Actually Alexa I have had smoked leg of lamb. My DIL's mother was born in Iceland. Smoked leg of lamb is her go-to meal for large extended family get-togethers.

She smokes over oak (probably 'cause it's readily available). The lamb is simply prepared - rubbed with olive oil, minced garlic, S/P then smoked. For the last couple hours she adds several rosemary branches & covers everything up with sliced lemons.

I think the simple preparation is why it's so good. I don't have an exact weight but, I know she puts it on to smoke very early & we usually eat around 5:00 p.m. They're in Maine.

Personally, I wouldn't do a dry rub. IMO, it's a simple, homey meal with a simple preparation.

I don't even like lamb & I think it's good.

/tricia

Never had a "smoked"....as in long slow cooked with smoke, leg of lamb....but I am sure it's heaven.
But I sure have had leg of lamb grilled with some wet hickory chips on the side.
I'll bet it would be best bone in and I'll bet an "older" lamb would do very well slow smoked.
Do it!!! then tell us about it!!

I remember that Netla mentioned smoked lamb as an Icelandic thing. I'd never heard of it and was very curious. I can't imagine the taste. Didn't know you could do it yourself in a day as Tricia describes; I thought of it more like ham.
I'm eager to hear how it turns out, Alexa. I love lamb.

Triciae - thanks for the affirmation that one can smoke it like I would a pork shoulder, etc. I am definitely going to try this.

Cloudy, to be honest, the recipe in the cookbook IS for a smoked lamb leg that is more like what we would think of as a commercially smoked country ham, but when I googled it I came up with the above link and thught that sounded pretty good too. I think I will be swinging up to the local pork farm/store where they do smoke their own hams to see if they might smoke a lamb leg for me at some point. It sounds like a fun experiment!

Thanks again for the advice!

Alexa

I was thinking of smoking the lamb in the same way you would do a Boston Butt on a home grill. Smoked shanks would also be wonderful...I think.

If you smoke lamb, what internal temperature do you aim at? When I do a leg in the oven, I want the inside to be pink, about 140F. At this temperature the lamb is nicely juicy but tender.

But if I'm smoking meat in the smoker, like pork shoulder or brisket, I'm aiming for a much higher temperature when collagen starts to break down, about 160-180F. Below this, the meat has a lot of connective tissue which makes it chewy or even gristly. At that temperature the lamb would be thoroughly cooked.

Cheryl

If I were smoking a lag of lamb...I would aim for the higher temp. Otherwise it's just leg of lamb with some smoke on the grill.

For the first time, I will probably follow the advice on the link I posted:

"When Is Lamb Done?
Lamb is best when served at medium-rare(145� F) to medium(160�F) in doneness. Remove the smoked leg of lamb from the smoker or grill when its internal temperature reaches a temperature 5 to 10 degrees under your target done temperature. The temperature will rise 5 to 10 degrees as the meat rests for 20 minutes (a must-do step) before slicing and serving."

Alexa

Alexa - please post your results. We love lamb and eat it regularly. For some reason we've never smoked it. Goat, yet, but never lamb. The goat leg we smoked turned out to be very chewy. The only way to eat it was to slice it very thinly in small pieces, a bit like shaved beef.

Cheryl