# First attempt at smoking lamb...here's what I learnt



## kunseimania (Oct 6, 2020)

Evening, All.
Yesterday, the weather was fine so I decided to break out my little portable smoker and smoke a lamb joint (Australian lamb) I had bought recently at Costco. I chose a shoulder joint because growing up, my Dad always said with lamb, shoulder was better than leg, and I think he was right. 
Shoulder has a lot more fat on it than leg, which is great for roasting, but this was a bit of a problem when it came to smoking.
I was unsure what sort of wood chips to use, but in the end I decided to use my favourite, which is walnut. Afterwards, I found that the walnut smoke flavour actually matched the lamb well.
Anyway, once I took the lamb joint out of the package, I realised it had been deboned, and it was bigger than I had expected, so I had to cut it into two to fit it into my smoker. With two cuts now, I decided to try two different rubs/marinades. The first was a garlic/rosemary based marinade with some olive oil and a little apple _kurozu_ vinegar, and for the remaining cut, which I think was the top of the shoulder joint, I decided to go a little Indian and used red pepper and garam masala, in addition to salt and pepper. In the picture below, the garlic/rosemary one is on the left.







I had to roll the garlic/rosemary joint up to make it fit. I've not done this before, and it didn't look pretty, but it worked out OK. The other piece--which looks rolled up in the picture above--I was able to lay out flat on the smoker. I wanted to keep it flat to expose as much of the surface as possible to the smoke.
For the garlic/rosemary marinade, I used: four sprigs of rosemary, removing the woody twigs; 4 large cloves of garlic, about 4 tbsp of olive oil, and 1 and a half tbsp of the vinegar. I also salt-and-peppered the joint well beforehand. For the other one, in addition to the red pepper and garam masala, I also rubbed about 2 tbsp of a grated onion over it for extra moisture and flavour. I strained the rosemary/garlic mix, using the liquid as a marinade (about 2 hours), and saved the rest to rub on to the outside of the joint before smoking it (shown in picture below).





Once the smoker got over 70*C (about 160*F), I put the joints in, with bigger, rolled up one nearer the heat source as I figured it would take longer to cook. I also put my smoker over a very rudimentary fire pit, which really helped me adjust temperatures. Sorry about the picture being at an angle, I wasn't looking at the screen when I took it,  as the smoker is low to the ground and I'm not.










After about two hours, I bumped the heat up to between 80~90*C (about 175~195*F), and also switched the joints around. I also turned them every hour or so.









I took the unrolled joint out first. Now, it was the fattiest piece, and after tasting it, I realised that the fat hadn't rendered as much as I was expecting, so I put it back in later and cooked it for about 20 minutes at 110*C + (over 230*F). It was tasty, but the garam masala flavour didn't come through, and it was hard to cut away the fat. Next time I smoke a shoulder, I will be much more careful about trimming off excess fat before smoking. That said, the lamb had really caught the walnut smoke flavour, so it was tasty.





I did the rolled joint for about another hour and a half, including a stretch at the higher 110*C (230*F) heat. When the internal temp was reading over 62*C in the two fattest portions, I took the joint out and rested it. I tasted it about 15 minutes after taking it out, and it was great, but I was too full to enjoy it, so I let it cool and put it in the fridge. Here it is after cooking. I should have let it rest a little more. You can see that one side is a lovely pink, and one side is ever so slightly overdone.





Now, eating it cold the next day was the real surprise. It was perfect. The meat was really tender, and the flavour of the smoke and marinade had combined really well. The side I thought might be overdone was fine, and the pinker side divine. (The photo makes it look rarer than it actually is).






Things for me to think about after my first lamb smoke:
1) Trim off more fat when smoking than when roasting
2) When using dry rubs, go large. Too much is better than too little
3) I used freshly picked rosemary for my marinade/rub, but it would have been better to pick it a few days in advance and let it dry a bit. That would have made it easier to pound in the mortar.
4) I need a bigger smoker
5) Next time, I want to try a tandoori style marinade with my smoked lamb

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!


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## SmokinAl (Oct 6, 2020)

I love lamb, but it is just to expensive to buy very often. I also like it rare.
However your meal looks delicious!
Al


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## jcam222 (Oct 6, 2020)

Great post. Like Al I love lamb as well. It’s hard for me to find shoulder.


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## kunseimania (Oct 6, 2020)

SmokinAl said:


> I love lamb, but it is just to expensive to buy very often. I also like it rare.
> However your meal looks delicious!
> Al



Thank you! The lamb was surprisingly cheap here. Chops get more pricey, but this joint worked out at about $20 USD. Per pound (or gram here), it's quite a bit cheaper than beef. However, I don't buy it often because my wife doesn't like it, and doesn't even like the smell of it cooking. She was happy to see that I cooked it outside this time.


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## kunseimania (Oct 6, 2020)

jcam222 said:


> Great post. Like Al I love lamb as well. It’s hard for me to find shoulder.



Thank you very much. Before Costco came along, I would not have been able to get hold of shoulder of lamb. Lamb isn't very popular in Japan so very few butchers stock it. I don't think I've ever seen it sold in any major supermarket chain, either.


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## jcam222 (Oct 6, 2020)

Leg, ground and chops are readily available around me in Ohio. Shoulder is usually special order.


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## kunseimania (Oct 6, 2020)

jcam222 said:


> Leg, ground and chops are readily available around me in Ohio. Shoulder is usually special order.



Now that I think about it, I'm not sure Costco stocks leg of lamb. I don't think I saw it last week when I bought the shoulder joint. 
Costco also sells chops and rack of lamb, but they're both a bit more expensive than the shoulder joint. I'd like to try smoking a rack of lamb next, though.
Ground lamb I've not seen here outside of South Asian grocers. I was lucky to live within walking distance of one for a few years when I lived near Tokyo, and it was great for buying lamb and cheap spices. 
I reckon some ground lamb made up into Shish kebabs would be great on the smoker.

As for shoulder, I really think it is better than leg for roasting because it's got plenty of fat on it, but that also means you get less meat off the joint, especially if it's on the bone. Last time I was back in the UK, my brother did an excellent roast shoulder of lamb for me and a friend of his, and I think the three of us finished it all off in one sitting.


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## jcam222 (Oct 6, 2020)

kunseimania said:


> Now that I think about it, I'm not sure Costco stocks leg of lamb. I don't think I saw it last week when I bought the shoulder joint.
> Costco also sells chops and rack of lamb, but they're both a bit more expensive than the shoulder joint. I'd like to try smoking a rack of lamb next, though.
> Ground lamb I've not seen here outside of South Asian grocers. I was lucky to live within walking distance of one for a few years when I lived near Tokyo, and it was great for buying lamb and cheap spices.
> I reckon some ground lamb made up into Shish kebabs would be great on the smoker.
> ...


I like making Greek spices lamb and feta burgers or lamb kofta with ground lamb.


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## kunseimania (Oct 7, 2020)

jcam222 said:


> I like making Greek spices lamb and feta burgers or lamb kofta with ground lamb.



I love Greek-style lamb dishes. Lamb burgers and koftas are great barbecue food (though I've never done koftas on a BBQ). I want to make lamb Kleftiko (Kleftika?) the traditional way one of these days: dig a hole in the ground, put in the leg of lamb wrapped in spices, fill in hole, and build a fire over the hole and let it cook nice and slow. I believe there's a Maori dish that uses the same method.


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