Slow Lamb shoulder in Weber Family Q

[brontsy]

Giving lamb shoulder with bone in a crack today. Followed recipe from Cumulus restaurant for a dry rub which I did night before.
2 garlic cloves, crushed
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons salt

Put the lamb on at 0830 this morning and have had the family Q hovering around 100c all day by turning outside burner off and inside burner in between high and off, just enough so it doesn’t flicker out. The internal meat temp was at 57c after 3hrs. I managed to get it to 72c after 5hrs but it stalled there so I wrapped it with foil and pushed the Weber temp up to 105 - can’t get it to sit nicely at 110c.

It seems to have kicked off again - internal temp at 76c now after 6 hours with another 2 1/2 hours cooking. Then hope to rest for an hour. Bit worried it won’t get it up to temperature in time for friends coming over but see how it goes! I’ll post some pics and an update once finished.

[Davo]

After cooking that long it's done....72C internal is not bad....I would've rested it then opened to cool a bit.....turn the grill on high and give the meat a finishing char (reverse sear) all over till it's nicely charred, although I would've prefered to have done that when the roast hit 60C internal....maybe next time.

Where reverse searing is good is that it uses the surface juices of the meat to assist with the outside charred finish.


Cheers

Davo

[brontsy]

Ok thanks Davo. I thought I read in a few forums that it needs to cook in the 80’s for a while to breakdown the fat since it’s a shoulder?

[Davo]

Ok thanks Davo. I thought I read in a few forums that it needs to cook in the 80’s for a while to breakdown the fat since it’s a shoulder?

That would be pork shoulder....lamb would be a lot more tender

If you want it shredded, perhaps cook it slowly till it falls apart but a nicely charred leg of lamb would have a lot of flavour...mmmm lamb!! I think by your description you've done enough to the lamb low n slow.


How this Yanky low n slow came about was during the pilgrim days, they had to find ways to feed a lot of people and the meats were very tough....so by cooking it for hours and hours on end was a way to break down the fibres and proteins of the meat. They didn't raise lambs in the US, it was mainly beef, buffalo, hogs.


I don't think even the Americans woud've done lamb low n slow as the lambs were more tender, especially at the age we kill them here.....hoggett was probably the only sheep that would've taken to a slower and longer cook as it was older and tougher.


Davo

[BBQ-Dad]

Hope it tastes good and your friends appreciate the effort.

If it was me, with my cooking ritual of a beer while cooking, I'd be a real mess with this low n slow style.

[brontsy]

Worked out well - beautiful, moist and tender. But not that pull apart with a fork kind of lamb shoulder that I was hoping for.

In the end it was on for about 8 1/2 hours with Weber q sitting around 100c for almost whole day. internal temp of lamb got to about 80c.

[Davo]

In order to achieve pull or fall apart meat, you need to push it further like 95C then rested for about 3 hours, but that doesn't usually work with such a tender cut as lamb unless it's hogget.
You can also push pork shoulder to 95C then rest for 2 hours and pull apart....but both are typical tough cuts of meat....but lamb should be taken to about 65 to 70C as it's a tender and young meat.

Something I like doing with lamb is getting a deboned lamb leg, bring it up slowly like you did until about 55C, then jack up the grill to how ever hot you can get it....then char grill it till about 65-70C internal then rest for about 10-20 minutes, slice thinly...it's delicious and moist. technique commonly known as reverse sear, you sear at the end rather than the beginning.


Cheers

Davo