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AUSTRALIA DAY LAMB ROAST
These days when people want to prepare lamb for a special occasion they tend to come over all Mediterranean and go the garlic, rosemary and lemon peel route. Well it’s a great idea for events such as Easter – but it always strikes me as not being completely appropriate on Australia Day.
While I agree that lamb is our national meat, I’ve long thought that we should all make an effort to be a bit more ‘dinkum’ on 26 January. But the way to do it didn’t strike me until a few years ago. It was one of those moments – an epiphany if you like – when I saw the answer with absolute clarity.
And the answer was Vegemite. That’s right, the black gunk. For a long time I had rubbed mustard into pork and beef I was slow-smoking to hold rubs and spices on to the meat so it wasn’t such a huge step to grab a jar of the Aussie-invented goo and start slathering it on some lamb.
It works really well and if applied thickly enough forms a flavoursome crust on the meat that is sure to have people asking ‘What is that taste – it’s so unusual?’ or ‘What sort of marinade did you use?’ It is not even particularly salty and those who would never dream of eating the stuff (such as Mrs Blue) love what it does for lamb.
You can still sprinkle rosemary or thyme over the leg of lamb – but I tend to just insert some garlic slivers into the meat, rub it all over with about 120 g of Vegemite and sprinkle some freshly cracked black pepper on top.
I keep the barby temperature down to moderate 175 C (350F) (well moderate for me anyway) to stop the Vegemite from burning too quickly and cook a 2 – 2.5 kg lamb roast for around two hours. I always use a temperature probe and when it reads 70 C (160 F), I take if off the heat and let it rest for a while before carving.
Hardwood chips also add a big outdoors flavour to the meat – so throw some on if your barby can be used for smoking. Just be aware that a pink smoke ring might form under the skin and some of your guests could need reassurance that the meat is not really raw. It’s simply a chemical reaction between the meat and the smoke and is quite harmless.
This leg of lamb turned out slightly pink under the skin because hardwood chips were used in the barby. This is called a smoke ring and does not mean the meat is under-cooked.
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