“By the time the telling was done, it was dark outside and Sam was licking his fingers. ‘That was good, but now I’d like a leg of lamb. A whole leg, just for me, sauced with mint and honey and cloves. Did you see any lambs?’” -A Clash of Kings
Thoughts:
This was one meal that really invoked the spirit of the North. Because Sam is the one dreaming about this dish, I could definitely see it being served during a time when the Night’s Watch wasn’t struggling quite so much as they are when we last see them. After all, Jon and Sam’s feast after taking their vows involved rack of lamb and berries with sweet cream.
But this really put me in mind of Winterfell- long trestle tables groaning with heavy platters, heaped with meat and sauce. The smell of roasting meat on spits wafting from those huge blazing hearths. The clink of knives on plates, and the glug of ale and mead being poured into mugs.
YES.
This recipe was delicious. I loved the sauce, but didn’t think there was nearly enough of it. I served this at Easter dinner, and the meat-to-sauce ratio was definitely skewed. I’d suggest doubling it if you are working with a hefty portion of lamb. The meat itself came out perfectly, tender and just pink. It was tasty on its own from being basted with the drippings, but paired with the sauce it was wildly better. I can’t wait for another special occasion to break this out again!
Recipe for Leg of Lamb, in dark beer, honey, and spices
Ingredients:
- 1 leg of lamb, bone in (mine was a monster 7 pounder for Easter dinner)
- 2 cups dark beer, such as stout or porter
- 1 cup honey, divided in half
- 1 Tbs. juniper berries, crushed
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tsp. whole cloves
- mint?
Preheat the oven to 375F. Combine the beer, honey, juniper, bay leaves, and cloves in the bottom of a deep roasting pan, then set the leg of lamb on top. Season the lamb liberally with salt and pepper. Cook approximately 15 minutes per pound, basting every 10-15 minutes or so. The interior temperature of the lamb should reach 130F, at which point it should be done.
Remove from the oven, cover loosely with tin foil, and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before carving.
Strain the drippings into a separate bowl, and skim off as much of the fat as you can. You can either serve the remaining mix straight with the lamb as a sauce, or simmer gently with a bit of fresh mint. I loved the flavor without mint so much that I didn’t bother adding any in, but those who are sticklers for accuracy to the books will want to include it.
Enjoy!
Este cordero ha de ser delicioso, con esta mezcla de sabores. Lo probaré.
If someone is allergic to beer (I know, tragic, right?), what would be a good substitute for that ingredient?
I can’t cook this dish with any kind of alcohol, so I’m using beef broth and a small amount (maybe a tablespoon?) of molasses. I’m guessing substituting red wine would be amazing, if the issue is the grains in the beer and not the booze. I wouldn’t use molasses in that case. Mine is in the oven now.
If it’s gluten, you can get decent gluten free beers. If it’s a problem with alcohol, boil the beer for about five minutes ( it has to be a rolling boil) and the alcohol will boil out.
I didn’t see why you divided the honey?
Alastair
Made the lamb with butterflyed leg and marinated it for 10 hours before grilling it outdoors. It came out wonderfully tender and tasty. Served it with Innes & Gunn Stout and roast baby red potatoes. Great when you aren’t roasting an entire leg of lamb.
So, does the recipe here reflect the doubling of the sauce ingredients that you recommended? Or should we double the recipe as it’s written? As in four cups of beer, and so on?
The recipe here is the one I made, not what I suggest you try. :)
Good to know!
I’m going to be making this for all my friends next month. We always go to Halloween Horror Night at Universal Studios every year, and we always get together for an awesome feast and horror movie fest the night before.
I’ll be doing this lamb and your black beer bread as my contribution to the feast, and the last thing I want is to not have enough sauce for everybody.
Thanks!
I made the recipe for a dinner party last night and used four bottles of stout, 4 tablespoons of finely ground juniper berries, 1 1/2 cups of honey, nine bay leaves and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon for four butterflied legs of lamb. These were all marinated in the fridge for 24 hours and grilled slowly- I didn’t have a speck of the meat left ( served 16 people). I would recommend doubling the original recipe to marinate- the stout should cover the butterflyed leg ( the pan should not be much larger than the meat. I stirred everything together and put half in the bottom of the pan and poured the rest over the meat. Turned the meat every eight hours. The flavors were delicate but you could taste the distinct flavors (the juniper was amazing and did not taste like the lamb had been soaked in gin) and the cinnamon and bay made the stout ( this time I used Guinness) very nice. Guinness can sometimes be bitter when used to cook lamb. Next time I’m going back to the Inness and Gunn stout- it’s got an almost sweet flavor and is not “chewy” like Guinness. It gives a really wonderful taste. It can be hard to find. For the first leg, double the ingredients, then 50% more for each subsequent leg seems to work well without overpowering the taste of the lamb.
Wish I had some left over for tonight’s dinner…
Would you recommend marinating it in the beer/spice mixture a day before, or simply just cooking/basting the leg? I have a behemoth 9.5 pounder haha!
I marinate mine for 24 hours to get the best flavor. Are you using a bone-in or butterflied leg? The flavor is subtle, not overly strong. If you decide to baste, the mix needs t be thick enough to not “slide off.” Either way works well, but the marinade give a more thru and thru flavor.