Sichuan Smoked Lamb Belly
Rolled lamb belly smoked low and slow until it gives up, chilled, sliced and grilled over the coals, then piled onto cold sesame noodles in a Sichuan dressing with smashed cucumber and crack dust peanuts. LUKE VANDORE-MACKAY of High Grange builds it on the Leviathan offset, finished hot and fast on the Arcadian Pro.
Ingredients
SERVES 4 TO 6
Allergens: cereals containing gluten (wheat noodles), soya (soy sauce, doubanjiang), sesame (tahini, sesame oil and seeds), peanuts. sulphites.
THE LAMB
1 lamb breast, boned and rolled, from Edenmoor
Rub:
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp salt
½ tbsp sugar
½ tbsp MSG and
½ tbsp ground Sichuan pepper
40ml Chinkiang black vinegar
25ml light soy sauce
20ml Sichuan chilli oil, sediment and all
½ tbsp rapeseed oil
½ tbsp toasted sesame oil
15ml water
25g caster sugar
8g doubanjiang (Pixian chilli bean paste)
8g garlic, finely grated
5g fresh ginger, finely grated
1 spring onion, very finely sliced
½ tsp roasted ground Sichuan pepper
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Fine salt and MSG, to taste
This still makes more than you need. It keeps happily in the fridge and improves most things it meets.
300g fresh wheat noodles (or 200g dried), cooked, rinsed cold
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1 cucumber, smashed and sliced
A couple of handfuls of roasted peanuts
High Grange crack dust: 10g each of nori, ground cumin, ground Sichuan pepper, sugar, salt and MSG, blitzed to a fine powder
The crack dust makes a batch. Use it like seasoned salt, season to taste, and keep the rest in a jar for anything that needs waking up.
Method
1. Mix the rub ingredients together and cover the rolled breast all over.
2. Smoke low and slow on the offset until the lamb reaches 92°C internal and the fat has rendered to silk. Probe it rather than guessing by time.
3. Chill overnight so it firms, then cut into thin slices. A warm belly tears; a cold one slices clean and crisps beautifully on the grill.
4. Whisk the dressing ingredients until the sugar dissolves and the doubanjiang is worked through, and leave it half an hour to settle. Blitz the crack dust and toss it through the peanuts. Smash the cucumber with the flat of a knife and slice.
5. For the noodles, whisk the tahini, soy and sesame oil together, toss through the cold noodles, then fold in the spring onions and sesame seeds.
6. Grill the lamb slices hot and fast over the coals until charred at the edges and hot through. Noodles down first, cucumber next, lamb on top, dressing spooned over generously, peanuts to finish. Your lips will hum. That is the Sichuan pepper, and it is meant to.
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Method
1. Mix the rub ingredients together and cover the rolled breast all over.
2. Smoke low and slow on the offset until the lamb reaches 92°C internal and the fat has rendered to silk. Probe it rather than guessing by time.
3. Chill overnight so it firms, then cut into thin slices. A warm belly tears; a cold one slices clean and crisps beautifully on the grill.
4. Whisk the dressing ingredients until the sugar dissolves and the doubanjiang is worked through, and leave it half an hour to settle. Blitz the crack dust and toss it through the peanuts. Smash the cucumber with the flat of a knife and slice.
5. For the noodles, whisk the tahini, soy and sesame oil together, toss through the cold noodles, then fold in the spring onions and sesame seeds.
6. Grill the lamb slices hot and fast over the coals until charred at the edges and hot through. Noodles down first, cucumber next, lamb on top, dressing spooned over generously, peanuts to finish. Your lips will hum. That is the Sichuan pepper, and it is meant to.
Credits: Luke Vandore-Mackay of High Grange; Leviathan offset and Arcadian Pro; lamb from Edenmoor.
