Cooking a boneless butterflied leg of lamb with limitations

March 28, 2018 9:17 AM

I have a boneless butterflied leg of lamb to prepare on Easter. Upon researching how to cook this, the most recommended methods are either a grill or a broiler. I have an indoor electric grill and an electric broiler. Which should I use?

I've never tried cooking this cut of meat. I have an electric oven with an electric broiler, and my grill is one of these: Zojirushi EB-CC15 Indoor Electric Grill

Anyone have experience cooking a butterflied boneless leg of lamb by either of those specific methods, and if so would you recommend one method over the other?

posted by bananana to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

Best answer: There is no reason you need to grill or broil it. Score the inside and smear it with the herbs and spices of your choice (can't go wrong with garlic, rosemary and crushed red pepper), then roll it up, truss it, and roast it in the oven. Good explanation in this Serious Eats article.
posted by slkinsey at 9:31 AM on March 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

I wouldn't broil anything that thick. I'd do what slkinsey suggested and treat it like any other roast in the oven.

I like Alton Brown's method of smearing the insides with a paste made from mint, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper. Then roll it and cook it. He uses a grill (as do I) but an oven would be fine.
posted by bondcliff at 9:54 AM on March 28, 2018

Agree with the others. We usually do it on an outdoor charcoal grill, which is delicious, but grilled lamb causes many flare-ups.
posted by Elsie at 10:00 AM on March 28, 2018

Response by poster: If it makes a difference, the cut I have is on the smaller side, around 3-4 pounds. It is relatively flat in the package as opposed to a round roast. It looks more like the one pictured here and is American in origin.
posted by bananana at 10:59 AM on March 28, 2018

New York Times has this recipe for oven-cooked butterflied leg of lamb.
posted by anadem at 11:16 AM on March 28, 2018

If it makes a difference, the cut I have is on the smaller side, around 3-4 pounds.

Doesn't make a difference. Just roll/tie it up and roast to temperature.
posted by slkinsey at 11:53 AM on March 28, 2018

I would put a lot of garlic, mint, parsley, salt and pepper in it, roll and tie it up and broil till it is brown. Then put a lot of herbs on foil or paper, and wrap the rolled roast into the herbs and foil/paper. Then cook it very slowly (at like 100 celsius), till it is finished — you can stick a thermometer through the foil, the roast should be about 70 celsius. Let it rest for at least fifteen minutes before cutting and serving.
I haven't tried the Serious Eats recipe mentioned above, but it looks really good, too. Slow-cooking just works really well for lamb.
posted by mumimor at 12:43 PM on March 28, 2018