In many areas of the world lamb is the meat of choice however here except for in the spring, lamb tends to be rather expensive. While I have eaten lamb in restaurants other than grilling the occasional lamb chops I have very little experience cooking lamb. Well that is about to change! We visited the grandbabies over the Easter weekend enjoying the beautiful spring weather with grill out at each of their homes. Parents to the Little Miss grilled three meats for our Easter feast. Oh my this was some very good eating! I am going shopping this week for a leg of lamb just to try duplicating it myself.
Marinated
The lamb was marinated overnight in an oil based marinade. Like many home cooks the marinade was made up on the fly using ingredients that would enhance the flavour of the ham while tenderizing it a bit. I noted that the leg had been pierced to allow the marinade to penetrate to the inner core. I've seen this method used as well as the injection method. I was impressed enought that I bought a marinade injector syringe the last shopping trip so will have to get that out to use when I cook my leg of lamb. Once the leg of lamb was marinated it was transfered to a baking sheet for grilling. The marinade was used for basting.
On the Grill
Pictured are the three pieces of meat that went towards the Easter feast. A spiral ham is on the top rack, the leg of lamb is to the back of the baking pan and the rib roast is to the front of the baking pan. The lamb and rib roast was seared on high, direct heat on the grill then the temperature was reduced to low, indirect heat for the meats to cook about 5 hours. To the right there is the hickory wood smoking chips that added a light, smokey flavour to the meat as it cooked slowly. All of the meat was tender and quite flavourful.
I love seeing how our kids take something that I have done for ages to a new level. The grill is my favourite piece of summer time cooking equipment. It's used not only for grilling but as an oven and slow roaster during the hot weather. Watching how this meat was cooked using a different method than I use has given me a few ideas to experiment with. I have wood smoking chips and leg of lamb on my shopping list for our next trip!
6 food lovers commented:
We had ham for Easter this year but we used to have lamb at my parents every year. It was wonderful. I told the kids next year I want to do a leg of lamb. The boy was okay with it but the daughter was none to happy about eating a cute little lamb. Considering she calls herself a meativore I didn't think it would be an issue but I guess there are just some lines you don't cross.
Jen, I can relate. The problem is certain critters are depicted by the media as cute and cuddly (eg. rabbits, deer, lamb) so that does turn some off of wanting to eat them. I got the same reaction when first serving venison. I find calves and piglets adorable. It's funny too as it can swing the other way where a meat/fish is so ugly it turns one off of eating it. It is true we eat with our eyes first.
If you have a rotisserie, they do an amazing job with grilled leg o lamb!
I inject a lot of my thick cuts of meat when I grill. Adds flavors in every bite.
Good luck with yours, and thrilled with the second generation of cooking going on in your household
great post
Hi Dave :) Thanks for the lovely compliments. Our kids all love cooking and are quite accomplished cooks in their own right. I love learning from them as well as they are a bit more daring when it comes to food.
I do have a rotisserie so will try that. Thanks so much for the tip.
This looks so delicious, I will have to try it as soon as the weather allows. I bet I could feed a lot of people with this "lamb feast".
Hi Zorana and thanks for visiting. It was indeed a feast that fed about 25 people with lots left-over for the following day. The kids did a great job!
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