Guava-Mint Rack of Lamb

Paniolo predate the American cowboy. Mexican vaqueros came to the Big Island in the 1830s to handle the cattle running wild after Vancouver's gift to Kamehameha, and the Hawaiian word for them came from español. Sheep arrived on the same tide and went feral up the slopes of Mauna Kea, where they've been hunted and ranched ever since. Lamb here isn't a novelty import — it's ranch food.

Guava earns the glaze slot because it grows wild in the same uplands as the sheep; strawberry guava is a genuine pest through the forest. It brings the acid that mint jelly was always reaching for and enough natural pectin to lacquer without a cornstarch crutch. The mint stays raw and goes in off the heat — cooked mint turns brown and tastes like tea.

Ingredients

• 2 frenched racks of lamb, 8 bones each, about 1 1/2 lbs per rack
• 1 Tbsp coarse salt, 2 tsp coarse black pepper
• 3/4 cup guava jelly (or 1/2 cup guava paste loosened with 2 Tbsp water)
• 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp shoyu
• 1 garlic clove, crushed; 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped fine
• Neutral oil

Cook Sequence

1. Cross-hatch the fat cap 1/8 inch deep, fat only, no cuts into the eye. Salt and pepper both sides and leave 30 minutes at room temp.
2. 250F indirect with one kiawe chunk. Racks bone side down, fat cap up, bones facing away from the fire.
3. Smoke to 118-120F, roughly 35-40 minutes. Probe the center of the eye, well clear of the bone, or you'll read low and overshoot.
4. While it rides, warm the guava jelly with the vinegar, shoyu, garlic, and ginger until smooth, pull it off the heat, and stir the mint in cold.
5. Rake the coals hot, 550F. Fat cap straight down, direct, 60-90 seconds. The score lines open and the cap goes crackling brown — it flares, so don't walk away.
6. Off the fire at 125F. Brush the glaze onto warm meat only; glazing over flame is just burning sugar in public.
7. Rest 8 minutes tented loose, cut into double chops, and give the cut faces a second pass of glaze at the board. What's left goes in a bowl on the table.

Round Out the Plate

• Crispy Smashed Potatoes — crisp edges to drag through the guava
• Tomato Salad — acid to keep a sweet glaze honest