So as any normal man - I love BBQ, but small scale BBQ just doesn't cut it. Go Big or Go Home.
Slow roasting/smoking a whole Lamb. (freshly slaughtered of course).
Family was out of town so I decided to have a large BBQ at my home, and invited my friends over. Alhamdulillah i got the news about the death of that laeen saudi prince nayef - I was planning to have a small scale BBQ - but then I decided this is a cause for a great feast, so I decided I am going to slaughter a lamb and slow roast/smoke it.
Step 1 - you need to build a BBQ pit large enough to roast/smoke a whole lamb. This is actually really simple if you have a decent sized back yard, all you need are cinder blocks and a shovel.
Basically you need to dig out about a 4x5 foot
area - what I did was just remove the grass on top and put it to the side, and you can actually put the grass back on top when your done. It will be back to normal in like a week. Then just place cinder blocks around the area you dug out, and - you got your self a BBQ pit.Cost - cinder blocks can usually be purchased for under 1 dollar a piece at hardware supply/home repair stores - but often times you can get them from free from people trying to get rid of extra ones or get them at a discounted price. I got mine for free from a friend who had a ton of extra ones.
Pit is basically complete at that point.
The next thing you will need is some kind of grate to cook the meat on. This is a simple task to accomplish actually. They sell large steel grates at home depot (or any similar store) - a 5x5 sheet will run you 8 dollars. You need two of them and you will need two pieces of steel re-bar about 8feet long each, that will run you around 4-5 dollars a piece, and you will also need some steel wire - any gauge is fine, i used 14 gauge - all you need is like 2 feet worth, but they come in packs that usually have around 40-50 feet (smallest pack) - will run you around 6 dollars. You will also need some thing to cut the wire with (i used a bolt cutter- because I already had one) and you will need a pair of tweezers to work with the wire.
The design is very simple you just need to use the wire to tie the re-bar diagonally across the grate. Just tie it at every interval the wire touches a corner of the grate and that's about it.
The whole process takes about 5 minutes - you need to do that to both sheets.
Here is what it looks like laid out on top of the pit:
The second sheet will be used to sandwich the lamb. Essentially the lamb needs to be flipped over so both sides cook - since we are not using a rotisserie (inshaAllah thats the next project) we are creating a bbq grate that is easily flip able. The lamb its self will be sandwiched between the two grates and the lamb will also be wired down (from its feet) to the grates) then the re-bar that protrudes out from the sides can be used like handles - and you can flip the grate (with the meat) back and forth as you wish (takes two people).
Here are the two completed grates laid on top of each other (with no meat in between)
With supplies on hand entire pit - with grates can be set up in under 20 minutes.
Next the most important part- the Lamb.
I got my lamb fresh- slaughtered and skinned about an hour before cooking time. Can't get any fresher than that.
So essentially what you want to do at this point is chop of the neck (if you havn't done so already) because it gets in the way. And then season it with a dry seasoning. I used fresh peppercorns and sea salt, along with some garlic, red pepper and olive oil/butter (to keep the seasoning from falling off right away).
Then after that you need to break the pelvic bone of the lamb and crack the rib cage near the spine so that the animal can be flattened out over the grate.
Animal prepped/seasoned and ready for cooking !
The neck will also be cooked, its just that it hangs at an awkward angle so it makes securing the animal in place difficult. The neck will be attached to the grate separately using a kabob skewer and wire.
Now its time to attach the animal to the grate:
Note - simply just sandwiched the lamb in between the two grates and used wire to its feet to each side of the grate.
Now lets get the fire started -
You don't want allot of fire - you want to slow cook it- so the heat needs to be low. Don't use allot of coal. Fan the flames of course to make the coals get heated quicker, and keep the fire going. Don't bother fanning by hand if your in your own backyard, just use an extension cord and a house fan.
Now you want your meat to taste as delicious as possible when its done - so why not add flavored wood to the bbq?
You can get flavored wood at any BBQ supply place (if you want the good kind) - its about 7 dollars a bag for the good kind, you need about 2-3 bags for some thing this size. You can also get a very large bag for about 40 dollars(but you don't need that much). I got 2 of the small bags, and it was enough for me - again It's not necessary - but when in rome....
They come in chunks and in chips, I used the chunks since I am bbq'ng a large animal and I got the mesquite flavored ones. When you get them you should soak them in some sort of juice - I used oranges from my orange tree and pureed them with some lemon juice and hot sauce and I let the chunks soak in that for a while.
This is just to add some smoked flavor to the meat - and give it a good aroma. If you wanted to fully smoke the animal (which I want to do in the future) you would use a ton of these chunks and use the smoke to cook the animal.
Any way you don't dump these on the fire directly when they are ready. You take aluminum foil and put them inside of it with the top open and place them over the coals - that way the coals heat them through the aluminum and they smoke for a long time, instead of burning out quickly.
You make like 4-5 aluminium baskets and place them through out the bottom of the pit.
Now its time for the actual cooking:
Simply lay out the animal over the pit - and voila - your device doubles as both a grate and a tool to flip the animal.
Let it cook for a few hours (slow cooking will take 3-4 hours- you will know when its done by checking the meat - just use a knife/fork to check the meat in the thigh)- flipping the grate every 15-20 minutes or so. And also applying a baste of olive oil/lemon juice/salt/pepper through out the process ( I based every time i flipped it).
Also I covered the top of it with aluminum foil - it helps to keep the lamb from drying out. I uncovered the aluminum in between each flipping/basting.
In the picture above I raise the level of the pit but adding a cinder block on each side to raise the height - i did this about half way through the cooking to make sure the lamb didn't cook too quickly.
And also add onions (if you like that sort of thing):
And when its done.. I just served the whole thing on a table covered with aluminium foil and let all my guests go at it...
It was delicious - some of the best roasted lamb I have ever had - and it was allot of fun making it and eating it with all my friends.
^ the picture above looks savage - I know, but that's the whole point
... *Calls animal protective services*
