Leg of Lamb - Score!

The Houghton Mifflin dictionary lists "to mark the surface of (meat, for example) with usually parallel cuts" as the 14th most common verb use of the word "score".  Happy to know that this Year of Meat is not only causing me to dig deep into the metaphorical meat case for cuts, but it's also pressing me into using obscure definitions of common words.  And not to get too literary on you all, but this "score" had a little "double entendre" if you know what I mean.

A little history of me and Leg of Lamb.  But first, a little history of me and lamb in general.  To be totally honest, it's not my favorite meat.  Frankly, for the year of meat which includes Beef, Veal, Pork and Lamb, lamb comes in 4th place.  That is far from an indictment from this meat-loving soul.  But in the world of meat (both cooking it and ordering it out), I stayed clear of it just as a matter of paying homage to my preferred meats.  Again, not an indictment.  Just a matter of preference.  But then, in or around 2003, I discovered Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian "all you can eat meat" restaurant that rocked my world.  Shocker, right?  But the great thing about that place, there is no menu!  You just get everything.  A little card with a red side and a green side is provided to each diner.  When you want more meat, go green and watch it show up table-side.  When you need a break, go red.  Well, it was at Fogo de Chao, where getting lamb was easy, as I just needed a taste.  Leg of Lamb it was (and still is), and it remarkably became a "request" whenever I returned to Fogo.  You see, the gaucho's the bring around the meat do so in a ratio of the most common/popular cuts.  Perhaps the Leg of Lamb wasn't the big seller, so I always requested a special trip from a gaucho.  And it never disappointed.  Since then, I have found one other restaurant that prompts me to order lamb, and that's Roscoe Village's Turquoise restaurant, a little gem of a restaurant that warrants a trip if you've never been.  But as for my history with lamb, and with Leg of Lamb specifically.  Until this Year of Meat, the exposure was minimal.

So, we fast forward to this past Saturday, when I bought my Leg of Lamb from Paulina Market.  Sunday morning, I scored it (note definition above), and rubbed into it a little concoction of garlic, fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, Kosher salt, cracked pepper, marjoram, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary.  I then let it marinate for about 8 hours.  As I prepared the Big Green Egg for indirect heat at 300 degrees with apple wood chips for smoking, I let the lamb come down towards room temperature (about an hour).  And then, on the Egg it went.  About 3 hours later, after checking temps throughout, I removed the Lamb at 142 degrees and tented it in foil for about 10 minutes.  I commenced the carving, and those little rectangular scores that had gotten a little charred during the cooking were lamb candy, and I couldn't get enough.

We served it with a simple baby greens salad and steamed corn on the cob.  What did I have for lunch today you ask?  Leftover leg of lamb with cous cous and feta cheese.  Score!

52 down, 9 to go!