Barry’s lamb shoulder with mother sauce with Gaz’s oven to BBQ method

Method

1. To make the mother sauce, blitz all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and store in the fridge until ready to use.

2. To make the lamb, preheat the oven to 200°C.

3. Lightly score the skin of the lamb using a small sharp knife in a 2cm criss-cross pattern.

4. Rub a glug of sunflower oil all over the meat and put the lamb on a baking tray, then season well with salt (say, three good pinches) and a generous seasoning of pepper. Cover the tray securely with foil.

5. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes, then turn the heat down to 120°C and roast for a further 3–4 hours or as long as you want. Bear in mind, though, that if you cook it for longer than 4 hours, you’ll need to turn the oven down to 100°C.

6. An hour before you’re ready to eat, light your BBQ and wait for the coals to go white. Your lamb will be tender by this stage but still firm enough to lift on and off the BBQ. For this method you don’t need any faffing with onset or offset coals, as the lamb will be fully cooked already, but whacking it over a high heat will give the lamb some colour and that magnificent char we all love. So you want nice high coals and a nice hight heat, like doing a steak. You’ve done the hard work, now let’s flame it up and enjoy it.

7. Simply place the lamb over the high heat and close the lid with the vents three-quarters of the way closed. You want that bad boy up to 400°C+ and flames licking the meat for a good 5–6 minutes. Turn it over and pour the tray juices and fats over for the final few minutes. It will flare up and sizzle but only for a minute, so roll with it.

8. A lot of chefs will disagree, but I always go for a really, really good char, even if it’s slightly burnt. It’s only the exterior – the interior will be juicy and sweet and the sauce will bring it all together.

9. Just before serving, drizzle the lamb with 6–7 tablespoons of mother sauce and a big squeeze of lemon.