It’s almost without exception that I follow the 24-hour salt / on a rack in the fridge for my [beef] steaks. The only exceptions are when I fail to plan ahead and don’t have time, in which case it’s salt / season right before cooking. We’re doing a butterflied leg of lamb on the grill this weekend. What would you all say about doing the same for this? We’re grilling over charcoal and serving it with something similar to a good chimichurri. Any other leg of lamb advice is appreciated. I plan to open a 2000 Sociando-Mallet with it.
Yes, for sure I’d pre-salt. I’d probably also slather it with a rub of olive oil, rosemary, garlic and put it in front of a fan for several hours to dry out completely.
I seem to remember an America’s Test Kitchen (or something similar) advocating for pre-salting / dry-brining thicker cuts & roasts as it lends to a better finished product (uniform seasoning, moisture retention, etc.).
Definitely use the pre-salt time to assist in penetrating the meat with the other seasonings in your rub (garlic, lemon peel, chili flakes, pepper, etc.) that will complement the chimichurri. I wouldn’t recommend a super long dry-brine (4 hours to overnight perhaps) as it can break down more tender proteins like lamb.
I don’t know a meat that doesn’t benefit from a dry brine.
My MO for grilling steaks and chops (generally ~1 1/2" thick) tends to be pre-salting about 2 hours ahead of time and then adding a seasoning rub just before a reverse sear. I haven’t done 24-hour dry brines, myself, and I haven’t experimented much with seasoned brines for such things, but I could definitely see it working with lamb.
I tend to do my lamb legs on the bone, but I dont think butterflied that would change my prep.
I insert small slivers of garlic and rosemary and salt with a very coarse salt 24 hours in advance, I bring the lamb up to room temp and then give it a rub with EVOO and a another light salting with a much finer salt. Then onto an indirect charcoal grill with vents set for around 200C, cooking time averages out to around 45 minutes per KG (total weight)
Agree on all of the advice recommending salt in advance – and other spices that you may want. I have done something similar to what Marcus suggests for bone-on leg. But for butterflied I usually do salt, then maybe some EVOO and not much more. Curious to hear how the 2000 S-M is drinking. I really like that wine and vintage, and still have some sleeping.
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Cannot contribute much on the “salt issue”…But you got the wine pairing (2000 Sociando) about perfect!
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