Tips for How to Roast a Whole Lamb

Roasting a whole lamb doesn’t need to be intimidating — just make it a community event.

By Maggie Mcguire
Updated on November 2, 2022
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by Maggie McGuire
Encourage your guests to help out with the roast and to contribute side dishes to the meal.

Don’t be intimidated by roasting a whole lamb. Follow these tips for how to find a whole lamb for sale, and how to cook a lamb roast with your community.

Few things look as festive or bring a community together more spectacularly than roasting a whole animal. The smell of wood smoke and roasting meat and the sounds of laughter and fire could waft from the coast of Italy, an island in Greece, the playa of Argentina — or a vacant lot in Detroit.

Detroit is made up of small neighborhoods, each with its own character and community. In recent years, a surge of interest in urban agriculture has brought natural treasures to unexpected places: a flower farm in an industrial area, a new grove of fruit trees, and a large-scale urban farm in a public park.

Last year, in a little neighborhood in Detroit, my friend Sam and I held a spring lamb roast for his birthday. Our friends and neighbors celebrated on a small farm created from formerly vacant lots, gathering around a fire until dark.

More than any real technical problem, the main barrier to your first lamb roast will be how intimidating roasting a whole animal can seem. Take these tips to heart and allow yourself time to loosen up, enjoy your guests, and savor the smoke.

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