Leg of Lamb BBQ Style

[sleepygreg]

I have the baked ham sorted out (kinda). Now the next challenge is the Lamb. My local butcher will butterfly and vaccupak a leg of lamb with my choice of marinade in it (I supply marinade).
I have a normal 5 burner BBQ with hood. It has two hotplates and one open grill.

My questions to the learned people here are......

What is your preferred marinade?
What cooking time do you reccommend?
How do I place the lamb on the BBQ? (direct contact with plates, on a rack??????)
What temp should I cook it at?

Looking forward to the challenge.

Greg

[Benno1]

I did a rack of lamb on the BBQ years ago...turned out pretty well. I used a fresh rosemary (just a few sprigs pulled apart roughly)...1/2 cup olive oil...2 teaspoons of minced garlic. I stabbed some deep holes into the lamb then pushed 4 cloves of garlic in. Then all in a bag in the fridge overnight.
I lite up the Jackaroo barby...closed the lid till it read 400 on the guage...then straight onto a rack which i have sitting on top of a roasting pan goes the lamb.
You gotta have gravy!!!...plus a place to put the veges. (I added those the last 20 minutes of cooking)
I regulated the temp with the wee vent on the top...i let it cook on the high temp for about 40 minutes...then dropped the temp to half that...then slow cooked for a further 2 hours...every now and then splashing a bit of the oil n herbs onto it.
Not too foul...it tasted fantastic on fresh bakery buns the next day as well

Mrs Benno1
Sunny

[Noelm]

I usually only do that sort of thing on my Weber, but I guess when it is all said and done, a hooded BBQ is only an outside oven, so as such I would reckon place in a dish, try to get temp to about (say) 180 degrees C and cook untill done to your desired level of "pinkness", maybe even when almost done, place on the open grill section on high to give it a bit of "bark"

[robersl]

a hooded barbie heat it up put meat on bbq plate turn off burners under the meat and leave on the burners under the grill between half and low 2-3 hours turning every so often comes out nice and tender may take a bit longer depending on the weight

shane

[Crunchy]

How do I place the lamb on the BBQ? (direct contact with plates, on a rack??????)
What temp should I cook it at?

Looking forward to the challenge.

Greg

I put the roast on a rack over an inch or two of water to keep the meat moist..

Heat the barby right up and cook for the first 20-30 mins quite hot before turning down to "half"...this draws out the fat and creates a seal on the outside to secure the juices inside...

about 2 1/2 hours seems to be right cooking time...slower the better

Can't stand rosemary personally but slithers of garlic pushed into the meat go well

Marinade I use mint jelly simply watered down, + a bit of this and that

PS I only use the two outside burners....provides the right amount of heat

Edit - this is for bone-in or rolled roast rather than butterflied leg...I should have read the post properly.

[Joe-90]

I do mine on just a hotplate, about twenty minutes a side on medium heat. It then goes into a pre-warmed oven to rest. I turn the oven off and it finishes cooking itself.

My favourite marinade for a butterflied leg of lamb is.

2-3 cloves of garlic
some chopped italian parsley
ground cumin
ground coriander
paprika
chilli flakes ( doesn't make the dish spicy)
lemon zest
black pepper
olive oil

I haven't added quantities as its always a bit of this and a bit of that. I'll also baste it during cooking with some juice from the lemon I've zested. This marinade makes a beautiful dark crust on the lamb, but lovely and pink on the inside.

Try it for yourself on any piece of lamb if you like before committing to a whole leg.

[flybloke]

What ever marinade you use, Cyovacing will speed up the marinating and for me, can over do it. I cryovac marinate if Im in a rush, say 2-4 hours.


Butterflied lamb will not take long to cook as it is basicly now a big stake.
Cook it straight on the grill over medium heat turning and basting frequently. cook with the hood down.
I like to keep lamb simple,

Marinade;
4 fine slice clove garlic
Half cup extra virgin olive oil (I want the low flash point)
Half cup white wine
2 Tbs Lemmon juice
1 pinch each of , Paprika, Chilly, Salt, Pepper.
Marinate over night
Keep marinade for basting but make sure final basting is heated over the burners.
Basting makes flare ups and this is what gives butterflied lamb so much flavour. (Particularly lemon juice)
I like heaps of colour outside and just pink inside so dont cook it too low or it will dry out and be grey.
Fast and furious mate

[sleepygreg]

Ok ....wimped out on all the marinades and did an impromptu experiment tonight on the BBQ with a butterflied leg.

rubbed the leg with olive oil and rock salt, put it on a rack in a tray, fat side down. Cranked the barbie up to 175 degrees, then put a couple of trays of veges in as well. Biggest problem was losing all the heat when turning the veges, tatas and lamb. Took about one and a quarter hours for the lamb and tatas, and about ten minutes longer for the pumpkin, sweet potato and carrots.

Meat turned out superb....though we would normally get a couple of meals out of a 2kg leg.....most of this one was devoured tonight!!!!!!!!

Plan for chrissy day now is....two butterflied legs done the same way.....one tray of roast spuds done the same way.....another tray done my way in the oven with duck fat.....not bothering with sweet spud and pumpkin....with salads as sides (trying to keep the heat out of the kitchen). Sis in law is doing the pork and chicken. Should be a good day with not too much work. More time for the snooker comp and drinking...plus pool games for the kids.

We will definitely be experimenting with different marinades now, but after the christmas period.

Thanks all for your input, and keep the suggestions coming... I think I have created a monster!!!!!!!

Greg

[GBC]

Throw the solid hotplate away whilst roasting, then slide the grill plates and flametamer into the centre of the barbie, it'll give a more even heat pattern that way. Fire the whole BBQ up until it is up to temp, then shut off the inner burners, leaving the two outer ones just ticking over.

We do a slow cooked greek style lamb.


Squeeze a few lemons, then slice the pulps.
Garlic inside, then covered with lemon slices and rosemary (use toothpicks). Make a cup of black coffee (like you're going to drink it). Put the lamb, lemon juice, coffee and a good slosh of olive oil into a roasting dish and cover with foil.
Cook covered with foil, then uncover for about the last 1/2 hr to brown it.
Simple and easy.

[Noelm]

I reckon lamb with just some oil rubbed on, then salt comes out way better than marinades and the likes, at Christmas time we do Turkey in the webber, hot Ham in the hooded BBQ along with a potatoe bake sort of thing, and a big pork in the non genuine webber, all done outside with minimal fiddling about, the boiled things like peas or beans are done on two wok burners in boilers that I use to cook crabs in, only thing inside is desserts in the fridge, easy as pie, well sort of, there is the usual stress about things getting burned or under done or cooked too soon or something, but a few beers before the freeloading relatives turn up soon soothes the stress away!

[NEWBY]

Lamb has a fantastic flavour I reckon and usually I add garlic or chilli oil only (I make my own) I always butterfly my lamb now and prefer to do it myself. a few reds while using a really sharp knife is always fun and priovides entertainment for the whole family when you slip and slice yourself open then shake your hand around and cover the kitchen in blood. Yes I did this, 3 times so far.Twice in the same spot...
Anyway, when I get all creative (that means 5 glasses of red and no cuts when butterflying) I get 6 or 7 fresh mint leaves, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 4 cloves garlic, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 4 tablespoons of red wine and 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce. Combine all ingredients and blitz/blend. Cover lamb and leave 24 hours or so. Heat a frypan or BBQ plate, fry off lamb IN REAL BUTTER to get colour then cook in covered BBQ, indirect heat (as per GBC's advice) at 110 deg for about 2 1/2 hours...Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.
If you cant marinade for 24 hours, do above then wrap in tinfoil before cooking using up all marinade. Fry off on hot plate before resting to cook off marinade and recolour. REST for at least 5 minutes.

In both of the above, plenty of alcohol based fluids for the chef are necessary. The recipe does not work otherwise.

Merry Xmas to all