Grilled Leg of Lamb, Sam's Way

Wow!! This is just one of the best things I have ever cooked on the grill. I have a gas grill, so to begin with I lit all three burners and let the grill get very hot. I didn't have wood chips, though. I seared each side of the lamb, turned off two of the three burners, moved the lamb to the side where the burners were off, and turned the remaining burner to "medium" and grilled covered for 30 minutes, then tented according to the directions. The meat was perfectly done. Will make this again.

This is a lovely recipe that turns out great lamb. Living in the northeast, I have no source of pecan shells but I have made this several time using fruit wood prunings. I have access to peach, apple and wild cherry but most any fruit wood and even lilac would do. I find the nut woods to be overwhelming/less than subtle on lamb. I have experimented with walnut, hickory and beech and like the fruit wood better. This Spring I am going to try my grape prunings. Stay tuned.

Worked great with a smaller lamb leg (3.5 lbs), just reduced some of the rub ingredients and watched the temperature carefully. Mr. Sifton advised me to grill until the center reaches the 145-150 range, which was perfect. Great with grilled asparagus, roasted potatoes, and some lightly-dressed greens.

This recipe was straightforward and dead simple. We followed it to the letter and the results were perfect. Grilling outdoors in New England on Christmas Day sporting shorts and a t-shirt was more than a bit odd, though.

Thanks!

Wow, yourself, Carol! Thank you! I was just pondering this recipe and wondering “gas grill? gas grill?” And here is your extremely helpful post. I pasted it into the recipe under Notes as I saved it in my recipe app. Thanks again. And, of course, thanks to Sifton and Bittman for a great-sounding recipe.

This was wonderful, but I ignored instructions to butterfly the boned leg. I like it well-done on the outside but rare-ish in the interior, so I cooked it more slowly. There was something for all tastes from rare to well done, and every bite was delicious. If I can get fresh mint I always make a mint sauce--finely chopped mint in cider vinegar with a bit of sugar to taste, allowed to marinate overnight. If mint's not available, I buy it ready-made, but for our family it's essential with lamb.

used a 1.5 lb boneless leg. Grilled. 4 minutes per side, then another 18 minutes total on indirect heat. Came out perfectly medium rare also- used lemon zest (1 lemon) in marinade.

I like to give the lamb a little bath in red wine vinegar and/or lemon juice -- (then pour out excess and leave just the residue) before beginning the recipe. Maldon salt flakes seems perfect and particularly on the fat-side. We LOVE garlic, so I use more than prescribed, crushing it. I don't bother to chop the rosemary leaves. I'm lazy. A SUPERB, and essential recipe for lamb happiness in my world.

Check meat after 20 - 25 minutes. It was delicious but 30 minutes indirect is well done and over cooked on my Weber.

I suspect you'll have better luck if you do that in reverse: start in a low oven (I use 250F, or as low as 175F for larger cuts) and then give it a sear just before serving. I haven't tested with this particular recipe, but I have used that method on other large cuts of meat with great success. Best if you go direct from oven to the sear, but as long as you bring the meat to a safe temperature in the oven, you can refrigerate and then sear later after letting it rise to room temperature.

I didn't have access to any sort of smoking material so I used Smoked Salt, which added a subtle smoked flavor.

Add lemon and anchovy paste (mix with the olive oil and rub it all over... I promise you won't taste fish - just makes it savory.