01
Choose the leg
Look for a leg with a nice fat cap and some marbling. Lamb fat is the best-tasting fat there is, but it does take smoke really well. You want a leg that is solid — not loose, like it has been running sprints.
Bone-in lamb leg
Smoked Lamb Leg
Light smoke, olive oil, lamb rub and rosemary rubbed into the whole leg, mopped with onion-soup broth, and carved standing on the bone.
- Total
- 5 h
- Hands on
- 40 min
- Serves
- 8
- Level
- Medium
The mop goes on early
Make the mop before the leg goes on and keep it beside the pit. It wants stirring each time, because the soup solids settle to the bottom between mops.
Cooking steps
02
Oil, pepper, rub, rosemary
Dry the leg off. Rub it with an even coating of olive oil, then season moderately with pepper. Follow the pepper with the lamb rub, coating the entire leg generously and gently rubbing it in — you want a nice, solid, even layer with no clumps. Then add the rosemary leaves, dispersing them evenly and gently rubbing them in as well.
Black pepperOlive oilLamb rubRosemary sprigs
035–10 min
Light the pit
Get the pit to 120°C, aiming for a light smoke of about seventy percent pecan and thirty percent oak. Let the wood burn off before the lamb goes on.
04
Light smoke, fat-cap up
Load the leg fat-cap up and watch the temperature. Every time it drops, add a little more wood and charcoal. At the three-hour mark you can add a small amount of applewood to the fire; from then on it is just pecan and charcoal the rest of the way.
05
Make the mop
Once the lamb is in the pit, combine the water and the soup mix in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring once or twice, then remove from the heat and set the mop aside until you need it.
Dried onion soup mixWater
06
Mop from two and a half hours
After about two and a half hours, if the rub is set, you can start to mop the lamb. Stir the mop each time before you use it, as the solids settle to the bottom. From then on, mop every time you open the pit — use it as an excuse to open and let some of the heat out if the pit flares up. If the heat is even, mop every hour or so.
0730 min
Take it to temperature, then rest
The lamb is done when a thermometer inserted into the centre, not touching bone, registers 70°C. Mop it one last time, then take it out of the pit and set it aside to rest.
08
Carve it standing
Hold the leg by the end of the bone with the bone pointed straight up, then cut slices straight down off it — like at a churrascaria.