Smoked Lamb Shanks, Baked Figs with Mint & Pomegranate Couscous

Smoked lamb shanks are incredible, as they are full of connective tissue that breaks down into an amazingly tender meat lollipop. We’ve paired our cook here with some lovely rubs, glazes and a salad of sorts, with pearl couscous, mint, pomegranate and baked figs done with our favourite drizzle, Blend Smoked Honey.

We cooked these a little higher than normal temp wise, and they didn’t take long at all to get done, only around 4 hours, but shanks can take up to 7 hours so go by feel rather than time. And if you don’t have Blend Smoked Honey, normal honey will do. But it’ll be less awesome.

Ingredients

• 2 x lamb shanks
• Moonshine BBQ Lamb Rub
• Lane’s Garlic 2 Rub (OPTIONAL)
• Black Magic or Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup Israeli pearl couscous
• 2 x pomegranates
• Bunch of mint
• 50ml olive oil
• 50ml lemon juice
• 20ml honey
• Blend Smoked Honey
• 4 x black figs
• Salt & Pepper
• Vegetable stock & rosemary (OPTIONAL)

Smoked Lamb Shanks METHOD

1. Heat your smoker to 275F. We use Heat Beads in the WSM, with the minion method
2. Trim the shanks of any big chunks of fat and sinew
3. Sprinkle over a base of Garlic 2, and a top rub of Moonshine BBQ Lamb Rub. The base layer is optional, but pairs really well with the lamb rub.
4. Add a chunk of cherry wood to the coals and place the lamb on the smoker and close the lid.
5. Do a temp check at about 3 hours, and if you’re happy with the colour, pop them in a tray of stock, stout and rosemary. If you prefer more bark, glaze with Black Magic, or if you want just tender meat, boat in a mix of honey and Worcestershire sauce in a foil tray, and return to the smoker.
6. When your shanks are about 10 degrees off, halve the figs and drizzle with honey. We used smoked honey for this, but any honey will do. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 180F, until there is a little caramelisation. Remove and cool.
7. Prepare your couscous per packet instructions, chop mint roughly and deseed the pomegranates but cutting them in half horizontally, give them a slight squeeze and tap on the top to remove the seeds
8. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, honey (use normal honey for this), salt and pepper and stir through the couscous
9. Once the shanks probe like butter, spoon a pile of couscous onto the plate, serve the shank on top and place the figs around the edge