tender, juicy and flavoursome rack of lamb smoked and served with crispy potatoes and roasted carrots
In our book it’s hard to beat a slow cooked rack of lamb. They are amazingly tender, juicy and packed with flavour. When you add a little smoke and seasoning they go to an even higher level. With lamb racks you have the option of leaving the fat cap on and treat it as you would a pork loin and into the fridge uncovered overnight with some salt to dry out the skin. It’s then a matter of hitting the meat with a high heat for the first 20 to 30 minutes to crackle the skin and then drop the temperature in the cooker to low until the meat is done. For us that’s medium rare, 130f/54c to 135c/57f. The other option is to trim the fat and dress it in a seasoning packed with salt, herbs and spices.
In order to get the best crust to meat ratio you can cut the rack into sections of two bones prior to cooking. This way when you cut the section in half after cooking, each bone has one side beautifully browned up from the Maillard Reaction. You can take things a step further by giving the rack a quick sear at the end to really crust up the seasoning.
We’re big fans of the team over at Serious Eats and always look to them for inspiration and recipes. We regularly use their recipe for crunchy oven roasted potatoes and recently we discovered a video of theirs showing the best way to roast carrots. Both recipes are fantastic and the result… delicious!
ingredients
- rack of lamb (as many cutlets thick as you like, cooking time will be the same)
- lamb seasoning or a mix of salt, pepper and dried herbs
- potatoes
- Dutch carrots
- honey
- freshly chopped rosemary
directions
for the lamb
- Trim the fat off the lamb rack. Don’t be concerned if there’s a little bit left behind. Cut into 2-bone sections if you wish.
- Brush the lamb with a little olive oil and season. If time permits leave in the fridge for 8 hours to allow the salt to penetrate the meat.
- Fire up your cooker for indirect cooking*, aiming for 275f/135c.
- Add some wood chunks (we used pecan) and cook to your desired level of doneness. For us it’s medium rare – 130f/54c to 135f/57c.
- Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
*For a detailed discussion on indirect cooking read Meathead Goldwyn’s write up here.
for the potatoes and carrots
Our tried and true recipe for crunchy roast potatoes comes from Serious Eats. We also followed their recipe for roasted carrots…
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/12/the-best-roast-potatoes-ever-recipe.html
http://www.seriouseats.com/videos/recipes/how-to-roast-carrots-5596134690001
Plate the rack of lamb and veggies and finish off with some freshly chopped rosemary and a drizzle of honey.
For our lamb shoulder recipe click here.
