128/18 – Ooni Pro Hogget Chops:
One of my favourite cast iron cooks on the Ooni 3 was a lamb chop dish. With a full hogget delivered the week before and a night on my own it was time to recreate it but this time it was Ooni Pro Hogget Chops.
The Meat:
The best quality and best tasting lamb I have eaten is from Briggs Shetland Lamb. The lambs spend their days on a rough pasture croft on the island of Shetland. The breed is naturally smaller with a finished lamb weighing 8kg to 14kg compared to other breeds at 17kg to 22kg. Richard compares his lambs to Oranges and Tangerines, the smaller ones are juicier!
The hogget was 18 months old and cost me £100 fully butchered and delivered. If you live in Scotland Richard might be able to deliver it in person on his way to the restaurants in Glasgow and Edinburgh. If you live further away you can order through Fresh Food Express who will courier the meat to you.
In the box:
- 2 leg joints which include the chump
- 2 racks of rib chops (Not French trimmed)
- 2 racks of loin chops
- 2 shoulder joints
- Neck
- and pieces of flank
Loin chops were selected for this cook.
The Prep:
When I visited Ooni HQ recently Kristian gave me one of the new Ooni Grizzler pans. It’s a heavy pan and looks really high quality.
31cm x 16cm, made from cast iron and features a griddle style cooking surface to add grill marks to your cook. Also good for meat and veg.
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Also available direct from Ooni for £27.50 plus delivery.
I sliced the loin into chops. When you look at the bottom of the joint you can see small circles, put your big knife through the lamb at this point. It will cut through easily and save you using a cleaver to get through the bone.
Missing my holiday in Greece the rub for the cook could only be Big Phat Greek by Angus & Oink. £6 for 100g from the online shop.
Generously rubbed!
Time to Cook:
The Ooni Pro was fired up with Charcoal and Oak chunks using my standard technique – see the Ooni Blog here:
The cast iron dish was put in the Ooni Pro for 5 minutes to warm up then the lamb was placed on top. Every couple of minutes I rotated the dish or flipped the lamb. The handle on this dish was great as it actually allowed you to pull the dish out and carry it. On my cheaper cast iron sizzler dishes the handle is useless and I have to use welding gloves to move the dish!
After around 8 minutes the hogget was at 65C so I took it off. The smell was unbelievably good!
SUMMARY:
Every once in a while you cook something that just blows you away. It gives you a happy feeling in your stomach and you spend a few hours thinking about the dish afterwards. This was one of those dishes! The lamb smelt so good from the Big Phat Greek rub. The hogget was incredibly soft and tender, so easy to cut and chew. The crust from the cast iron was really nice also.
As I mentioned above, the Grizzler dish is really high quality. Far better than the cheap ones I used before. I will need to get another one to double my cooking capacity on the Pro!
If you haven’t cooked lamb in a cast iron dish in your Ooni oven yet then please do it soon, it’s incredible!
| Cook Difficulty: | 2/5 |
| Cook Duration: | Short: 2/5 |
| Cook Equipment: | Ooni Pro |
| Cook Method: | Grizzler |
| Charcoal: | Oxford Charcoal Oak and Oak chunks |
| Smoking Wood: | Oak Chunks |
| Cook temperature: | 500C+ |
| Cook time: | 10 minutes |
| Internal temperature: | 65C (Thermapen) |
| Notes: | Wouldn’t really change much except cook more of it next time! |
The Big Phat Greek rub from Angus & Oink is £6 for 100g. You can buy it by clicking the picture below:
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