Low and Slow Lamb Shoulder

Ingredients:

2-2.5kg square cut lamb shoulder
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Dry Rub (This makes way too much for this so store in an air tight container)

3 Tbsp Ground Coffee
1 Tbsp Coarse salt
1 Tbsp Brown sugar
1 Tbsp Coarse black pepper
1 Tbsp Onion powder
1 Tbsp Garlic powder
1 Tbsp Ground Coriander

Method

1. Combine all of the dry rub ingredients in a bowl, you could also use a blender to get rid of any lumps.
2. Score the top of the lamb with a knife in a crosscut fashion so that the rub is able to penetrate the fat layer.
3. Spread the olive oil over the meat with your hands and liberally apply some of the rub working it into the score marks.

The Set Up

1. Set up your kettle with the snake method of carefully placing the Heat Beads® side by side around the perimeter of the kettle, 2 on the bottom row and 1 in the middle on the top. Arrange these like a fallen domino line where they touch or lean on each other, this will enable you to get an even temp for prolonged periods without having to worry about the vents. The more meticulous you are with this the better the result. You can also place small chunks of smoking wood, like apple or your favourite smoking wood along the snake delivering even smoke during the cook. In this case, I picked and dried some rosemary branches. You’ll only need to worry about the first 4 hours of cooking because after that the meat is less likely to take on smoke flavours as the bark or crust develops.
2. Place 15 Heat Beads® into a chimney starter and heat up until ash has formed over all of them. Place the 15 lit or hot Heat Beads® at the start of the snake. Install a water pan in the middle of the snake and fill with water/beer/wine/herbs etc. This will help keep the kettle moist and also serve as a drip pan catching all those wonderful juices. Then return cooking grill and lid. At this point you will keep the top vents fully open and adjust your bottom vents to dial in desired temp. On this occasion I was after 120ºC. If you require hotter, then just add extra Heat Beads® to the chimney starter, for example 150ºC, 18-20 Heat Beads®.
3. For pulled lamb I cook till 90ºC internal (well done), but always use a probe to check for doneness of the meat. I removed the meat after 7 hours and wrapped it in foil with some pan juices and then wrapped it in a towel and into a pre-heated chilly bin for an hour to rest so the meat juices redistribute around the shoulder for a nice moist meat to pull.
4. Use an oven pan to place the shoulder in and use 2 forks or spoons to pull the meat apart.
5. Serve with flatbread and Israeli couscous salad and some cooked mushrooms.

Recipe courtesy of Matthew Melville