Pulled Leg of Lamb Done Right

bigbeeus

Wanted to try pulled lamb shoulder but only could find a bone in leg.  So here is the setup:

5lb Bone in Leg of Lamb

2 Tbsp Olive oil

The rub recipe is one I found at smokedbbqsource.com
1 Tbsp Salt
1/2 Tbsp Dried parsley
1/2 Tbsp Dried crushed sage
1/2 Tbsp Dried rosemary
1/2 Tbsp Dried thyme
1/2 Tbsp Dried oregano
1/2 Tbsp Dried basil
1/2 Tbsp Dried crushed bay leaf
1/2 Tbsp Ground black pepper
1 Tbsp Turbinado Sugar

Setup egg for indirect cooking at 275°F with a couple chunks of Cherry
Remove topside skin and remove solid fat chunks.  They won't melt.
Coat lamb in olive oil
Sprinkle salt over lamb evenly
Apply herb rub to lamb making sure to cover it evenly
Place seasoned lamb shoulder fat side up on gril
Smoke lamb about 4 hours till temp comes up to 160 to 170
Wrap in tinfoil with drizzle of honey on foil and place fat cap down.
Start to check lamp for tenderness at 200°F  (Prob should slide in easily when done)
Mine was finally finished at about 210°F
Remove the lamb from the egg wrapped in foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes
Pull lamb and add back the juice.

We served with pita bread, humus, red onion, tomato, and taziki sauce.

johnmitchell

Sounds and looks awesome.. Love the way you served it great idea..

Sea2Ski

I love lamb, and this sounds fantastic! 

Mattman3969

Nice. 

caliking

Bookmarked. I tried this some time ago and wasn't too thrilled with how it turned out. Yours looks awesome!

Theophan

I hardly ever see lamb shoulder other than pre-sliced into steaks, but I've been afraid to try to pull lamb leg for fear it'd be kind of like pork loin as opposed to pork shoulder.

So how was the pulled lamb leg?  You didn't actually say how it was.  Was it moist?  Or did it need some moisturizing, like from your Tzatziki?  I love this idea, and might follow your example -- thanks!

TideEggHead

Yesssssss!

dmchicago

Super interesting cook. Thanks for sharing!

JohnEggGio

Looks great!  Gonna try this.

SciAggie

That looks awesome. Great minds must think alike - I smoked a bone-in leg of lamb Saturday along with pork butt and pulled it also. It was delicious as well.
I cooked mine @225. When it was about 185 degrees I liked the bark and so I wrapped in foil. I took it off when it probed tender - it was over 200 by then. I can't tell you exactly the IT. I FTC for about 2 hours. It pulled beautifully.

Toxarch

I like lamb. Never tried pulled lamb. Looks good. 

bigbeeus

@Theophan it was supper moist.  I will do it again.

Theophan

bigbeeus said:

@Theophan it was supper moist.  I will do it again.

Many thanks!  I see leg and boneless leg of lamb pretty routinely around here, but never seen a nice un-sliced hunk of shoulder.  I will plan to try that, sometime.

Thanks again!

booksw

I'm surprised by the temps you all are talking about- I am planning on grilling a butterflied leg of lamb (direct) and I was reading about temps on other threads in the 120s-130s.  Is the high temp because the aim is for it to be stringy enough to "pull"?  

jtcBoynton

The leg of lamb contains various muscle groups - shank, round, and sirloin.  The shank is the prime example of long slow braising and the sirloin is a cut typically treated as a steak and grilled. Cooking a whole leg is a compromise. 

CPFC1905

Not quite as good as OP but happy with the result.  Cook stalled for about an hour and probe was not deep enough,  so had to accelerate the finish.
Tasty and nice char/bark, cooking indirect avoided that bitter taste that you can get from the fat when it's flamed.