BARDSLJR

Well, the suggestion for using balsamic vinegar for the marinade was a good one. I used a 50/50 blend of the balsamic and some open red wine (syrah...."shiraz" to my Aussie friends), and some granulated onion and garlic. Marinated for about 2 hours, cooked in the Kamado for about 3 hours at 275. It was quite good, though, as my wife observed, "it doesn't taste a lot like lamb". I have to agree but I think it was this particular cut or this particular lamb. So, since I started with 6 lbs of lamb lag, I still have quite a bit left over, and suggestions would be welcome. Last night I chopped up a pound or so and reheated it with onion and bell pepper, and added some (Maya Kamal....all her products are really excellent) tikka masala sauce and finished reheating it with the sauce. It was quite excellent. Next, maybe lamb hash with onions, bell pepper and potato, finished perhaps with an egg? As we are all sheltering in place here, we have taken to finishing our day on the front porch, supervising the sunset with a good glass of wine or other pleasing adult beverages, hoisting a toast with the other neighbors out on their front porches doing the same thing. (Thank you, Herman Story vineyards and Helen Keplinger wines.). The other night, at 8PM just as it was getting really dark, the neighborhood was filled with wolf-pack-like howling, a tribute to our healthcare workers. It was quite a moment.

Great idea.

So, any suggestions for lamb boneless leg? I am thinking of marinating it this morning to start with- wine, garlic, rosemary, shallots. 6lbs.

Gorgeous. I scored a 6 1/2 pound (Australian, of course!) leg of lamb yesterday at Costco. I was going to cook it Sunday for Easter, the way my Greek-American friends in Salt Lake taught me: slits stuffed with fresh garlic, rosemary, and brushed and basted with olive oil and lemon juice. But......if you can believe (it is 70 and warm today) it will be 22 and snowing almost 5" on Sunday, so I think the cook will be for tomorrow. Will take pictures and let you know.

Lovely and very helpful! I knew my Aussie friends would have opinion on lamb. 😃

So here I am, with all this extra time on my hands, looking for things to do other than rowing and running (truth to be told, walking, because I have teensy little back problem at the L4....but nevermind, this is not the orthopaedic forum) , watching insanely good programming on Netflix and Amazon, and drinking far too much good wine.... And Easter is coming up. And I have this insanely well-designed and preposterously well-built smoker....Okay I've done lots of pork shoulders in the past. TONS of babyback ribs. Some VERY good brisket, after I got the hang of it. So I am thinking...how about a roast of lamb shoulder or something? I know I've seen it at Costco. If it's anything like pork, it should be near impossible to screw up on the Kamado. Any recommendations for methodology, temperature, cooking time, technique? I would think that if I can do serviceable brisket (I can, now after totally destroying four or five) , I can lamb.....surely. PS...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Kamado. Thank you, Mr. Linkletter.....

I let it dry to three hours and put on a second coat, just for safekeeping. It added a little more depth, but the most striking change was with the first application. I think we're good until maybe late summer, now.

And here's latest, after applying some of Boo's Block Cream, which has really made a significant improvement. I think maybe one more application after this is thoroughly dried....

Here's the before and after, using a natural Dutch oil application. I was pleased with the results, and the wood should be protected now for a year or so.

Nice! It will be interesting to see the side by side when done. I see you are replacing necessary vital fluids, too. Always a good thing to stay hydrated!

Wow, that's beautiful! I hope mine turns out as well! Hope to be able to post results Sunday...today it's 29* , sleeting /snowing and overcast. It will be 70 and sunny Sunday....typical Denver April!

Will do. I was going to do them tomorrow but it looks like the weather is bad Thursday-Friday so , since I want to do the sanding outside, will probably post sometime later this summer.

I could post pictures of the duck/andouille gumbo I am doing later this week, but I do not think it would be as impressive.....thank you, Lafayette, Louisiana.

One could do that, and I love vegetables, too, but somehow I think showing up with a plate of smoked, grilled eggplant (yum!) would not have the same salutory effect.

I usually use apple, or a combination of fruitwoods- apple, cherry and pecan being the most frequent. And yes, I am a big fan of Meathead and have read his book cover to cover. I love the fact that he uses real science to demystify, and demythologize, so much of what passes for accepted fact in the food and barbecue world.

Yup, I know that, thanks. Glad you approve.....

That's a great insight, and makes sense, since we know the meat stops absorbing smoke when the surface temperature reaches 135*.....and wife says maybe if I went with a lighter application of rub (usually Dizzy Pig's Dizzy Dust, which I apply liberally and let it soak in and dry-marinate the meat) maybe they meat would absorb more of the smoke. So we'll be trying that next time, too.

No, that's good insight. It somehow also explains why I am not getting as much smoke flavor as I think I ought to for cooks like the babyback ribs. Less air coming through means less turbulence passing over the surface the meat, ergo, less penetration of the smoke. Hmmmm....maybe I will start experimenting with the type of wood or the blends of woods that I might be using. Typically, I am doing pork ribs, so I use a fruitwood, mostly apple. Sometimes cherry, sometimes both. Maybe I will start moving more towards oak and pecan, which are both, to my taste, heavier smoke tasting. Maybe hickory?

I have heard before that many members do not feel that they need to keep the humidity up, and certainly the big professional cookers in places around Austin, who make some really magnificent products, don't have pans of water in their 1,000 gallon propane tank smokers. It may not be necessary, strictly speaking. But we live in Denver, and average humidity levels are extremely low here: if it goes up as high as 40 percent, we look at the sky and wonder when the rain will start. So I will do everything I can to ensure that my ribs are done tender and juicy, including spraying them with water once or twice an hour and wrapping them for hour 3 of their 4 hour cook (the old 2/1/1 method for babyback ribs).

Aww, man. Thank you.

Thanks "mate", and hope to get down there and visit with you and my Aussie distant relatives, who I think are fairly famous motorcycle racers....Have always felt a connection with my Aussie and Kiwi mates down there.

Well folks, I don't know where you are, but here in Denver we are on pretty strict lock-down and self quarantine. My Fitness Center and my Tennis Club are closed for at least the next 60 (probably 90, maybe more) days. We are in self--imposed house arrest, rapidly discovering which liquor stores deliver and how to use Instacart. But you know, since you can't sit on the porch and have a glass of wine with your friends and neighbors, you still want to reach out and have some sense of communion and community. And you have to DO SOMETHING with your time, right? So, okay, today I made babyback ribs and sauce for all my neighbors up and down the streets: it gave me something to do between noon and 6PM, and I have a half-dozen or so very appreciative friends and neighbors. So I don't consider barbecue a solo sport or activity, and maybe in these trying times your friends and neighbors would appreciate reaching out with the gift of smoked meat and such. The before and after, shown below. Also my "mother" bbq sauce recipe- I never make this exactly the same way twice, but this is the base I start with. Johnny Harris BBQ sauce- Jim's version Feb 2007.doc

Gorgeous! Looks just like mine except I have the side tables.

I got a bronze 32" from Dennis about a year ago and absolutely love it. I can do 9 racks of babyback ribs or 6 to 8 pork shoulders or at least 6 briskets, if I wanted to do that many. My last two briskets have been maybe just short of magnificent...I just followed the exact recommendations from Aaron Franklin in his book and the Master Class video (yes, I had pink butcher paper already). Today I did 9 babybacks and distributed them up and down the block to grateful neighbors and my daughter/son-in-law's household. I've done some really great beef chuck ribs- my daughter says they are a perfect compromise between brisket and chuck roast. You are well to ask about decrating and moving the 1600-lb 32" Big Boy. I had to create a makeshift plywood ramp to get mine from where it was delivered in the alley and up to the back patio- about a 6" rise over 6'. I would recommend you unpack VERY slowly and carefully, as there are not a lot of instructions. Similarly, a lot of the assembly is DIY without a great deal of instructions, but eventfully you figure it out and then, in retrospect, it's a head-slapper. It is difficult to get a 1600 pound weight rolling from a state of inertia- I was lucky and two of my neighbors showed up to help- but once you get it rolling,it is not a big problem to place it where you want it. Please feel free to write back if I can be of any help, and get prepared to enjoy!

I got a big pack of disposable aluminum bake trays (24?) that are probably 18" x 24" or so. Maybe 12"x 18". Fill them 3/4's " full of water to keep the humidity in the smoker up and they double as a fat/grease catcher. I can usually use one two or three times.