Oak-smoked lamb with juniper, thyme and fig leaves

My recipe, or should I say my interpretation of a technique.

A technique more than a recipe, and one that I can’t claim any credit for as lamb has been smoked this way for longer than any of us have been alive. This is more of a collection of flavours that I lend to an old-fashioned method, and I think it works rather well.

I used ingredients that suited the moment really. On an August day, a hot sunny afternoon in the countryside, with a fig tree close to hand, its fruits not ripe yet, but the pungent leaves just asking to be used, bushes of juniper and pink thyme covering the ground and a pile of old dried oak ready to burn.

Perfect really.

Small branches of oak that we’ve dried over the last year, sawn into small kindling, a few of the thicker pieces, just right for a long slow smoulder. A small fire that will burn slowly at the freshly cut leaves and herbs that I lay on top, placing the lamb to render and caramelise little by little as the heat and smoke build.

You could stick to what I suggest if you like, but certainly you could deviate. You’ll need lamb, though I suppose again if you don’t like lamb you could use something else… brisket for instance, but then that would be another recipe entirely. And then also it wouldn’t be smoked lamb. And that would be fine. But that’s the beauty of cookery. It’s very flexible. I’ll often tell you not to be too constrained by recipes. When someone says that you must use half a teaspoon of black peppercorns, the world will not end if you were to use a quarter or even a whole teaspoon. It’s a guide. I’d probably say to you that you should use a few peppercorns, up to you how many. I’d trust that you knew what you were doing, and wouldn’t pour the entire contents of the pot into the pan.