Rotisserie Rolled Lamb Shoulder by Firebrand

Spring is in the air and lamb is on the Rotisserie! Try our rolled lamb shoulder with fresh green herbs, garlic and lemon, rolled and chargrilled to perfection. Just delicious and perfect for a gathering.

Start with your lamb shoulder, ask your butcher to debone for you. Ours worked out to be approx. 1.5kg each after the bone was taken out, enough for each shoulder to feed 4-6 people.

ROTISSERIE SET UP

We’ve used the Firebrand Skewer-Q for this cook which offers us the versatility of the top skewers holding one or in our case two lamb shoulders, and there would be room for more.

Whichever rotisserie you use, ensure the skewers themselves are weighted for what you intend to cook (you don’t want to lose your precious meat into the coals half way through a cook!) and also ensure it has prongs to stabilise the meat to allow efficient spinning and therefore even cooking once the rotisserie is spinning.

We love the Skewer-Q because its height adjustable so we can control the amount of heat getting to our meat and also the internal bricks conduct heat evenly across the unit so you can avoid excessive hot and cool spots. Just makes rotisserie cooking that much easier!

LET’S TALK FUEL!

We’ve opted to use our Firebrand rotisserie briquettes as they come in a longer hex briquette perfect for this style of cooking and will give you the burn time you need. We’ve mixed it with some of our Professional Hardwood Lump Charcoal which aids to kick start the process and complements the briquettes.

In addition, we’ve thrown in a log of cherry wood which ads a wonderful subtle smokiness that works really well with lamb.

Tip: Place your smoking wood to the side of the meat as lamb is quite fatty and will drip. When the drippings hit the smoking wood it can cause flare ups which may result in uneven charring on your lamb.

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MEAT TRIMMING

Once a shoulder has been deboned, it will open up flat, like a book, ready for further trimming.

Our tip is to trim it up in a rectangle shape to help with the rolling later on and try and keep the thickness consistent.

Equally important, is that you trim away any ‘suet’ which is the hard pieces of fat found in lamb that just won’t render down during a cook or taste any good.

Leave the marbling and sinew (this fat equals flavour!) and only trim away at larger pieces of fat on the edges.

You’re now ready to ‘stuff’ and roll.

LAMB STUFFING

We’ve opted to go in the traditional vain of a classic Italian Porchetta and use fresh herbs from the Firebrand HQ garden, salt pepper, lemon juice and olive oil.

Use any fresh green herbs you can get your hands on. Typically, you want to include a bunch each of parsley and mint at least. We’ve opted to add in rosemary which is heavenly with lamb, but you could also go for oregano or thyme.

A bunch of each herb may sound like a lot, but believe us, you’ll need it and the flavour bomb you get at the end is worth it!

Chop finely and place in a bowl.

Add 5-6 cloves of crushed garlic, a very generous swig of olive oil, the grated rind and juice of a lemon and a generous amount of salt and pepper. You are seasoning the meat from the inside out.

Cut the quantities in half if just doing one shoulder, otherwise left-over marinade can be stored in the fridge and used for other meat dishes or even stirred through pasta.

Combine well and adjust with more oil until you get a pasty consistency.

TIME TO ROLL!

Generously and evenly spread your green mixture across your flat lamb shoulder. Taking the most curved end start to roll.

Tip: Fold over the first piece then roll onto itself to achieve a tight roll.
Some of the filling may ooze out but don’t panic, you can stuff it all back in once your lamb roll is tied.

Now the tying part. If you aren’t proficient with a butcher’s knot, cut your butchers string into lengths that allow you to tie around the belly of your roll. Tie them the length of the roll, about an inch apart. To finish tying, cut a longer length of string and tie across your roll lengthwise. Aim to go around the middle, tucking under and over your first ties to keep it close to the body of the roll.

Your lamb shoulder is stuffed, rolled, tied and ready for skewering and cooking!

SKEWERING & COOKING

Carefully thread your lamb rolls onto the large skewer that will sit over the top of your rotisserie.

Ensure you place prongs at each end of each lamb roll to ensure it sits tightly and prevents it from spinning around the skewer once the rotisserie starts.

Put into place over your rotisserie and switch on the motor to a low speed.

Tip: Start at the highest setting if you have an adjustable rotisserie to ensure you don’t char the lamb too fast.

Cook for aproximately 1.5 -2hr over a low to medium heat.

A probe thermometer can be used to check internal temperature. An ideal internal temp of 140-145F (60-63C) should be targeted for a medium result. The lamb will cook a further couple of degrees once removed and during the resting period.