SPIT-ROASTED LEG OF LAMB
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL FORM OF ROASTING, MEAT TURNING ON a spit, licked by flames, caressed by drifting smoke. There’s a reason it’s one of the most compelling visions in cooking, why people will stop and stare, mesmerized by the sight of it. It was how Homo sapiens cooked meat for two hundred thousand years (if not longer), and some have argued that it contributed to the evolution of our current selves, big-brained storytellers, the only animal that cooks food.
Spit roasting is the perfect way to cook large, tough cuts of meat, such as a big pork shoulder or, here, a bone-in leg of lamb. All you need is a spit and a place to burn wood or coal. Or, of course, a grill that comes with a rotisserie. But stand-alone rotisseries are inexpensive, and there’s no reason you couldn’t improvise a fire pit out back or set one up in front of any decent-sized fireplace. Whole hogs are often spit roasted over a low coal fire but, for the most part, spit roasting is accomplished using indirect heat, with the fire and coals beside the turning meat, and a drip pan directly below it.
I’m lucky enough to have a wife and colleague who designed a big fire pit for a side patio at our suburban castle, and I was able to buy a spit, with a rotisserie motor, just long enough to stretch from one edge to the other. I’ve found spit roasting to be such a pleasure that I can foresee bringing the practice indoors for festive winter parties. Not only is the resulting meat delicious, but a large part of the enjoyment is being able to watch it cooking, as the skin turns gradually to crisp, golden brown, with the fat frothing out of the skin and sliding over the surface as the meat turns.
The flavors of flame and smoke pair beautifully with lamb. How you want to embellish the meat is up to you and, really, secondary to this excellent and ancient roasting technique. I urge you to improvise with your own seasonings, relying on what you like and what goes well with lamb. Lots of black pepper is always a good idea and, as with beef, cracked coriander seed is excellent with lamb. And I don’t think I’d ever omit garlic when cooking lamb. You can make it spicy, with cumin and ancho chiles; you can take it in a curry direction, with curry and chili powders or the Moroccan spice ras el hanout; or you can keep it traditional, with herbs and even more garlic.
For this recipe, I salted the meat a day before cooking it, studded it with sliced garlic cloves (many of which squeezed out, horn-like, as the meat cooked and the protein contracted), and then coated it with black pepper. I cooked plenty of garlic and a bunch of fresh oregano in a cup of olive oil with which to baste the slowly turning meat, and gave it a delicate sprinkling of chopped fresh rosemary at the end. I served the lamb with roasted potatoes, roasted green beans, and a chimichurri sauce, a basic vinaigrette loaded with chopped fresh oregano, parsley, and chives.
A bone-in leg of lamb usually comes with part of the pelvis still attached to the leg bone. The lamb will be easier to carve if you remove this part before putting the lamb on the spit. You can ask your butcher to do it or simply work your knife around the bone, wiggling it to get a sense of where the ball joint is, and then cut through the ligaments holding the joint together.
I chose to cook a bone-in leg, but spit roasting works fine with a boneless leg. Simply tie it tightly using slipknots (see here)—you could spread the interior with coarse-grained mustard, garlic, and fresh herbs first—or ask your butcher to tie it for you. A general rule of thumb is that it will take about 15 minutes per pound to cook, but this depends on how hot you keep your fire, the ambient temperature, and how long you’ve let it sit at room temperature before cooking. You’ll want to rely on a thermometer to gauge when the meat is done.
1 (8- to 10-pound/3.5- to 4.5-kilogram) bone-in leg of lamb
Kosher salt
10 garlic cloves
1 cup/240 milliliters olive oil
1 bunch fresh oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
SERVES 8 TO 10
- The day before cooking, COVER the leg with a uniform layer of kosher salt and refrigerate it, uncovered. REMOVE it from the refrigerator 4 to 6 hours before you’re ready to start cooking and LET it sit at room temperature.
- TIE the lamb with 4 or 5 lengths of butcher’s string. THRUST your spit through the center of the meat, as close to the bones as possible, and PRESS the rotisserie forks into the meat to secure it.
- CUT half of the garlic cloves into thick wedges and use a paring knife to SLIDE them into the muscle all over the leg. POUR the olive oil into a small saucepan. Lightly SMASH the remaining garlic cloves and ADD them to the oil, along with the oregano, and WARM gently over medium heat to infuse the oil. ALLOW it to cool a bit and RUB some of the warm oil on the meat and then DUST the meat generously with freshly ground black pepper.
- PREPARE your fire so that you have plenty of hot coals and, behind them, flaming logs becoming embers. SET the rotisserie as close to the fire as you can. PUT your hand in front of the meat—it should be too hot to hold your hand there for long. If it’s not that hot, PUT more wood on the fire. PLACE a foil drip pan below the meat.
- COOK the lamb, basting it frequently with the oil, until a thermometer reaches 120°F to 125°F/49°C to 52°C at the thickest part of the leg, about 15 minutes per pound.
- ALLOW the meat to rest for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour before slicing.
Step 1. Removing the pelvic bone before cooking will make the lamb easier to carve.
Step 2. Baste frequently as the leg of lamb cooks over the open flames.
Step 3. When the lamb reaches an internal temperature of 120° to 125°F/49° to 52°C (for rare), it’s time to remove it from the spit.
Step 4. Allow the lamb to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes, and as long as an hour, before carving.
Step 5. To carve, secure the leg on its side.
Step 6. Carve slices with the knife parallel to the board.