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• Medium well chop, glistening in its own juices

Most of my last weekend was spent in a medical conference. 15 hours in a hotel conference room listening to pharmacy laws, regulations, zzzzzzz. You get the drift. Cuisine was not a focus; I mustered up the enregy to try the turkey sandwich offered at lunch and the stale bread left me with a jaw that felt like it had been hit by a gorilla. Not surprisingly, I forgot lunch on Sunday and walked away with a hell of an appetite. I craved some something on my grill, but what? Red meat seemed heavy and chicken had worn out its welcome, but lamb, however, was just right.

I always get my lamb at our neighborhood Whole Foods and my favorite cut for grilling are shoulder chops, however they were fresh out (2nd time in a  row, whats up with that!) so I settled for 2 racks. I also picked up an apricot brandy grill sauce made by Napa Valley BBQ Co. Don't ask me why I got this; most of my friends know I always make up my menus and marinades last minute or on the fly. I was hungry, it seemed interesting, and it was coming home with the lamb. Necessity would force me to come up with a good rub for this lamb.

Garam Masala is the Indian version of Chinese five spice, but on a whole other astral plane. It is a roasted and ground preparation that contains coriander, cumin, peppercorns, bay leaves, chili, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, star anise and, of course, chilis. The foodies reading this can  already taste the complexity of flavor on their tongues. This, my grilling friends, is the perfect rub; a centuries old spice mixture that traverses the realms of spice, heat and sweet so well that it deserves its own separate blog.

I fortified the masala with paprika, kosher salt and ground szechuan peppercorns and massaged it well onto the racks of lamb which I had coated on olive oil. Once that spiced powder was well rubbed, I poured half the bottle of my apricot brandy glaze onto the racks and let this marinade while I lit my coals.

When I BBQ I almost always use the convection method: I arrange and light my charcoal on one side of the grill.  This gives me a "cool" side and allows a convection current to build.  This also prevents my marinade from being charred or burnt.

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• Garam masala lamb wiht apricot brandy glaze

I placed both racks on the cool side, meat side down and let cook for 20 minutes before I flipped them and left them for another 20-25 minutes.  Once done I moved them to rest on my cutting board for another 15 minutes. Perfect timing for medium well.

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• Medium well chop, glistening in its own juices

The flavor was quite exquisite as lamb went  well with the fruity grill sauce.  The first bite yielded the sweet and spicy apricot brandy sauce, and as you chewed and massaged your tongue with that juicy, marbled meat those spices in the garam masala slowly infiltrated your palate, but not overwhelmingly.

The sauce is not tomato based and wont char with the indirect cooking method.  IN fact at the halfway point I actually did move the racks to sear on the hot side.  As pretty as it looked I do believe that that may have cost me some of the flavor I worked hard for in my marinade. Some folks, however, love that char flavor as part and parcel of grilling. To char or not to char... just go whichever way your tongue tells you.

Here is the recipe:

Rub a rack of lamb in olive oil and rub well with the following:

1-2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper

1-2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup garam masala

Mix and rub these dry ingredients well and coat evenly onto the lamb. Place the rack in a mixing bowl, pour the sauce over it and leave to marinade. Save some of the grill sauce.

Place the rack on the cool side of your gill, meat side down and cover. Turn after 20 minutes and allow to cook for another 20 minutes. Remove from grill, lightly baste with remainder of the grill sauce and allow meat to rest for another 10-15 minutes.

Slice your rack into double chops, grab some paper towels and dive into it like a caveman!

Now I do believe there is a time for etiquette, but when it comes to a rack of lamb I think knives and forks are Victorian tools meant to suppress our gastronomic pleasures. So get your hands dirty.

ps: I am sure I will regret this but I have included the link to a small video of me setting up the coals for a convection/indirect cooking method. Now the video is clearly for your entertainment, but look at the arrangement of the coals. Usually I put some of the instant light on the bottom and the regular on the top. This way I use the instant light ones as a starter and I don thave to use starter fuel or babysit the fire to be sure it catches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNgXutiVcoM