GrillinFool
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- May 8, 2009
- Location
- St. Louis
All three Grillin’ Fools gathered for an all day grill, chill, and photograph session for the website on a recent Saturday. It can only be described as epic. We did a wide variety of dishes that you can see here on the site, or check some more candid/behind-the-scenes pics of the process that we posted on Facebook. One of the recipes I chose to do was rack of lamb because we don’t have many posts about a meat we all love. The posts we do have seem to focus on cooking lamb racks carefully and not grill them past medium rare lest we ruin the precious, and expensive, cut of meat. Over-cooked rack of lamb is considered to be a cardinal sin in our group so you can imagine the reaction I received when I announced I was going to indirect the lamb for an hour and a half or longer. So…we’re off on an adventure into uncharted territory for this Grillin’ Fool.
The first step will be soaking the lamb in a marinade for 3-4 hours and up to overnight. I like overnight best. The ingredients are:
Marinade Ingredients:
2 eight-bone racks of lamb (excess fat trimmed) more about this later
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ cup sweet onion, chopped
10 cloves garlic, chopped
10 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves
10 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp ancho chile powder
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp hot red pepper flakes
¼ cup water
Combine all ingredients for the marinade and puree in the blender/processor (optional as I didn’t use the food processor, but doing so will awaken even more of the flavors in the marinade) and add to the lamb in resealable plastic bag coating the lamb completely and, preferably, refrigerate overnight.
Dry Rub Ingredients:
4 tbsp smoked paprika (I emphasize smoked variety for a far different flavor than non-smoked)
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp garlic salt
1 tbsp lemon pepper
Sauce/Glaze Ingredients:
¼ cup honey
½ cup of your favorite barbeque sauce (I used Blues Hog)
1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
½ jalapeno pepper, finely grated
The lamb racks are removed from the marinade and ready to be rinsed:
The lamb is patted dry before applying the dry rub ingredients:
Remember that part about trimming the excess fat? This senior citizen griller forgot to do so. No problem I’ll just do it now:
Now I have weird-looking lamb racks:
The dry rub is applied:
Love the way it turns fingers orange…reminds me of an old Cheetos joke:
Notice I’m coating the bone side first?
This is why. If the meat side was done first a lot of rub would simply end up on the cutting board because there would be a lot of surface area of the meat touching the cutting board. This way the meat side is protected from rub loss because the bend in the bones keeps the meat from the bone side propped off the board due to the concave shape of the bones. Better to lose some rubs off the short section of meat on the bone side than all along the meat side:
Now the meat side is coated:
The racks are entirely coated including ends and taken out to the grill:
Both racks are placed on Tom’s Big Green Egg which has been set up for indirect grilling at a temp of 250 degrees with a little oak wood in the coals for the smoke:
***Editor’s Note ~ For those of you that don’t have a Big Green Egg, or any other ceramic cooker like this, you are probably wondering how one can indirect grill by having the meat in the middle of the grate as in the picture above. Notice that you can’t see the coals? That’s because there’s a deflector put under the meat that shields the meat and allows the heat to pass by on the outside and out the top. On a regular grill, put the coals on one side an the meat on the other to get the same indirect effect***
I’m looking to indirect grill for an hour to an hour and a half or until the instant read thermometer reads 125. Time could vary depending on the type of grill/heat of grill.
While the lamb racks are gently grilling it’s time to make the sauce/glaze.
First, to cut the heat down, remove the white flesh and the seeds. I used the half jalepeno on the right. If you want more heat, leave the seeds and the flesh:
Here I’m trying to grate the pepper and it turns out to be quite difficult:
These jalapenos came from Tom’s freezer and aren’t ideal for this as they are a little spongy. Hint: don’t attempt to grate previously frozen jalapenos. They lose their rigidity and become rather soft and wiggly making grating difficult. I suggest using a fresh pepper for this recipe.
The garlic cloves are grated:
The grated garlic and jalapeno are added to the honey and Blues Hog barbeque sauce:
Whisk together and set aside:
Time to go check the lamb…I’m hearing a chorus of yells from the outdoor kitchen.
I rush out to see what all the commotion was about and Tom points to the thermometer. It’s only been 45 minutes and the internal temperature is 145, way past the desired 125 mark previously indicated:
Scott and Tom and our honored guests are not saying much but the looks I’m getting tell me they think I’ve really screwed this up because the next step calls for applying the sauce/glaze and grilling for another 20 minutes to caramelize the glaze. I don’t want to serve them gray lamb.
***Editor’s Note ~ Since that probe thermometer has a built in alarm, it probably would’ve been a good idea if we had set that alarm to ring at 125. Mental note for us for the next time we do one of these deals at Tom’s***
Here’s what the racks looked like. Meat pulling away from the bone but not too much:
I reinserted the probe thinking, perhaps, the probe was in contact with a bone thus yielding a hotter temp reading. Not the case, so I pulled them inside and prepared to continue with the rest of the recipe regardless of the potential consequences. Be sure to spell Fool with a capital F.
While cooling a bit inside the sauce/glaze is applied. All I can think is, “That looks really good to this old griller.”
Again, sauce bone side up first, just like with the rub:
Full steam ahead! Once the lamb racks are coated it’s back on the grill for another 20 minutes to get that glaze good and sticky. Hoping this doesn’t end in disaster:
The glazed racks of lamb are pulled from the grill. Notice a little char? That is to be expected considering the honey and sugar in the sauce:
Staying true to form the lamb racks are covered in foil and allowed to rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the juices, which are in an excited state to calm down and redistribute throughout the meat:
The racks are cut into individual lollipops and served to those in attendance. Lo and behold, the center still exhibits a bit of pink! I would call this a perfect medium:
What about taste, texture, and tenderness? It was unanimous! A definite home run! Very tender, full of flavor, and melt-in-your mouth texture. The 3-step process of marinade, dry rub, and glaze worked extremely well together.
Here’s the money shot taken on Tom’s outdoor granite counter… His outdoor kitchen is a great place to grill and chill:
The Barbaresco was great with the lamb. What is it about Italian wines and food? So good together. Also consider a spicy Zinfandel or Shiraz with this recipe. We hope you give this a try soon and share your experience with us. We understand lamb is expensive but what a great Valentine’s Day treat for your significant other! Think about it. Grilled lamb, I hope it’s snowing, along with a great red wine and red roses on the table…what a great evening!
If you have any questions or comments about either of these dishes, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.
If you would like to see lamb dishes, click here.
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