Slow cooked smoked lamb shank over walnut wood. From meat prep to dry marinades, find out how to smoke lamb shanks today.
Lamb shank is a subtle cut of meat that’s taken to a new level when grilled slowly and slowly over a hickory wood fire. This lamb dish is tender and melts in the mouth and can be enjoyed all year round.
This beautiful cut of lamb needs no marinade or brine and can go straight into your smoker at 225°F. Halfway through our smoking process, we top it with homemade red wine and beef stock stew and cook it to an internal temperature of 195°F for perfect rack of lamb.
Find out how to smoke lamb shanks on your backyard smoker grill today.
What is lamb shank?
The leg of lamb comes from the bottom of the animal’s leg and can come from the foreleg(front leg) or hind leg(hind leg). An average leg cut weighs up to four pounds and can be shared between two people.
Lamb shank cuts are delicious and juicy because the middle leg bone runs through the meat. The collagen and connective tissue that binds meat to the bone contributes to flavor, especially when it’s slow-cooked or grilled.
While conventional cooking of your lamb will work, roasting and smoking your leg of lamb is an excellent way to enhance the flavor of the meat. Smoked leg of lamb is also healthier and lower in fat than conventionally cooked.
How to buy lamb shank
Your first decision is whether you want a front or rear chamber. Lamb shanks from the US tend to be larger than lamb shanks from Australia or New Zealand.
Avoid meat that looks bloody, gray, pale, or ashen. A good cut of lamb shank will look pink and brown with some blood and not overly fatty or yellow.
You can buy your lamb shank with or without the bone. The lamb is leg end or sirloin if you buy bone-in. The roast beef ends tend to be more tender, while the shank ends tend to be spicier.
Meat preparation
First buy the meat from a good butcher. A good butcher will prepare the lamb shank so that little extra work is required before cooking.
Using a kitchen knife, the silver skin, the slippery membrane that surrounds the meat, must be removed. You can easily slide the knife under the silver skin and pull it out of the meat. Also trim off any fat that has changed from the lamb or any large chunks of white or sinew that you can see.
Before you start smoking at the grill, bring on any dry rubs you plan to use to flavor your meat. If you wish, you can marinate the lamb shanks overnight.
The best wood for grilling
The best wood for the smoked leg of lamb is determined in part by the flavor desired. There are several types of wood to choose from, but apple, cherry, oak, mesquite, and hickory are popular choices for smoking grilled lamb shanks.
Hickory is the most popular choice for smoked lamb shanks. The wood has a strong aroma and flavor so YOU should always use caution when using it to smoke any type of meat. When smoking meat, hickory wood gives the meat a darker color.
If you use hickory to smoke the lamb shank, be careful not to overdo it. Too much hickory smoke will mask the flavor of the lamb and can also impart a bitter, off-flavor to the meat. You can mix your hickory with a softer wood like oak, cherry, or apple to avoid this.
Times and temperatures
Smoking a leg of lamb is done slowly over a long period of time. This will make all the meat tissue and muscles tender and juicy. Preheat your grill or smoker to no less than 225 degrees and no more than 250 degrees Fahrenheit after adding your marinade or dry rub.
While the USDA recommends cooking legs or leg portions of lamb at a minimum of 63°C(145°F ) and it is common practice to cook legs at 74°C(165°F), we will cook at an internal temperature of 195 °F(90°C) to give us the tender shredded meat texture we want.
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