AMAZING Smoked Chipotle Garlic Leg of Lamb
Smoked Chipotle Garlic Leg of Lamb
Things to know:
How long does a leg of lamb take in a smoker?
Lamb’s leg ideally cooks for a duration of 8 hours at a smoker temperature of 225 – 250 °F. Until your lamb shows a temperature of around 135° F which you can check via a meat thermometer, you should not remove it.
Does chipotle go with lamb?
Chipotle refers to dried and smoked jalapeño peppers, while the adobo sauce is a fiery tomato sauce with key ingredients of paprika, garlic, onions, bay leaves, oregano, salt and pepper. Together, the chipotle and adobo sauce lends the perfect balance of spiciness and flavor to your lamb.
Why do Americans not eat a lot of lamb?
Because so few states in America initially raised sheep, the cost for lamb meat would be higher than other meats. This cost barrier prevented many Americans from even trying lamb meat. This initial barrier has made it difficult for lamb meat to gain popularity in the US.
What lamb is best to smoke?
First of all, a dead one. Choose a large cut – Choose a larger cut such as a lamb shoulder or bone-in or boneless leg of lamb to get juicy, tender smoked meat. If using a boneless cut, use butcher’s twine to tie the lamb to a uniform thickness, ensuring even cooking.
Which is tastier, leg or shoulder of lamb?
If you want rich, fall-apart lamb with maximum flavour and minimal fuss, go for shoulder. But if your goal is a neatly sliced centrepiece roast with elegant presentation, leg is your best bet. Either way, both cuts deliver when treated right, and the real winner is the one that suits your occasion, taste, and time.
Why is the leg of lamb so good?
Leg of lamb usually comes with a layer of fat surrounding it, trapping in all the delicious flavors you add to it and preventing the meat from drying out.
Ingredients:
2 cups Sweetwater Spice Company Apple Chipotle Brine
4 cups of water
2 2ish pound bone-in legs of lamb
1/4 cup yellow mustard
Spiceology’s Chipotle Garlic Blend
8 cloves of garlic
spritz (we used Grillworks Spritz King – Chipotle. You can make your own by mixing 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar with 1 cup of apple juice)
1. The day before the smoke, trim any loose hanging fat. Don’t trim the fat cap—during the low slow cooking, it will render, adding flavor to the lamb.
2. If the bone extends beyond the majority of the meat (ours didn’t), instead of doing a complete Frenching of the leg at the start, you will do a quick prep so you can French it after cooking. Since it’s for presentation, doing it beforehand keeps the bone nice and white for presentation, otherwise, the smoke will darken it.
Make a deep cut into the meat about 2′ above the end of the bone. During the cooking process, this thin piece of meat will dry out, and making a deep cut into the meat will make it easier to remove after its cooked. Cut down to the bone.
3. Score the fat cap in a diamond pattern to expose the meat (do not cut through the meat completely!). This helps to render the fat, and will allow the herbs and spices to penetrate to the meat.
4. Make a 8 small slits into the meat of each leg of lamb along your scoring pattern. These slits will become small flavor pockets when you add garlic into them.
5. Mix together the brine and water, then add to the leg of lamb in either a briner bucket (like we did in the video) or to a large ziplock bag. Chuck the lamb in the fridge overnight.
6. Remove the lamb from the brine about an hour before you smoke it. Pat dry with paper towels.
7. Preheat your smoker to 225F.
8. Slice each garlic clove in half. This will help to release some of the oils and improve the flavor.
9. Cover the underside of the lamb completely with the mustard. Season generously with the Chipotle-Garlic seasoning.
10. Turn the leg of lamb over, so that the scored side faces upwards. Apply the mustard into the meat. Season generously with the Chipotle-Garlic seasoning. Stuff the garlic into the slits you made earlier.
11. Place the leg of lamb on the smoker and insert a temperature probe into the thickest part of the meat. Close the lid and get your smoke started.
12. Spritz every hour, double-checking the temp each time with your handheld thermometer.
13. Once you reach your target temperature (135°F for Medium Rare), remove the leg of lamb from the smoker and let it rest tented in foil for at least 20 minutes. If you let it rest longer, wrap in a towel and place it in a closed cooler to keep the temperature from falling too far.
14. Remove the “frenched” meat from the bottom of the leg – it’s now so overcooked that it should come right off in your hand.
15. Slice, Serve and ENJOY!
Equipment used:
ThermoPro TempSpike Plus: 600FT Wireless Meat Thermometer Bluetooth
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