Grilled Lamb Chops with Garlic and Rosemary
Four ingredients on the meat, twelve minutes on the grate. Cook it the first night out of the cooler.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 74
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Lamb rib chops | 1 1/2 lb | about eight small chops, frozen flat at home |
|---|---|---|
| Garlic | 4 cloves | or 1 tsp granulated garlic if you would rather not carry a head |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Rosemary | 2 tsp | dried works; crush it between your fingers |
| Black pepper | to taste |
Method
- At camp, mince the garlic and stir it with the salt, rosemary, and oil in the bag the chops are in. Work it around until every chop is coated.
- Leave the bag in the cooler for thirty minutes. Longer is fine. This is a good time to build the fire.
- Get the grate hot over coals, not flames. Hold a hand above it: four seconds is about right.
- Lay the chops down and leave them alone for three minutes. Rotate each one a quarter turn and give it two more.
- Flip and repeat. Rib chops are thin, so pull them at medium-rare unless you like them grey.
- Rest the chops on a plate for five minutes before anyone touches them.
This started as a cast iron grill pan recipe, which is a stove problem, not a camp problem. Over a fire the method is the same: hot grate, four turns, no lid. The quarter-turn rotation is not decoration. It gives you crosshatch contact and, more usefully, it forces you to leave the meat alone long enough to build a crust.
The marinade is four things because lamb does not need more. Salt and oil do the work of getting seasoning onto fat that is about to render into the coals. Fresh rosemary is better if you have a plant at home to cut from, but dried is close enough and it survives a week in a pack. Do the whole thing in the bag the chops thawed in and you are down to a plate and a pair of tongs.
Packing
Freeze the chops flat in a heavy zip bag and pack them at the bottom of the cooler as part of your ice. Premix the salt, dried rosemary, and pepper in a film canister at home. Oil rides in a small bottle. The marinade happens inside the meat bag, so nothing else gets dirty.
Variations
- Grill halved lemons cut-side down alongside and squeeze them over at the end.
- Same rub works on pork chops or a flank steak if lamb is out of your budget.
- Add a spoon of dijon to the oil for a marinade that clings harder to the meat.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/grilled-lamb-chops-with-garlic-rosemary