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No. 21PortugueseLambKamado Joe

Portuguese Inferno Lamb Cutlets

A modern Portuguese-inspired grill, not one region's recipe. Roasted red pepper, piri-piri chilli, garlic, oregano and charcoal, with lamb that's crusted on the outside and pink all the way through.

John Drummond

Thick double lamb cutlets with charred crusts and bones up on a pale plate, one cut to show a pink centre, one under a spoon of red piri-piri sauce, beside an orange, fennel and green olive salsa, with crushed garlic potatoes and a jug of sauce behind
Prep45min
Cook40min
All up

1hr 25min+ 12–24 hours

Serves4
LevelMedium

Mise en place

What you need

Tick each one off as it goes in.

The lamb

Piri-piri butter

Garlic-punched potatoes

Orange, fennel and olive salsa

Makes 4 serves

What it came down to: - Thick double cutlets, not thin singles. At 3.5 cm through the eye there's time to render the fat and build a real crust before the middle overcooks. Two each. - Nothing on the raw meat but salt, the night before. A wet paste of garlic and paprika burns on a hot grill before the crust forms. - The fat caps go down first on a hot griddle. The rendered fat and the brown fond left on it, lifted with red wine vinegar, go into the sauce. That's what makes it taste of this lamb, not just sit beside it. - The sauce is fire-roasted capsicum and chilli, reduced so it clings, and mounted with butter at the end. No smoked paprika, no honey, no tomato paste. - No smoking wood. The charcoal and the charred peppers are enough.

Massa de pimentão is Portuguese salted red-pepper paste, from Portuguese delis and online. It's salty, so taste before adding any more salt.

Big Joe on the weekend, gas BBQ with a cast-iron plate on a weeknight. The method gives both.

The pull temperature is a chef's medium-rare (56–58°C on the plate). That's below the official guidance for lamb, which is 63°C with a 3-minute rest. For anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or unwell, cook to 63°C.

It hasn't been made in this exact form yet.

AI reviewed by Grok, Codex & Claude

The method

Fourteen moves.

  1. Lamb, Salt

    The night before. Pat dry. Score the fat caps every 15 mm, without cutting into the eye. Salt evenly. On a rack, uncovered, in the fridge, 12–24 hours.

  2. Peppers, Char

    Over the hottest part of the grill or a gas flame. The capsicums and one long chilli until blistered and black in patches, not cinders. The two skin-on garlic cloves on the cool side until soft. Capsicums covered in a bowl, 10 minutes. Peel off the black skin, seed them, and keep the flesh and the clean red juices, not the ash.

  3. Sauce, Build

    In a small pan, 30 ml of the oil, the two other long chillies sliced and the sliced garlic, 3–4 minutes, until the garlic's blond and the oil's red. Off the heat, stir in the paprika and massa for 15 seconds.

    Blend that with the peppers and their juices, the charred chilli, the soft garlic, the last 10 ml oil, the oregano, one bird's-eye (seeds out) and 15 ml of the vinegar. Back in the pan, simmer 5–6 minutes until a spoon leaves a short trail and it still falls in a ribbon. Taste.

    A second bird's-eye only if it's polite.

  4. Film, Split

    Take 1 tbsp of the sauce into a cup with the 2 tsp oil. That's the grill film for all eight. The brush that touches raw lamb never goes back in the sauce pot.

  5. Potatoes, Boil

    Oven to 225°C fan. Potatoes in the salted water, 12–15 minutes, until a skewer just slips in. Drain and steam-dry 5 minutes. Crack each one to about 2 cm with the flat of a knife.

  6. Potatoes, Roast

    Fry the sliced garlic in 15 ml of the oil with the paprika until blond, then lift out the chips. Pour that oil and the rest of the oil onto a tray, potatoes in, 30–35 minutes, until the cracks are crisp and lacy. Garlic chips, parsley and flaky salt go on at the table.

  7. Salsa, Toss

    Just before serving. Everything together, lightly glossed, not swimming.

  8. Big Joe, Light

    Lump charcoal only, no wood. Half-moon deflector in, so one side's direct and one's cool. Lid down until the dome reads about 230°C, then cook lid up. Clean grates. Heat a cast-iron griddle on the hot side until a drop of oil shimmers at once. If it's smoking hard, it'll burn the fond.

  9. Caps, Render

    Pat the chops dry. Rub on the 2 tsp oil, and flaky salt on the caps only. Stand four chops on their caps on the griddle, about 2 minutes, eye clear of the fat, until golden. Then the other four. Pour off the fat if it smells sweet and looks clear gold; bin it if it's black or acrid.

    Straight away, while the griddle's hot, the other 15 ml of vinegar. Scrape up the brown fond, 15–20 seconds, until the vinegar smell goes sweet. Into a cup. Griddle off the fire.

  10. Chops, Sear

    Faces on the clean grate over the coals. First side, don't move it, about 2 minutes. Turn; second side 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Brush the film on the caps and the top face, and keep the caps toward the heat. Probe from the side into the middle of the eye, away from bone. Pull at 52–54°C. Less pink: pull at 57–58°C. Early ones go over the deflector.

  11. Chops, Rest

    6 minutes, uncovered, on a rack. No foil. They'll climb about 3–4°C.

  12. Sauce, Finish

    While they rest. Warm the sauce gently and take it off the heat. Stir in the fond vinegar and up to 10 g of the sweet lamb fat. Whisk in the cold butter at 55–60°C, never simmering. Then the half clove of raw garlic and the lemon juice. It should coat a spoon and taste of sweet pepper, fried chilli, vinegar and lamb.

  13. Plate, Up

    Hot plates. Two chops each, bones up, fat cap toward the eater. A tablespoon of sauce across one face so the char still shows. The rest in a warm jug. Salsa beside, never under the meat. Potatoes in their dish.

  14. On the Gas BBQ

    A cast-iron plate over one side of the burners, the other side off. Lid down, burners high, 15 minutes. Warm the chops on the off side, lid down, until they read 38–40°C inside, then 5 minutes on a rack.

    Render the caps on the plate, deglaze and pour off as above, wipe the plate, and let it get hot again. Sear the faces on the plate, about a minute a side, and brush the film on. Same pull, same rest. Gas grates alone won't give this crust. Contains dairy (butter). Olives can contain sulphites.

    Gluten-free only if the paprika and massa labels say so.

Keep wandering

From the same volume.

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Portuguese Inferno Lamb Cutletsserves 4 · 1 hr 25 min + 12–24 hours