Simple Authentic Greek Spit Roast Lamb Recipe
In this blog, I’ll go over one of my favourite recipes for roasting a whole lamb on a charcoal spit, which my father employed when cooking for Easter, his birthday, or any other special occasion. Nothing is measured precisely, and the ingredients are combined based on intuition and experience. We did our best to provide ratios that we believed tasted the finest, but feel free to change numbers to your liking.
Roasting a whole lamb on a spit roaster is a cultural ritual that appears to be expanding throughout Australia. A whole lamb is an excellent choice for a medium-sized party because it tastes fantastic and creates a visual spectacle for everyone to enjoy.
Spit Roast Lamp Recipe Ingredients:
- 2 sprigs of rosemary for basting
- 17kg (approximately) whole lamb
- Olive oil
- 200g salt
- 100g pepper
- 50g cumin
- 50g oregano
- 15 garlic cloves (crush 10 and slice 5 into quarters)
- 3 large crushed onions
- Rosemary sprigs for the cavity
Spit Roast lamp Basting Recipe
- 2 sprigs of rosemary for basting
- Basting mixture:150ml lemon juice, 250ml olive oil
Method:
- To help the spices stick to the surface, lather the outside of the lamb with olive oil.
- Combine all of the dry ingredients and evenly sprinkle them throughout the lamb, both inside and exterior. While seasoning the cavities, use a heavy hand.
- Fill the stomach cavity with crushed onions, garlic, and rosemary.
- Make small cuts in the legs and other thick portions of the meat and insert the garlic cloves, sliced.
Have a look at our previous blog post on how to marinate a whole lamb.
How to Prepare a Whole Lamb for a Spit Rotisserie
Attaching it to the spit:
- A skewer at least 1300mm long, 2 large prongs, 1 back brace, 2 leg brackets, stainless steel wire, and a basting brush are required.
- Insert the skewer through the lamb’s front and back cavities.
- Pierce the back brace around the lamb’s spine so that the U shape of the back brace straddles the skewer, spine, and flat plate on the animal’s back.
- One large prong should be inserted through each set of legs.
- Bend the legs to fit inside the V shape of the leg brackets and secure them with wire.
- Stitch up the stomach cavity with wire or a needle and thread to keep the onion juices in.
- If the lamb’s neck is particularly long, I recommend tying it down with wire; otherwise, it will burn.
- When the lamb is properly secured to the skewer, it is time to place the entire lamb on a spit.
- To guarantee even cooking, make sure the animal is balanced. Take a look at our page to learn how to balance the lamb correctly
Basting:
- Baste the animal every 20-30 minutes with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, and salt, if desired, to keep it wet on the outside. When you apply the basting mixture, be careful because it will flare up when it drips into the hot coals.
How to cook a Whole Lamb on a Spit Rotisserie
Cooking time for a whole lamb on the spit:
Several things may affect your cooking time; but, to be on the safe side, allow 5 hours. If it’s ready early, you can always push the BBQ charcoal to the side and raise the lamb to the top of the spit roaster to keep it warm but not cooking. Test the internal temperature of the fleshiest area of the meat (the legs) using a cooking thermometer; once it reaches 75 degrees, you know it’s cooked.
Believe me when I tell you that once you’ve grilled a whole lamb on a spit, you’ll never be happy with a simple leg of lamb in the oven again!
When it comes to prepping the lamb and, more importantly, carving the lamb, I strongly suggest using a large carving tray to sit the animal in. This will capture all of the liquids during carving so you can pour them all over the meat once it’s carved, and it will also make clean-up much easier.
