Hāngī-Style Lamb Leg

In a real hāngī the leg goes into a wire basket over stones that have been heating on a fire for three or four hours, gets covered with wet sacking, and disappears under soil until it's done. The result doesn't taste smoked — it tastes steamed, with a faint mineral wood note running through the meat and the kūmara alike. Above ground you'll get more smoke and less earth, so the honest move is to wrap early and let the steam phase do most of the work.

A bone-in leg has two honest doneness targets: pink at 135F, or fall-apart at 200-205F. Hāngī is the second one, and everything between 150 and 190 is tough, gray, and disappointing. Pick the far target and commit. The kūmara isn't garnish either — it soaks the lamb fat and it's half of why anyone shows up.

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in leg of lamb, 6-7 lbs
• 3 Tbsp coarse salt, 1 Tbsp coarse black pepper
• 6 garlic cloves, slivered
• 2 lbs kūmara or orange sweet potato, big chunks
• 1 1/2 lbs potatoes, halved
• 1 lb pumpkin, 2-inch chunks
• 1 head cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
• 1 cup water or unsalted stock
• Deep foil pan and heavy-duty foil

Cook Sequence

1. Cut knife-tip slits all over the leg and push a garlic sliver into each one. Salt and pepper heavy, then an hour on the counter.
2. 275F indirect with three kiawe chunks. Leg on the grate fat cap up, uncovered, about 2 hours to 150F. This is your only smoke window — the wrap ends it.
3. Root vegetables and the cup of liquid into the foil pan, leg laid on top, sealed with two layers of foil crimped hard at the rim. A leaky seal gives you roast lamb, not hāngī lamb.
4. Back on at 275F for another 1.5-2 hours. Cabbage wedges in for the last 40 minutes.
5. Pull at 200-205F, confirmed by twisting the shank bone with two fingers — it should turn freely.
6. Rest the sealed pan 45 minutes minimum. Cutting the foil early vents the steam and the leg tightens up on you.
7. Lift the meat off in big pieces, mash the kūmara roughly into the pan juices, and put it on the table in the pan it cooked in.

Round Out the Plate

• Hawaiian Sweet Potato — the stand-in when kūmara isn't at your market
• Crispy Smashed Potatoes — something crisp on a plate of soft
• Everyday Cabbage Salad — raw and sharp next to four hours of steam