The first cut of our Tangle Ridge Ranch lamb that we cooked was a whole leg roast.

There is nothing quite like roasting large joints of meat and carving them tableside.  A bit of pageantry with dinner.

A down and dirty recipe:

Roast Lamb Leg

• 1 whole lamb leg
• garlic, minced
• thyme, minced
• rosemary, minced
• kosher salt
• coarse ground black pepper

1. Trim the leg: remove the fell, clean the meat from the shank bone, and trim back the fat to an even, thin (1/8″) layer.  For detailed instructions on trimming up a whole lamb leg to make a roast, see this post.
2. Score the fat in a diamond pattern, with about 1″ between each slice.
3. Rub the leg with the herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Put the lamb on a wire rack on a sheet pan or roasting tray and let stand in the fridge for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.
4. Roast the leg at 450°F until the outside is crusty but the inside is still pink, maybe 45 minutes.  A temperature probe should read about 125°F when you pull the leg.  As the lamb is fatty, and the oven at such a high temperature, the roasting is a pretty smoky affair.  Actually we set the smoke alarm off a few times while cooking.  (We joked about calling this preparation “Five Alarm Lamb Leg”…)  But, if you want a crust with great colour and flavour, it’s a necessary evil.

This is fantastic lamb, with a surprisingly delicate flavour.  Some photos, courtesy of Kevin Kossowan:

Lamb Leg Calculation

Weight of Whole Leg x Bone Ratio x Salt Ratio = Salt

Bone Ratio: 0.8

Salt Ratio: 0.015

Example Recipe

• 2190 g lamb leg
• 26 g kosher salt
• 25 g garlic confit
• 7 g herbs
• black pepper