Rum marinated leg of lamb with a decadent spicy chocolate sauce.

One method of pairing rum and food is to consider the flavor profiles of your rum. Perhaps a rum with hints of orange peel, almond, caramel and vanilla could be paired with ingredients of the similar nature:

• A nice pot still rum goes well with spicy foods. The robust flavors counter the heat. Try Appleton Extra, El Dorado 5 or El Dorado 15 yr.
• To pair with a light salad, you might go with a Cuban style rum. Anything heavier, and you wont enjoy your salad, perhaps Matusalem Clasico. If there is seafood included in the salad, go with Brugal Anejo.
• For heavier dinner courses like beef or lamb, a good sweet dark rum would work. This would be a good place to have a Zaya or Zacapa.
• With a dessert, I would agree to have a dry aged rum like Mt Gay XO or Flor de Cana 7 or 18 yr.
• If its just a Digestif, have fun with it, maybe Castries, One Barrel, or Cruzan Black Strap.

Rum marinated  leg of lamb with a decadent spicy chocolate sauce

The rum selected to marinate the leg of lamb was Angostura 7 year old. This rum is aged for a minimum of seven years in ‘once used’ bourbon casks until it can be bottled and enjoyed to the full. It is  packed with mouth watering flavours that include maple, chocolate, honey and toffee and presents a rich full-bodied taste that tapers off in to the classic rum finish. This rum was perfect since it completed the bitter notes of the chocolate and it was powerful enough to lend itself to the fragrant aromatics.

The leg of lamb was marinated over-nite with the rum and infused with rosemary, garlic, fresh cracked black pepper. It was placed on a roasting pan with a bed of potatoes, carrots and white onions.

.Melted dark chocolate couverture, a healthy serving of cayenne pepper, grated fresh garlic and Angostura 7 year old was the decadent chocolate sauce.

.After being roasted and rested, it was sliced thickly and drizzled with the chocolate rum sauce.