- Joined
- Sep 5, 2013
- Location
- Auckland, NZ
Hi there. I previously recorded the smoke of a lamb shoulder for pulled lamb http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=203522 . With 70 for lunch on Saturday, I am providing pork ribs, beef ribs and pulled lamb (this in rolls). I decided to do the lamb early so Saturday morning wasn't too rushed. I am recording here to show the refinements over the last cook.
I bought 4 shoulders - the front end of two lambs. These are small animals and overall this was 22.25lbs pre-cook. I finished the cook with a tad over 10lbs of pulled meat.
I cooked for 9 hours at around 250. This is lower than I normally cook, but because the lambs are pretty fatty, I wanted to get out as much as possible. I used water in the 22" WSM to try and keep yields up. I had one shoulder go over 200F, the rest were 188F-195F. They were all well-and-truly done, probing like butter.
Preparation was straightforward - I injected with juice (apple & peach mix), rubbed with some Middle Eastern blends (names shown below). I did use a bit of apple and cherry for smoke, but not a lot - lamb for me has to have a very light smoke touch. I start the charcoal ring pretty full, and it did last the whole smoke, but just. The water sucks up a lot of energy. I start with the 1/3 chimney in the middle. I add wood chips/chunks when up to temp. Most of the cook is done with one vent only required (and partial even then). Top vent always 100% open.
I cooked two shoulders per tray, used a tray (with juice in it) because I knew there would be a TON of fat coming off - which there was - I had over 2lbs of dripping and juices in these trays at the end.
I am very happy with the cook and the results. Things I would do differently next time:
1. The rub doesn't make much difference because the skin on sheep is kinda impervious to rubs. I would consider including some rub in the injection.
2. Wrap after about 4-5 hours - I think the yields could be higher with no loss in any way as the bark is not a big thing with pulled lamb. Not like it can be with pulled pork at times.
3. Shorter cook. I was influenced by my last cook which on the same shoulder found the meat in part not pullable at around 190F. In this case it was perfectly OK at 188F (and I suspect lower) so I would cook less time and to a lower temp (my main criteria though is the probe-worthiness).
4. This is an expensive cook - total meat was NZD$171, USD$118, makes for USD$11.80 per cooked pound of meat. Nice meat though
I can't wait to try this cold today for lunch (just a taste-test for Saturday) - cold lamb is pretty good stuff, if you can get past all the grease!
I bought 4 shoulders - the front end of two lambs. These are small animals and overall this was 22.25lbs pre-cook. I finished the cook with a tad over 10lbs of pulled meat.
I cooked for 9 hours at around 250. This is lower than I normally cook, but because the lambs are pretty fatty, I wanted to get out as much as possible. I used water in the 22" WSM to try and keep yields up. I had one shoulder go over 200F, the rest were 188F-195F. They were all well-and-truly done, probing like butter.
Preparation was straightforward - I injected with juice (apple & peach mix), rubbed with some Middle Eastern blends (names shown below). I did use a bit of apple and cherry for smoke, but not a lot - lamb for me has to have a very light smoke touch. I start the charcoal ring pretty full, and it did last the whole smoke, but just. The water sucks up a lot of energy. I start with the 1/3 chimney in the middle. I add wood chips/chunks when up to temp. Most of the cook is done with one vent only required (and partial even then). Top vent always 100% open.
I cooked two shoulders per tray, used a tray (with juice in it) because I knew there would be a TON of fat coming off - which there was - I had over 2lbs of dripping and juices in these trays at the end.
I am very happy with the cook and the results. Things I would do differently next time:
1. The rub doesn't make much difference because the skin on sheep is kinda impervious to rubs. I would consider including some rub in the injection.
2. Wrap after about 4-5 hours - I think the yields could be higher with no loss in any way as the bark is not a big thing with pulled lamb. Not like it can be with pulled pork at times.
3. Shorter cook. I was influenced by my last cook which on the same shoulder found the meat in part not pullable at around 190F. In this case it was perfectly OK at 188F (and I suspect lower) so I would cook less time and to a lower temp (my main criteria though is the probe-worthiness).
4. This is an expensive cook - total meat was NZD$171, USD$118, makes for USD$11.80 per cooked pound of meat. Nice meat though
I can't wait to try this cold today for lunch (just a taste-test for Saturday) - cold lamb is pretty good stuff, if you can get past all the grease!
