GrillinFools
Inspired by the tasty mutton of the West Kentucky BBQ Belt, these mutton chops are marinated in fresh herbs and garlic before being smoked over charcoal and then grilled hot and fast to get that tasty char on the outside. We take the marinated and grilled mutton chops to a lovely medium rare before serving these “baby steaks” with cowboy beans (which will blow your mind!)
Sideburns or Dinner?
OK, some are wondering about the whole Mutton Chop thing. Yes, that’s also a term for big side burns. But before a certain mutant super hero sported the mutton chops, they referred to these little lamb porterhouse steaks.
Mutton vs. Lamb
Also, some wrinkle their noses at the thought of mutton, but are perfectly OK with lamb. I hate to break it to you, but a great deal of lamb sold in the US is actually mutton. In this lamb shoulder recipe, that shoulder is the same size as a pork shoulder.
Notice in this pic below how the “lamb” shoulder fills the half aluminum pan just like a full size pork shoulder:
This is a full size pork shoulder:
The vast majority of pork harvested in this country comes from 200+ pound pigs. How could a lamb shoulder be nearly the same size as a pork shoulder?
While I don’t want to get into a semantic argument here, I just want people to realize mutton is tender and delicious.
West Kentucky BBQ Belt
Finally, I partnered with tourism boards across West Kentucky on this recipe to bring awareness that West Kentucky BBQ Belt. They are known for the Mutton and vinegar based sauces, but have a full array of traditional BBQ as well. Now follow me here. Awesome BBQ, the world’s best bourbon, incredible landscapes/scenery. That’s not a bad way to spend a few days indeed. Not to mention, one can drive to the region in a few hours from most of the central US and a good chunk of the east coast. I just drove through there on my way back from South Carolina. It took less than 8 hours from Columbia SC to West Kentucky.
Also, here are other mutton/lamb recipes that we highly recommend:
- Bone-In Leg of Lamb over Winter Vegetables
- Lamburger Smashburgers
- Rotisserie Boneless Leg of Lamb
- Reverse Seared Rack of Lamb
- Lamb Gyros
Marinated and Grilled Mutton Chops Ingredients:
- 8 thick cut mutton chops
- 1/4 cup fresh rosemary
- 1/8 cup fresh thyme
- 5 cloves fresh garlic, minced (substitute 3 heaping tablespoons of jarlic which is jarred garlic)
- 1 cup olive oil
- Salt
- Coarse ground black pepper
What is a Mutton Chop?
Yes it is a massive side burn but it is also a mini porterhouse steak cut from sheep. It’s essentially got a strip loin steak on one side of a T-shaped bone and a tenderloin on the other.
As a father with four kids, the youngest is my daughter who loves lamb/mutton just as long as we don’t call it that.
So we call these baby steaks:
The name fits pretty well.
Prepare the Grill
We are doing two zone grilling here on my Primo Oval XL thus coals and smoke wood on one side and the meat on the other. Therefore, the goal here is not have any direct heat under the protein. Subsequently, target temperature inside the cooking chamber is 300F.
Garlic and herb Marinade
Begin by stripping the leaves off the stems of the rosemary and thyme sprigs.
I’m trying out a new gadget:
Repeat with more rosemary and thyme and then finely chop the herbs:
Remove the paper from the garlic cloves and finely chop them also (or substitute 3 heaping tablespoons of jarred garlic aka jarlic):
Dump the garlic and herbs into a mixing bowl and pour in the olive oil (although I was out of olive oil and used grapeseed oil):
Then salt:
And course pepper:
Give the marinade a quick whisk:
Dust the mutton with salt:
And spoon the garlic and herb marinade over the mutton chops:
Flip the chops over and repeat the salt and then spoon the garlic and herbs slurry over the other side:
Refrigerate the marinating mutton in the fridge for 2-24 hours.
Prep the Grill
We are going for two zone grilling here with coals and smoke wood on one side and the meat on the other side. The goal is to slow smoke the mutton first and then sear off on the hot side at the end. Additionally, the target temperature inside the cooking chamber is 275F (+/- 25F). Also, we used a pecan split for this cook.
If you don’t have access to pecan, click this link for the most complete list of smoke woods and what proteins they pair with and then find something that goes with lamb or mutton that you can find in your area.
Also, if you are wondering about the shirt. That’s the chemical make up of coffee.
Yeah, I’m a dork.
A coffee loving dork!
How to Make Marinated and Grilled Mutton Chops
Combine the garlic, herbs, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk quickly. Salt the mutton chops, spoon the marinade over both sides and refrigerate for 2-24 hours. Prepare the grill for two zone grilling with 275F (+/- 25F) as the target temp in the cooking chamber. Smoke the mutton chops indirect until they reach 90F internal and then remove them from the grill and crank up the hot side to raging hot (500F+). Sear the chops on both sides until they reach an internal temperature of 120F-125F for rare. If you wish to go to medium rare, smoke until they hit 100F and then sear and take them to 130F-135F.
Spoon more of the marinade over and place the grilled mutton chops on the indirect side for a few minutes for an intense herbal/garlicky flavor.
Step-by-Step Foolproof Grilling Instructions
Place the mutton chops on the side of the grill with no direct heat as well as a chunk of smoke wood on the hot coals:
Do not throw the marinade away:
We can use that later as a post marinade.
Close the lid and let these beauties smoke.
I’m planning on serving these grilled mutton chops about 125F (or rare), so I’m going to take them off the smoke at 90F and crank up the heat on the hot side of the grill:
If you’ve been on this site before, and seen one of my reverse seared steak recipes, I usually pull the steaks out of the smoke about 15F-20F short of my desired doneness.
So why am I pulling them 35F degrees short?
Because these baby steaks don’t take much searing to over shoot my desired internal temp up.
Even when almost 2 inches thick.
Either remove the mutton from the grill or place them as far from the heat as possible so they don’t cook any more while the hot coals are kicked into high gear:
It took about 40 minutes for the lamb to reach 90F degrees. But that number will vary greatly depending on the heat of the fire, size of the chops, fat content, etc. Thus cook to temp, not to time.
So crank up the hot side of the grill to be hades hot.
For this I busted out a gift from an Argentinian friend that helps stoke the fire.
He called it “Dragon’s Breath:”
Time to Sear our Grilled Mutton Chops
The hot side of the grill is now north of 500F so we are good to go to get some char on these lamb chops:
Two of my mutton chops are larger than the rest, so they go on the fire first:
After a minute or two of searing on those thicker chops, the rest are dropped over the hot side of the cooker:
Sear for 2-3 minutes on each side, although a little longer for the thicker ones:
Get some char on the other side with another 2-3 minutes:
More char on the other side:
We are not going for cross hatch grill marks. Just some char.
Remember, these are not that big so charring too much will overcook them.
We call these baby steaks for multiple reasons.
Once we have both sides of the grilled mutton chops charred nicely, remove from the hot side and place on the indirect side of the grill:
Post Marinade
Don’t forget that leftover marinade? If you want, you can spoon a little of that over the top of these grilled mutton chops.
Indeed, this is known as a post marinade.
Thus, the heat of the chops and closing the lid for a couple minutes will awaken the flavors in the marinade:
This will give the chops a more robust, herbal/garlicky flavor, but is completely optional:
Then, close the lid for a few minutes to soften those herbs and sweat that garlic.
Finally, remove the mutton chops from the grill:
Allow the grilled mutton chops to rest for a couple minutes and then slice:
I enjoy eating these like an apple:
This look says it all:
I highly recommend serving these baby steaks with these cowboy beans loaded with five types of beans, bourbon, brown sugar, onion, peppers, and a vinegar based BBQ sauce:
Marinated and Grilled Mutton Chops Summary:
I’ve said it for a long time that my favorite protein is lamb/mutton, which makes the BBQ in West Kentucky near and dear to my heart. A long weekend at Kentucky Lake, some tasty bourbon and that awesome BBQ is exactly what the doctor orders for me to unwind. OK, the doctor is me and I’m not really a doctor, but that prescription does the job every time. And this dish is a short term fix when I can’t make it to the lake.
The garlic and herbs at the end might be a little much for some, but it’s perfect for me. Maybe test it on a couple.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
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Full disclosure, I partnered with the tourism boards across West Kentucky on this post. As always, I never partner with anyone I don’t absolutely believe in. And I’ve been vacationing in West Kentucky for more than 40 years. And the West Kentucky BBQ Belt is awesome
Recipe Card:
Marinated and Grilled Mutton Chops
Ingredients
- 8 Thick mutton chops
- ¼ cup Fresh rosemary Rough chopped
- ⅛ cup Fresh thyme Rough chopped
- 5 cloves Fresh garlic Minced
- 1 cup Olive oil
- Salt
- Coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine the rosemary, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper into a bowl and blend quickly. Season the mutton chops with salt and spoon the marinade over each chop. Flip, salt and spoon marinade over the other side. Place the marinating lamb chops into the fridge for 2-24 hours.
- Prepare the grill for two zone grilling with hot coals and smoke wood on one side and nothing on the other. Target temperature inside the grill is 275F (+/- 25F). Place the mutton chops on the side of the grill with no direct heat and close the lid.
- When the mutton chops have reached about 90F internal, remove them from the grill and crank up the hot coals to north of 500F at the grill grate. Set the chops on top of the hot side of the grill and sear each side for 2-3 minutes until the lamb chops reach the desired doneness and remove the meat from the grill. We pulled these at 125F.
- Allow the mutton chops to rest for 2-3 minutes and serve.
Video
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