from Sublime Smoke by Cheryl and Bill Jamison
Serves 8 or more
The night before you plan to smoke the lamb, prepare the paste. In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients except the oil and the lamb, and process to combine. With the processor running, pour in the oil and continue processing until a paste forms.
Spread the lamb generously with the paste, inside and out. Place the lamb in a plastic bag and refrigerate it overnight.
*Alternatively, this works fantastic if you freeze it at this point for later cooking.
Bring your smoker to the appropriate cooking temperature. Remove the meat from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 45 minutes.
Transfer the lamb to the smoker. Cook the lamb until the internal temperature of the meat is 150ºF, or medium-rare, about 30 minutes per pound at a cooking temperature of 225º to 250ºF.
Remove the lamb from the smoker and let it sit for 10 minutes. Slice the lamb and serve it warm or chilled, with a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, and a generous sprinkling of paprika and mint.
Technique Tip: Lamb taste best when it’s lightly smoked, so go easy on the amount of wood you use. If you are cooking a leg of lamb or other large cut in a log-burning pit, wrap the meat in foil after the first hour.
**We used a boneless, 3-pound leg of lamb. Andy untied it and we smeared the paste on it, then placed it in the freezer. When we needed it, we placed it in the fridge overnight to thaw, and then finished the thawing for 2 hours on the counter. He smoked it by putting it on the charcoal grill over indirect heat, and used maple to lightly smoke it. Our lamb was done in 1 1/2 hours, but next time he will take it off when the thermometer registers 145ºF, as we found the lamb lost all it’s pink color when cooked to 150º- likely because we left it untied.