Why Chefs Insist On Hitting Their Lamb With Fresh Rosemary

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In the age of food influencers and cooking shows, eating can sometimes feel like a spectacle. Sparklers in cocktails are the perfect example of this, serving no purpose other than to bring an empty wow factor to the table. We'd rather have substance. Or better yet, we'd rather see techniques that look cool while making food tastier. This is why we're big fans of practices like setting food on fire, which actually alters the chemistry of ingredients. Our latest obsession? Slapping lamb with rosemary.

We've seen chefs do this before and wondered if it was just a gimmick. To put our doubts to rest, we caught up with BBQ Hall of Famer Craig Goldwyn, better known as Meathead, while attending the SmokeSlam BBQ Festival in Memphis, Tennessee. Meathead is known for writing about the science of grilling on his site AmazingRibs.com and in books like "The Meathead Method," so he was the perfect person to ask about the legitimacy of this technique. 

"It's just that the rosemary has a lot of oil in it," he told The Takeout. "If you've ever walked past a rosemary bush and just run it through your fingers, you know you'll stink for an hour." And this flavorful oil is best used superficially, hence the slapping. "If you cut [a sprig] off and you just slap it on the meat, those oils come out, and they flavor the meat," he said. 

However, skipping this step and just putting the leaves on the meat might mean that you won't "get as much flavor as if you break those oil pouches open," explained the pit master. Science has spoken, and the verdict is in: Hitting your lamb with rosemary works.

People in the United States don't seem to cook or eat lamb as much as they should. The reason behind this strange aversion is a great mystery that may not ever be resolved, but Meathead has a theory: "I think what happened is my parents and a lot of people of their generation got sheep, not lamb. They got mature animals, and they stewed them. It's not terribly great, and a lot of kids were put off by it." To be fair, the meat from full-grown sheep, known as mutton, is delicious when cooked the right way, though it's true that it can have an unpleasantly chewy texture and overpowering taste in the hands of inexperienced cooks.

Lamb, however, is a very different type of meat. "Lamb should be treated like beef," Meathead said. For him, that means grilling it, and he doesn't suggest cooking it to an internal temperature any greater than 140 degrees Fahrenheit. One of the biggest mistakes beginners make with lamb is overcooking it, so he's definitely right about the temperature. 

Elevate your lamb further with Meathead's sheep dip marinade, which he describes as "very simple." It has garlic, rosemary, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sesame oil. The best part is that the marinating time is brief — about half an hour — which is enough to give the surface more flavor. Of course, make sure you buy some fresh rosemary and complete the ritual of slapping the lamb with it. If you follow these tidbits of advice, Meathead thinks that "even if you've never liked lamb, there's a good chance you will."