Persistence pays off.... 1st lamb, coming up

[Bob in St. Louis]

The meat came today.
My biggest fear, was that they'd come mostly thawed, and I can't cook them til Sunday.
No worries, they were packed in dry ice. They're SOLID as rocks!
One was 4.6#, the other is 6#.
I guess I'll be cool about it and give him the six pounder. :laugh:

 

[newtwoq]

The only thing I haven't seen mentioned so far is that lamb is one of the few meats that can handle a very strong smoke on mesquite in my opinion (Texas Brethren don't flame me too bad!). The two pair beautifully! Other than that you have been given some fantastic advice already and I look forward to the cook pics!

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Great, thank you!
I've got applewood Kingford, and scraps of cherry from a wood working project for flavor.

The meat came yesterday solid as a rock! Came packed in dry ice and a styrofoam cooler.
One of my concerns was it coming half thawed and waiting til Sunday for the cook. No problem now, they'll be fine til Sunday!

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

(testing the ability of Facebook and 3rd party sharing. Can y'all see this?)

Processed the meat. "unrolled" the leg-o-lamb, trimmed fat, seasoned, trussed, then poked holes and stuck in garlic and fresh rosemary.
Top off with some olive oil.
Have about 3 pounds of fat. Might have to use that for the drip pan.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

(testing the ability of Facebook and 3rd party sharing. Can y'all see this?

I'm drooling all over my phone..so yes I can see it.

 

[arclite]

Looks great!

I've never understood the "gamey" taste people complain about, but I've been eating lamb since I was a little kid.

Leg of lamb is one of the easier cooks. KISS principle applies.

I hope you enjoy it.

 

[Titch]

op2:op2:op2:op2::hungry::hungry::hungry:

 

[4ever3]

Good LAWD that looks good!!!

 

[Big George's BBQ]

YUM I cant wait to see the results I really like lamb wish my family did

 

[Kanco Connection]

You are off to a great start, sir. Looks amazing already.
And thanks for following up on this adventure. I'm very interested to see how this goes for you.

 

[sturev]

is it done yet Bob, we're all :hungry: :hungry: :hungry:

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Alright, here we go....
(scroll past the chitty chat for the meat pron)

Out of the 6# hunk of meat my co-worker bought (I've got the 4.5# hunk), he ended up with just over 5# of meat. The hunk of fat I had after trimming was wrapped in aluminum foil, poked a few holes in the bottom, set it above the drip pan, and smoked it along with the meat. I wanted to have as much "saved flavor" in the drip pan as I could.

I had enough meat to make my lunches for the coming week (supplemented with rice, broccoli, and corn) and one small bag in the freezer for another day.
He ended up with a large ziplock refrigerated bag for immediate consumption and three quart ziplock bags with the added juice from the drip pan and frozen for later.
Here's the money shot...

 

[mchar69]

I Think the Lamb is done perfectly look at the last Pic it's to drool over!
HOWEVER - stop SAWING at the lamb like in your 2nd pic.
It takes a sharp knife which you have, one stroke away,
one back to finish (if needed), no saw marks.
Delicious looking lamb, last pic kicks it out of the park!

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Understood about the saw marks!!!
The meat was just longer than the blade, so I had to make a few strokes.
Plus.. The meat, being tied together made it fall apart as I cut it, so it took several strokes.
I didn't like that either.
I almost got my German knife out, which is almost a sword! haha