Reverse Seared Lamb

Man walks into a meat shop and walks out with a rack of lamb. He’s never cooked lamb, only had it as a child. Never ordered it at any high-end restaurant (Also never really visited any high-end restaurants, but that besides the point).

Why would I buy a whole rack of lamb (at today’s prices nonetheless) having never cooked it before? Read on, my friends.

---

Recipe

---

The Prep Table

Stopped into a local meat market because I’ve never been there before. My last guy doesn’t do it anymore, and I’m looking for a new guy. I found a small little shop and just walked around looking. John comes out from the back and asked what I wanted. Told him I’ve never cooked lamb as I was looking at some in the display.

He put his guarantee on it, took it to the back – asked if/how I wanted it cut, and told him to surprise me and do what he does best. I do this for two reasons.. he knows better than me (or should), and I like to judge the interaction. Maybe that thinking is due to my prior line of work, but either way – this was the result:

He yelled to the younger female at the counter to package it up – told me it was his daughter and we talked about it being my first time here. Told him how we don’t really get certain cuts up here in the midwest, to which he immediately mentioned picanha and tri-tip, told me to check out the freezer, he’s got them in there.

Okay, I’m in. Supporting a small family-owned business, I was happy to find this place. I’ll definitely be back! Thanks John!

For this first go, I went with another local business: LoveMI Seasonings – Fresh Herb Blend. I wanted to taste the lamb, and get a little seasoning to it, but not to overwhelm. You’ll see below, I didn’t go nuts with the dusting either, just a little bit to add to the flavor, texture, and appearance.

My go-to method with meat is the reverse sear. Before I got into smoking, I was talking to a new business owner in town who had a pricy Ribeye on the menu. I asked him what made it special, and he told me about reverse searing. Never went back.

---

The Process

I was looking to get these over 130 degrees. With the reverse sear, I smoke these at 225 degrees up to about 20ish degrees shy of the goal temp. Then I’ll throw them on the GrillGrates at a high temp (RecTeq at 475) and sear them off. Let’s get these things on there.

You’ll see that line of fat on the edge. John told me he left it on there because fat is flavor. When he said that, it took me back probably 10 years when my old work partner was cooking steaks at his place. He had this beautiful back-and-forth with his young daughter: “what is this”. “fat“. “What is fat?”. “Flavor“. It was awesome – still something I remember.

Once I got the internal to about 110 degrees, I pulled the lamb off and cranked the RecTeq up to about 475. The grates were sizzling hot, so I threw them on there. I usually get all Jess Pryles with it and keep flipping until it’s good, but I also like to minimize it (because I hate losing temp opening the lid).

It was already looking good, but then I did something a little weird:

Don’t really know what prompted me to do it, but I did it. I don’t know if it was all that necessary, but it happened and I’ll share it with you. It did render it down obviously, but I’m not upset with the decision. I think the internal was about 135 so I got to eating.

*I know I’ll hear about it, but I forgot to take a plated picture. I was getting antsy to get to eating, so I did. By the time I remembered, I was already a piece in.*

---

The Result

John told me don’t bother marinating it, it’ll melt in your mouth. I chalked it up to butcher-speak, he’s selling a product – I’m buying a product. Said it was the best lamb I’ll buy. You know how it goes.

I mean, he was right, it was the best lamb I’ve ever purchased.. it was the only one. But it was so juicy and tender. So fresh. The cut was great, the taste was great. The seasoning wasn’t much, but it was perfect because I didn’t want it to be a post about seasonings. Mary would be proud of this little lamb.

Short post, got right to it. I had a different one scheduled for today, but I know I’ll have a pile of lamb posts coming and have to spread them out. The power went out here locally so I was unable to get this typed until last night. Let me know what you think! Suggestions for the next one? Always listening!

Get these posts and recipes in your inbox – Put your e-mail below!

---

The Recipe