Abstract:

Beta recipes are my own experiments that I've only tried once. Usually palatable, they often could be better with a little tweaking - So please do, and let me know what works!



Where this household is concerned, lamb might as well come from another planet. No one here grew up eating it, and the unfamiliarity puts an unwanton stigma on this tasty critter. With that in mind, I'm working to develop lamb recipes devoid of all the things that makes lamb scary to those that don't eat it regularly. This boneless leg of lamb is completely cooked thru, yet remains moist, flavorful, and crazy-tender. If you're looking for a way to get your feet wet with lamb, this grill-friendly recipe is a great way to start.

Purpose:

Just about every time I stroll past the seafood aisle at the grocery store I begin to lament. When you get used to the notion of buying local and the lion's share of the available seafood at the market is caught hundreds or even thousands of miles away, you gotta know that quality (as well as your wallet) is going to suffer. Well, this spring I decided if I couldn't get a variety of surf, then I ought to be looking for alternatives to my turf.



We have a pretty good relationship with a ranching family that's provided us with some quality steer the last couple of years, and it just so happens they raise hogs and lamb as well. I had already procured a pig prior, but lamb - that's something I don't eat often; usually only a couple of times a year when some restaurant just happens to have it on special. In a fit of overzealousness while the wife had her back turned, I had the good people at Truitt Farms put me down for one; one whole lamb. Now, a processed lamb probably won't give you more than around 70ish pounds usable, and this probably sounds reasonable if you've got a freezer and you're stocking up for the year. However, at this very moment (dinner parties aside) I am the only person in my house that eats lamb. Thus, I've embarked into the culinary unknown flying solo. Everything is a bit new right now as I try to get my head around how to prepare this new kind of critter. So far, I've braised some shanks and grilled some chops, but with the advent of my recent grill purchase, I decided it was time to go for something bigger. So, on this particular day, I figured I'd take a crack at roasting a leg of lamb. And while there are plenty of perparations out there, I fuigured while I was at it, that I would try to cook this leg in a way that the lamb skeptics might be open to trying, so while I could have (and would have like to have) made this leg raw as hell, we're trying something a bit different this time around to see if we can't rope in a few folks that might otherwise be scared of the sheep.