Smoked Leg of Lamb Gyros

A perfect storm came together in the last few months that facilitated some experimentation with the smoker.  Number one, Costco over stocked on lamb for Easter.  The week after, they had a whole case filled with boneless legs of lamb at $4.99/lb.  Their mistake was our gain.  I snatched up one for our freezer at home.  In hindsight, I should have grabbed a few.  Number two, Hope went out of town for the weekend.  So, the menu was wide open.  Lamb falls in Hope's "too cute to eat category" and I take advantage of the times she is gone to eat from the forbidden list.  That's just more for me.

Last year I prepared a rack of lamb for me and The Youngest to devour.  This year I was looking for something different.  My choice was a smoked leg of lamb gyro.

First, I prepared an injection for my lamb.

"Greek" Style Lamb Injection

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup brine from the olive jar
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic, diced fine. I also ran the spices through my coffee grinder to make them fine. I injected and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day I prepared a rub to season the leg of lamb further.

"Greek" Style Lamb Rub

1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper run through the spice grinder to make fine.

I massaged some olive oil onto the surface of the lamb and coated liberally, making sure to apply the rub to all of the cracks and crevasses in the meat.  Then, I let the lamb sit on the counter top to come to room temperature.

I was going for pulled. so I smoked at 250 with grape wood as was intending to take the leg to 195 F internal temperature.  But, it was late when I started smoking the lamb and by 7 pm I was ready to gnaw my arm off.  So, when the lamb was at 165 F internal temperature I abandoned the pulled lamb idea. I removed the leg from the smoker, let rest for 20 minutes, then sliced.

I made some homemade tzatziki sauce and served with onion, tomato and spring mix. The bread was store bought pita flat bread. Believe it or not, 30 seconds in the microwave between two damp paper towels and it was just like a gyro store pita.  Soft and chewy.

Oh yeah, this is what I was looking for, a high quality gyro made with smoked lamb.  Much better than your "Elephant Leg" mystery meat.  The next time the store puts lamb on sale, I will have to be sure to pick up more to make these in the future.  

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill