![\"Butterfly](\"https:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/butterfly-leg.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThanks to a combination of the recent spell of good weather, a lovely customer and a leg of lamb, I enjoyed a truly great barbecue experience. I know I\u2019ve mentioned barbecuing quite a bit recently, but one of the hallmarks of the traditional Irish barbecue is that we tend to play it safe and cook individual items like steaks, burgers, sausages or kebabs. Far too few of us are brave enough to try and barbecue an entire joint of meat for the whole family to enjoy, but if you stick with me this week I might just encourage you to take the plunge. If you follow the instructions I can promise you a culinary triumph.<\/p>\n
Perhaps my favourite thing about working in the shop is that I get to meet so many people. As the years have gone by many of my customers have become friends, mainly through the bond of our shared love of food. People who have an interest and a genuine love of good food are also usually quite generous souls. To be honest, the food hobby practically demands it.\u00a0\u00a0 We can\u2019t help our selves; we love to share recipes, techniques, different food combinations, interesting ingredients or ingredients used in interesting ways. Listen in on food conversations and you\u2019ll hear lots of, \u201chave you tried\u2026..\u201d, \u201cthe secret is\u2026\u2026\u201d, \u201cI find that\u2026..\u201d; always with wonderful gems and nuggets tacked on that not only improve your own cooking and eating but little tips and tweaks that can revolutionise an entire dish.\u00a0\u00a0 Food is all about sharing, nurturing and giving. Unlike say fashion, sport or investments which often rely on covetousness or at least withholding information in order to be successful, people who like to cook generally like to cook for other people. Recently a very good friend of mind received a wonderful gift of a Kitchen Aid food mixer; the Rolls Royce of baking equipment if ever there was one! Since she acquired it we are all enjoying batches of cup cakes, lemon slices and decadent chocolate cakes. That\u2019s just the nature of food lovers; generous to a fault.<\/p>\n
Because of this generosity and compulsion to share, I was the lucky recipient of a wonderful recipe for barbecued butterflied leg of lamb by one of my customers. It was one of those recipes that just sounded good even on paper, so naturally I couldn\u2019t wait to try it. Butterflied leg of lamb is something that has become very trendy and fashionable recently. I\u2019m quite the purist when it comes to leg of lamb. I like it cooked on the bone with traditional additions such as rosemary and garlic, however cooking it on a barbecue is another matter entirely and so this method is super. Put simply, to butterfly a leg of lamb you just get your butcher to remove the bone and that way you end up with a large piece of meat that you can lay flat onto the barbecue. By the way, butterflied leg of lamb works just as well in the oven.<\/p>\n