your cook.
• Make sure to let the meat rest once wrapped. It will continue to cook when doing this and will come out a beautiful medium-rare
• In terms of what sides to serve, roasted potatoes, grilled veggies, French or naan bread goes extremely well.
• Remember that it is ok to cook to temperature and not to time. Use our thermometers to help you take all the guesswork out should it take longer to cook than the time stated in the recipe. If it’s not yet done in 4 hours leave it in for longer until up to the right temperature.