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Wine and Honey Lamb may be thousands of years old. In this version we take rack of lamb, which is marinated overnight in wine and honey before being seared and then slow cooked on a charcoal grill to a lovely medium rare.
My love affair with lamb is well documented on GrillinFools.com. Is love affair too harsh a term? Maybe infatuation with the succulent red meat that has me craving it more often then not is a better way of saying it? My favorite grilling meat is lamb and it’s not even close. I’m not exactly sure why I love lamb so much. As a red meat it’s pretty bland and begs for a marinade, which is why I may love it so much as it takes on the flavors of a marinade more than just about any other meat. Normally I will slather it with basil pesto or maybe a leg of lamb or a lamb shoulder (which is cooked exactly like pork shoulder but better), but this time I went a little more complex and was quite pleased with the results in this Wine and Honey Lamb recipe
Wine and Honey Lamb Ingredients:
- 2 lamb racks, approximately 1.25 pounds each
- 1 cup dry white wine (not pictured because all I had was some cheap stuff I was too embarrassed to put on the site. Don’t scoff, you know you have a bottle of some yellowtail or barefoot or even a box around somewhere.)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 of a small onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp lemon or lime juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
I planned on putting rosemary in with this recipe, but I was out of it and found that it didn’t really need it.
I also used no salt. Indeed, the soy sauce was enough.
I mixed all the ingredients but the rack of lamb in a plastic bag and churned them together to get the honey to dissolve and then added the lamb racks:
Soak in the marinade for a minimum of 2 hours, the longer the better. These soaked overnight.
The next day when I opened the bag, the aroma was intoxicating. I wanted to put the opening of the bag around my nose and mouth and breath in and out like someone hyperventilating would with a paper bag. Next time I do this, I’m making a reduction sauce out of the marinade. The smell alone was enough to try this recipe
Here’s the two lamb racks ready to go on the grill with plenty of that marinade still sticking to the meat:
How to Grill Wind and Honey Lamb
Don’t bother wiping or washing all that delicious marinade off. That’s your ticket to flavor town. Thus, don’t remove it.
I set up the grill for two zone grilling with coals on the right and nothing on the left.
I put the rack of lamb bone side down right over the coals:
After about four minutes I flipped them to give the meat side a good sear:
Don’t be afraid if you get some blackening.
The marinade has honey in it, remember?
The sugars will blacken a lot faster than the meat will burn.
Even if it looks like this, it’s still good to go:
Another four minutes of grilling over high heat and the meat side of our rack of lamb looks like this:
As I’m going for maximum flavor crust here, I didn’t stop searing there.
What about the bottom?
Thus, by using those bones to balance the racks, I can stand them up and get more sear action:
Time to Bake
After four minutes on the bottoms, I pulled the lamb racks to the side with no coals to bake until done and close the lid:
Here’s where I got into a little trouble.
I had way too much ash in the bottom of the grill and I could only get the chamber up to about 200:
Normally, I would bake these at about 275-300F for 10-12 minutes to get a perfect rare-medium rare.
But with the temps so low in the chamber, I had to slide the rack of lamb almost on top of the coals and bake for 20 minutes to get an internal temp of 135F:
After 20 minutes, I pulled them from the grill and put them inside to rest for five minutes to let the excited juices come to a rest and redistribute throughout the meat before slicing.
Here’s a second money shot from the one above just because I love lamb that much:
Wine and Honey Lamb Recap
The glistening juice on the side of that lamb lollipop was as good as it looks. I devoured both racks. I know, way too much and it explains my widening middle, but I couldn’t help it. With as much as lamb is these days, I couldn’t justify reheating rack of lamb the next day. There’s a reason flavor town is right next to bulgeburg.
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Recipe Card:
Wine and Honey Lamb
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry white wine not pictured because all I had was some cheap stuff I was too embarrassed to put on the site. Don’t scoff, you know you have a bottle of some yellowtail or barefoot or even a box around somewhere.
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ small onion chopped
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp lemon or lime juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 lamb racks approximately 1.25 pounds each
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients but the lamb in resealable plastic bag, churning around until the honey is dissolved
- Add the lamb and reseal
- Place the lamb in the fridge for 2-12 hours
- Remove the lamb from the plastic bag, but do not take all the marinade off
- Prepare the grill for two zone/indirect grilling with coals on one side and nothing on the other
- Place the meat right over the coals bone side down and leave it there till there is a nice char
- Flip over and get a char on the other side
- Remove to the side with no heat until the lamb reaches the desired internal temperature
- Remove from the heat, let rest for 4-6 minutes, slice between the bones and serve
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