How to cook whole lamb.

irishrog

My sister has reared 2 lambs which she plans to barbeque for a party next week. These lambs will be about 50/60 pounds when they are skinned and gutted. She plans to cook 1 in a fire pit in the ground, and has asked me to cook the other on my egg.
Is there any way I can get a whole lamb carcass into a large BGE or should I joint it into legs, shoulders and loins and cook it that way. (I have 2 large eggs to cook on if necessary.)
I could bone out the whole lamb and cook it that way, but I would prewfer to keep the pieces as large as possible.
Any inspiration will be greatly appreciated.
Greetings from Ireland, Roger

Richard Fl

They took some of the back bones out of this one. Don't forget to post some pics.

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=671131&catid=1

irishrog

I certainly will take off the head, there will be young children at the party who helped rear the lambs, "before they returned to live with the farmer who lent them to us in the first place"!!!.

James MB

My BiL does whole lamb very nicely simply split down the backbone. Not on an egg but a simple grate, probably teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but he uses a seperate fire to burn logs down to coals then shovels them under the lamb on a big grate. It's a long, hot affair but great results. Just got to be careful the cook doesn't drink too much too soon!
Think Argentine influence. Lamb is marvellous over coals and on the egg, I imagine the one on the pit will be reasonably unembellished so you may want to provide a contrast with a marinated affair as a contrast.
Good luck, I'm jealous!

irishrog

Hi James, My sister plans to cook her lamb in a pit in the ground for 24 hours. She has done plenty of research on this so I dare not interfeer. However, she does want 1 lamb cooked on the egg so she is sure of having some edible meat for the party.
I plan to put plenty of garlic cloves inside my lamb. Also lots of rosemary, thyme and mint. I may have to cook the beast in 2 halves, front and back, in my 2 eggs, but I will wait and see what I get when they are killed on Monday, and just how big they are.
I am wondering about taking out 2 rib bones, and splitting the back bone, to truss it up like the suckling pig in Richards post. It may just be a matter of making an incission between 2 rib bones to allow the lamb to fold. I will have great fun experimenting, and hopefully I will get some good photos, and I may even figure out how to post them, my computer skills dont extend much beyond typing.
Greetings from sunny Ireland, where the summer has returned, at least for a few days. Roger

emilluca

If you cut the lamb into primals and do a resturant trim it could easily fit. The shoulders would be as a bone in butt, The rib frenched, The spare rib part could be stuffed and cooked think of it as a bone in brisket. The loin and leg as a roast,
A little work but worth the time.
E