These grilled lamb recipes range from the simple and obvious, to the more adventurous. For the most part though, lamb is a great meat that has tons of its own, unique flavor which lends it perfectly to simple grilling recipes that just let the meat shine, accented by a few fresh natural ingredients. Some people find the slight gaminess of lamb a bit off-putting but others celebrate its unique flavor.
A couple tips on grilling lamb: First, the strong flavor of lamb is great on its own, but some simple accompaniments can really make it shine. Some of the classic grilled lamb ideas come from the Mediterranean coast, particularly southern France and Italy. Practically any fresh herb that grows wild in those areas is a great accent to the flavor of lamb. Garlic, rosemary, thyme, savory, oregano you can’t go wrong.
Second, there is a duality to lamb. Lamb is great just barely cooked, still pink in the middle, like a good medium rare steak. It is also excellent cooked slowly over hours until it is so tender it is literally falling apart. This technique is used often in lamb stews, tagines, Indian lamb curries, etc. But lamb has trouble between these two extremes. If you cook it too much, but not slow-cooked for hours, it gets quite hard, tough and leathery quickly. So for most grilled lamb recipes, shoot for a medium rare doneness where the outside is nice and seared and the inside is still pink and juicy. The timing of this will obvious vary considerably depending on the cut of lamb you are cooking. A small loin chop will cook pretty quickly while a whole, bone-in leg of lamb will take even a couple hours (depending on its size and your cooking temperature) to get to the point that the innermost parts are medium rare.
Check back soon because I try to add new grilling recipes often!
If you want to learn how to cook a leg of lamb, roast leg of lamb is a classic French leg of lamb recipe which is succulent and delicious. Here, I will describe and demonstrate cooking leg of lamb on a fire pit rotisserie which is one of my favorite ways to cook it, not … Read more
Here is a grilled rack of lamb recipe that I threw together recently and turned out beautifully. Rack of lamb is one of the most elegant and refined cuts of lamb. Not as gamey as leg of lamb, it has a juicy, succulence and tender texture which is absolutely delicious. Even my wife who doesn’t normally love … Read more
This lamb leg roast recipe, known as Gigot à la Ficelle in France, is a classic Provençal (an area in the South of France on the Mediterranean Sea) recipe. It is a primitive way of cooking a leg of lamb, right in front of your hearth fireplace! The leg hangs on a string and slowly spins, acting … Read more
This is a simple, classic Southern French grilled lamb chops recipe. The combination of fresh rosemary, garlic and the slight gaminess of the lamb marry beautifully with the smoky, rich flavors you get from the grill. By the way, in case you don’t know, Provençe is a region in Southern France, right on the beautiful … Read more
This grilled leg of lamb recipe is one of my favorites. It is so simple yet the flavors are classic southern French and the natural savory flavor of the meat is left to shine. This was inspired by Richard Olney’s description of how Lulu Peyraud sometimes cooked a leg of lamb, but she did it … Read more
This is another simple but delicious grilled lamb chop recipe. Like the Grilled Provençal Lamb Chops it is traditional Southern French in flavors, but this can go with any grilled meal. Because so little goes into it, great, fresh raw ingredients are the most important part to making it perfect. I cook it over firewood … Read more
This red-wine roast venison recipe is one of my favorites I’ve made recently. It was adapted from a Barolo (a red wine from Northern Italy) beef recipe I found in the great cookbook “Trattoria” by Patricia Wells. I recommend that book for a lot of recipes in there as well, so check it out. I … Read more