Spit roast lamb might be a challenging procedure, but with with planning, patience, and preparation, any home cook can do it.
Choose your lamb.
You must be aware of the size of lamb you need. Per guest, a good rule of thumb is one kg of meat. This might seem like a lot, but even after cooking shrinkage, trimming, and bone removal, there is still more than enough for everyone.
Seasoning
Once your lamb is in place, it has to be seasoned. Lamb meat doesn’t require a lot of seasoning, although olive oil, lemon, mint, basil, oregano may be useful additions. You can use any herbs and spices you like to give the meat the flavours you want.
One technique is to apply the olive oil on the lamb a few days before soaking the lemons and spices in it. This allows the herbs’ flavours to meld into the oil. You can do this while you wait to buy the lamb so that the oil will be ready to use when you do.
Stuffing the lamb with onions, garlic, and/or lemon and closing it with strong cotton thread is another option to enhance flavour. The only preparation necessary for the lemons, garlic, or onions is to cut them in half. Skins from onions and garlic don’t need to be removed.
Roasting
You need a place that is 2 feet tall or more, bigger than the standard home barbeque unit, to spit roast lamb. For cooking, you’ll need a bigger barrel grill or rotisserie. If spit roasting a lamb is not something you do frequently, you might want to look into renting one for the day. Costs on these vary, but neither is inexpensive.
Patience is necessary in this situation. Spit roasting a lamb can take anywhere from 4-6 hours, depending on size, once it is on the spit. To ensure that the interior and exterior of the lamb cook at the same time, it must be roasted at a low temperature. If the temperature is too high, the outside will fry and burn before the inside is fully cooked. Spit-roasted lamb is best prepared low and slow. For added flavour while cooking, baste the lamb with your marinade mixture.
While spitting roast lamb takes some time, the flavour is well worth the effort. After trying the smokey, juicy meat for the first time, you could start cooking spit roast lamb for all of your special occasions.
