Rack of lamb...YUM!

DavidHall

After Saturday's excellent pizza, I cooked a rack of lamb for our Easter dinner. This was some of the tastiest lamb I have ever had in my life. (For those of you in the Raleigh-Durham area of NC, I got the lamb at Fowler's in Durham.)[p]A couple of hours before cooking, I seasoned the lamb with salt, freshly ground pepper, and dried herbes de provence. I then dotted the meat with fresh garlic. I cooked the lamb on a roasting rack over a small pan. We are fortunate to have lots of rosemary growing in our yard. I soaked several sprigs of rosemary in water and laid them on the roasting rack, so the lamb was actually resting on steaming rosemary as it cooked.[p]I started out at 450 and then dropped the temp to 400. I tossed in just the tiniest handful of applewood for some smoke. The lamb was done after about 25 minutes, with an internal temp of 127. It was deliciously rare. [p]We served the lamb with oven-roasted potatoes (not done on the Egg) and green beans with almonds. To lend some color to the plate, I warmed up some grape tomatoes and then rolled them briefly in the rosemary-infused drippings in the drip pan. We drank a 1999 Woodcutter's Red from Torbreck (Australia), a gorgeous (if kinda pricey) hearty wine, perfect with the lamb.[p]It was an excellent Easter dinner!

The Naked Whiz

DavidHall,
Welcome fellow member of the Triangle Ceramic Charcoal Cooker Association. You would make member number 4, as far as I can tell! :-)[p]TNW

djm5x9

David:[p]If I may suggest, next time do the racks direct with the potatoes and tomatoes on the grill. The potatoes can be started about thirty minutes before the racks go on. The tomatoes about fifteen minutes after the lamb hits the grill. Brush the potatoes and tomatoes with olive oil and season as you like.[p]Your description has me thinking about racks of lamb for one evening next week!

DavidHall

The Naked Whiz,[p]Thank you for the welcome.[p]As you know, we had some fierce thunderstorms roll through Sunday afternoon and evening. Fortunately, my Egg is under a covered, well ventilated porch, but there I was in the driving rain with lightning all around, babysitting my precious rack of lamb. :-)

DavidHall

djm5x9,[p]You know, I tried to roast potatoes in my Egg a couple of months ago while roasting a chicken. The chicken was wonderful, but I ended up with a roasting pan full of carbon with a few pieces of potato. LOL[p]I know it can be done, and I'm sure the potatoes are excellent on the Egg. I only got my Egg last Christmas, though, and I still need more practice. Since this was a holiday meal, I wimped out and did the potatoes in the oven, where I feel more confident of the results :-)

Unknown

DavidHall,
How big was the lamb rack that you cooked? I would like lamb cooked rare also but so far have not had any luck! We cooked two boneless legs from Australia and they were kinda overdone and dry. And I had marinated them overnight in olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, and garlic. Have two racks in my freezer but will wait to cook them until I can find out just how long per pound one should cook them on the "Aig".

djm5x9

Muthah:[p]You need a meat thermometer or polder thermometer to help you determine "ready".

DavidHall

Muthah,[p]The rack I cooked had eight chops.[p]The temps and timing were based on a recipe I found in _The New James Beard_. Basically, I heated the Egg up to 450 and put the meat in on a roasting rack, fat side down. After 15 minutes or so, I knocked the temp down to 400 and flipped the meat over to fat side up. [p]Beard says a rack should take 20 to 27 minutes for rare meat, with an internal temp of 125 to 130. I use my instant-read meat thermometer religiously, and I pulled the rack when the temperature was 127.