Spring lamb is wonderful and a real seasonal treat. What better way to cook it than on the BBQ, but lamb is easy to get wrong. One of the main issues I see is either not enough heat to crisp up the skin, or too much smoke. Over-smoked lamb isn’t great; I go very subtle and just a very slight cherry or silver birch smoke, a single chunk or half a handful of wood chips is more than enough. But mostly I cook with charcoal only, or over silver birch embers.

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb

4 garlic cloves cut into slithers

2 sprigs of rosemary

Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. I went for no smoke just some good quality lumpwood charcoal, and set my BBQ of choice, the PK 360 charcoal grill, up for smoke roasting at about 180-200°C, closing the top vent over the coals to get a good heat flow over the leg of lamb. 

2. Stud the leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, and season with sea salt and coarse black pepper. 

3. Insert a probe from the Meater Block to make sure the temperature is spot on, cooking to 65°C internal temperature. The total cooking time is about an hour and a half. 

4. Allow to rest well for 20 to 30 minutes.