I will not link to - nor, for that matter, will I go into - the much-discussed Paula Deen interview video from the Today Show. You are an adult, and can utilize The Google yourself. Suffice it to say that I am still deeply emotionally scarred, and would not wish it that any of my Gentle Readers should accidentally click upon a link I provided, so ending up unable to procreate, apply mascara, and/or wear shades of pinkish-peach for the rest of their lives (though honestly - I thought the simple gold chain was, given everything else, surprisingly tasteful - didn't you?) I will keep my comments to a purely professional level. Which - given my chosen cartooning profession - means I can straight-out ask: how can anyone in this day and age possibly apply that much facial product?? Without being a streetwalker, or maybe John Boehner? (And even he's only applying it to achieve a caucus-mandated golden glow.) This is professional, folks; I mean I drew, and erased, and drew some more. Erased all of that. Drew some stuff. That I erased immediately. Erased some more - sort of absent-mindedly, as I actually hadn't started drawing again yet - yet what I would have drawn I would thusly have erased. And realized: no matter how hard I try, I cannot draw what I am actually seeing on her face - especially around the eyeish region - without it looking completely cartoonish. At which point I gave up and declared that to be a victory. Of some sort. By the way she did repeatedly ask to be killed with a stone, on national television. I am but one humble man, and can only make up so much - the truly ludicrous, I borrow from American media. So hey on a more food-oriented note: it's grillin' time. Which around here doesn't have to mean the same old chicken-ribs-and-dogs routine (disclaimer being that there currently two pounds of baby back ribs sitting in my fridge for July 4th - but those are different; I maybe intend to... puree them?) At least once a summer it's worth it to try grilling something more resonant, more anchored in real food traditions - and frankly, just more damn flavorful: like Mediterranean-style grilled leg of lamb. My slightly-more-than-yearly effort was last week, and it's at least as simple as ribs, requiring less micro-management at the grill, since the meat is more forgiving and all that turning and basting isn't required. And it cooks faster than grilled chicken. I know those legs can look scary and enormous if you've never done one; but really - a lot of the weight is the bone, so for say four to six it's not overkill, and the leftovers are awesome cold or rewarmed. The key I've found after years of attempts is simple butterflying and pre-slathering with an olive oil-fresh-garlic-your-choice-of-italian/greek-herbs rub (I personally like mint and oregano, but if your tastes run to gentler thyme or more hardcore rosemary, that works too). If you're truly into it, or your summer vacation gives you some extra time ahead, cut and slather it up a day or two prior - but seriously, you'll still get decent results, as with ribs, with just a few hours rub application to the leg before grilling. A good butcher will probably butterfly a bone-in leg for you (personally I like these better for the flavor, and for waving the legbone around afterwards while misquoting Homer, once I'm well into the ouzo - but admittedly a boneless leg is a bit faster to prep); if not, it really isn't something to shy from, especially as you'll be tossing the whole thing on a grill, so knife slips and cutting where you think maybe you shouldn't are hardly ruinous - Bobby Flay will not be watching over your shoulder. Simply feel around that puppy; it's got two big muscles - just like your own thigh, right? No, don't cut into your own thigh; at that point, you would in fact be doing something fairly incorrect. It'll be quickly obvious if you sort of poke around at the leg that there's one big fat piece of muscle-meat overlapping another all the way along one side of the bone, usually near to where the meat seems "thinnest". Slip a knife along that and open it up without cutting it off the bone entirely (and honestly - if you cut into a bit more meat than seam don't worry about it - again you're grilling, and you really, really won't "lose juices" or any of the other stuff they scare you with in fancy recipes.) It should fall over, still connected to the bone, with the other muscle attached to the other side of the bone. Lay 'em out as flat as is reasonable with the bone in the middle - and whichever piece of meat is more "wrapped" around the bone, slide your knife all along the bone where it connects to that muscle, leaving about an inch or so at the bottom still connected to the bone - basically just so it pulls away and everything lies flatter. Honestly you could stop right here; for extra credit and more even cooking and seasoning, you can truly "butterfly" it by making horizontal slices into the thickest middle part of each muscle. Do this from the bone-side of the meat, trying to keep about an even inch or so of meat above and below the knife, and stop cutting when you get within an inch or so of the "end" (you don't want to cut the whole thing off entirely). You're going for kind of making a thick horizontal top "flap" of meat on each side of the bone, and flipping those flaps once more away from the bones, you should have a nice - ok, pretty lumpy but still tasty - flattened piece of lamb with a bone in the middle. If any piece still looks too thick to you, just cut into it to within an inch of the bottom - that's just more surface area to coat with flavor. Interestingly most online videos show how to butterfly and debone the whole thing (without exhaustive searches I haven't yet found videos that leave the bone there) - and admittedly Jamie Oliver's looks way prettier at the end than anything I've ever been able to produce - but to me it's terribly anxiety producing, having to be so careful around the bone at a point where I'm usually one or two beers in; generates a very thin piece in the middle where the bone was that simply burns up on the fire; and is seemingly entirely unnecessary if you are not trying to do something much more elegant with the roast than simply grilling it. And once grilled, there's no anxiety at all in hacking the meat away from the bone to slice it up, whether because it smells so good or because you are now definitely at least two beers in. So more power to you if you are an expert deboner from years of fancy braises - but I'll stick to my much-less-finicky and faster bone-in method. To season I simply mash up half a dozen or so cloves of garlic with olive oil and aforementioned chopped fresh herbs, and after salting all that unrolled exposed meat liberally with good kosher salt, smush all the garlic and herbs on and sort of fold it all back together as well as is reasonable (again, finesse not being a requirement here), wrap it up and stick it back in the fridge to flavor. Pull it out to warm back up before you are ready to cook, of course; and get your hardwood two-level fire ready (you are using hardwood charcoal, or preferably even real wood, right? If you are using that matchlight stuff or anything else drenched with the stench of lighter fliud, better just to go back to the ribs; there's very little hope left. If you have a gas grill, it's grudgingly tolerable and easy to find hardwood chunks or chips that you can package in foil and toss right on the burners - but really, make an effort on this bit, for real lamb deserves a deep infusion of real woodsmoke.) Unroll your lamb - big mistake I made for years was doing fancy twine work and trying to keep the thing in-the-round; this is not some roulade you plate on bone china with sauce chasseur. That route produces overcooked outer meat and rawish meat near the bone, and less flavor overall - you're really going for maximum surface exposed to wood fire here, with as much maillard as can be processed without full-on black char. I find it better to wipe most of the herbs off (don't go nuts, just get the clumpiest bits off, and definitely don't rinse!) before tossing the roast face-down on the cool side of the fire - blackened fresh herbs not being my thing. If your slits were kind of raggy you'll still have plenty of good garlic mush here and there in the meat. Since I don't start on direct heat at this point I cover the roast at this point, which also tempers the firey side and gets it ready for the last step. (btw if you are into food-research, Cook's did a pretty thorough analysis of searing-first-on-hot-then-moving-to-cool-side vs my way, and basically they found the taste is equivalent; advantage to searing-last being you've rendered lots of the flareup-producing fats off by then, and your fire is down closer to hot coals which also helps with flareups. Tip your beer to Christopher and his team at this point for doing all that research, so we don't have to) Your cooking time will vary by the strength of your fire and thickness and coolness of the meat, as with anything - so I won't quote exact times, but generally speaking the meat firms up to just past rare within 20-30 minutes. If your grill is smallish go out halfway through and turn the roast around so the part nearest the hot side is pointed away, and re-cover. Then when it is finally to that rare-going-on-medium-rare point, flip it on top of the hot part of the grill to sear for another 5-15ish minutes uncovered - by this point generally a two-level fire will have burned down to where this isn't going to produce flare-ups but still sears well (if not, usually a good spritzing with a water bottle helps - the fire, not the leg). Final grilling at this point is really up to your preferred meat-doneness linking; I like this lamb leg slightly more done than most of my meat without really hitting full on medium, and remember it will still cook through especially around the bone when rested - which you always do, right? Take it off, toss a clean towel or some foil on top, and let it rest for a solid 10m+ to reabsorb juices. Then slice thinnish - I like 1/4 to 1/3 inch pieces - on a bias, which will be easy with an unrolled butterflied leg; lots easier than trying to carve around the bone had you or the butcher not done the initial legwork. Goes great with a little greek-style yogurt, optionally spiked with dill or thyme and/or garlic, and quality pita - or even the softer naans many groceries are carrying now, which are often more pillowy than those mass-produced pitas. I've never had this meal not impress; and damn does it beat dried-out, charred ribs covered in that flourescent bottled glop any day. Now I just need a strategy for those baby backs... Happy Summer Grillin', ya'll, - jeff
