Whole Lamb Spit Roast Recipe
I’ll share with you in this blog post an all-time favourite recipe for a spit roast lamb that we use every time, and everyone loves it. It’s a recipe used by my father for every occasion in each year – Easter, Christmas, or any other event he wanted to impress, and he never failed. Our family has gathered together and bonded a lot with this lamb on the spit recipe, and we now hope that it will also help you create long-lasting memories with family or friends.
Ingredients:
- Olive oil for lathering the lamb
- 17kg (approximately) whole lamb
- 200g salt
- 100g pepper
- 50g cumin
- 50g oregano
- 15 garlic cloves
- 3 large crushed onions
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- Basting mixture: 150ml lemon juice, 250ml olive oil
Like the other recipes, you can always adjust these ratios to suit your taste as this is only a guide..
Procedure:
- Lather your lamb lightly with olive oil if it is dry so all the spaces will stick.
- Make sure to pour and sprinkle all the ingredients over the lamb both inside and out.
- Do not forget to place the crushed onions and rosemary in the stomach cavity.
- Prepare the garlic cloves to be inserted in the small cuts on the lamb legs.
Pro Tip:
Skewer first the lamb before covering the lamb with herbs and spices. Seasoning the lamb before trussing it can be quite messy. The order of process is as follows:
- Put the skewer on the lamb but do not sew the cavity.
- Follow the process of seasoning the lamb by making small cuts on the thick parts of the lamb where the garlic cloves will be inserted. Then, proceed on seasoning the lamb.
- After doing these steps, sew the cavity close and now season the outer parts of the lamb.
- You can also check and read our previous blog post “How to Marinate a Whole Lamb“.
Attaching to the spit:
- Prepare your skewer that is at least 1300mm long, as well as the following accessories: 2 large prongs, 1 back brace, 2 leg brackets, stainless steel wire, and a basting mop.
- Skewered in the lamb by passing through the front and back cavities of the lamb.
- Insert the back brace through the spine of the lamb, making the U shape of the back brace straddle the skewer and the plate is on the back of the lamb. Please note not to over-tighten the brace as you might snap the spine.
- On each set of legs, front, and rear, insert one large prong.
- Hold both legs and bend them a little to fit inside the V-shape of the brackets. If necessary, use some wire to hold them in place.
- Stitch close the cavity using a wire or a needle and thread so the onion juices will not spill.
- You can tie down the neck of the lamb if it’s long, otherwise, it’ll burn.
- Once the lamb is properly affixed to the skewer, and you’re all set, you can now place the whole lamb to a spit.
- Balanced load on the spit needs to be ensured, to do this, you can take a look at our video here – how to balance the lamb correctly.
Basting:
- To keep the lamb moist from the outside and avoid drying, use a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Baste it every 20-30 minutes. Use an enclosed basting container to avoid flies and other nasties from your marinade.
Cooking time:
Generally, it will take 5 hours to be on the safe side. However, many factors will still affect your cooking time. If it gets cooked earlier than expected, you can always put the charcoal to the side and raise the lamb. This will make the lamb stay warm but doesn’t actually keep cooking. To test the internal temperature, use a cooking thermometer to probe in the fleshiest part of the meat (legs). If gets to 75 degrees, it’s cooked.
Having cooked a whole lamb on a spit, I can assure you that you will never again be content with a simple leg of lamb baked in the oven!
by: Rhiannon Peterson