Had a few friends over last night for the GoT finale, tried to think of something fitting to make for dinner so I ended on a leg of lamb. Went to the butcher and got a beautiful ~6lb leg, bigger than my stock pot so it gave me a legitimate excuse to break out the big tub. I made a spice rub
similar to this, although I toasted all of them on a pan before using. I took out the leg, cut around the tip of the bone to make frenching it easier, scored the fat (although not as deep as it should have been) then rubbed it down with half the spice blend. I put a few dashes of liquid smoke in a big vac bag, put the leg in then sealed.
Cooked this for 25 hours at 131* then took it out, patted it down and loaded it up with the rest of the spice blend (althought I added black sesames and a little coffee for the last application, didn't want those flavors permeating but thought they would help make a good crust). I propped it up on a ball of foil and finished in the oven at 450* for 30 minutes.
This thing turned out stunning, better than I could have hoped for. I let it rest about 10 minutes then carved the leg, everything was cooked perfectly. Naturally once I was done I picked up the leg and gnawed at the meat left on the bone. I made a little sauce with the bag juice and some balsamic vinegar, but honestly it didn't need it. My friend's mother came over for dinner as well, she said she hadn't had lamb since she was 10 because she thought she hated it, but after trying this she said she must never had it cooked correctly, because she loved it and would have it again. Even my friend's 5yo daughter was eating it up. Definitely a success I hope to do again sometime soon
