BBQ23/17: Hay Smoked Lamb Rumps
I spotted this recipe for Hay Smoked Lamb Rumps in Rich Harris’s book and remembered James from Cabrito Goat had used hay for smoking during #Goatober so was keen to give it a try.
The lamb rumps were from Turner & George and cost £11 for 2x 250g. The lamb was quite interesting as it was very flat out of the packet and pictures of lamb rump I have seen before looked thicker/taller.
The recipe includes a white onion puree and a salsa verde, I wasn’t organised enough to make either of these so followed the recipe for the lamb rumps and cooked some roast potatoes (Kenji recipe again) and some peas to go with it.
I took the lamb out the fridge half an hour before I was going to cook it, lightly scored the fat and rubbed some Maldon sea salt over the meat/fat.
Charcoal of choice for this cook was Birch from Oxford Charcoal which they say has a sweet, almost minerally flavour profile. They also say they feel sad if people cook lamb with anything else!
Once the charcoal was ready I put the lamb on the grill to cook directly for around 4 minutes, turning it frequently until it was golden brown. Using my welders gloves I then lifted the whole grill (with meat on) off the bbq and placed 2 large handfuls of damp hay into the charcoal.
- A note on the hay. I got it from a pet shop, make sure and get hay for feed rather than bedding hay as it will have been washed. Matt from Oxford Charcoal has offered to send me some hay he is testing on my next order so I will redo this recipe when I have some.
Once the hay took light it was very smoky but it smelt great! (Yes, I had better clean my bbq soon!)
I was aiming for medium rare and used the iGrill to keep track of the internal temperature aiming to take it off between 60c and 65c. At 62c I took the meat off and left it to rest for 5 minutes.
Interestingly, the lamb rumps appears to have pumped themselves up and looked taller/thicker than before they went on. There must be a scientific reason for this but I am not sure what it could be!
As always, I held my breath as I sliced the meat open hoping to see a good bit of pink:
I really enjoyed this meal. I haven’t had lamb rumps very often before but they were really tasty and good value for money. The hay smoke was great, quite a different taste to the usual wood smoke and I would look to use hay again in future.
Nothing really to change on this recipe as it’s quite simple. I would get better organised to make the white onion puree and salsa verde next time!