SmokeBarbecue
Smoked lamb shoulder
The pulled-pork move on a sheep. Collagen, fat, and a wood that does not bully the lamb — oak or cherry, not a hopper of hickory.
Made it?
8 hr · 30 min hands-on · pull 200°F · rest 45 min
Ingredients
8 lb on the fire · ~4 lb to the table · 8 plates at 8 oz
- bone-in lamb shoulder8 lb
- kosher salt2 tbsp
- coarse pepper2 tbsp
- dried rosemary, crushed1 tbsp
- garlic cloves, sliced4
Method
- 1
Stab a few slits and insert garlic. Salt, pepper, rosemary. Overnight if you can.
- 2
250–275°F until the stall, then wrap when bark is set. Pull at 200°F probe-tender, 6–8 hours.
- 3
Rest 45 minutes wrapped. Pull or slice. A vinegar-herb splash beats a sweet sauce.
If you don’t have it
- Bone-in shoulder → A boneless tied shoulder, or two smaller pieces. Boneless cooks a little faster. Still 200°F probe-tender.
- Oak → Cherry or pecan. Hickory can bully lamb. Mix it if that is the bag.
Same cook, different day
Pulled for pita
A crowd. Pull, vinegar, onion, herbs. Not a sweet barbecue sauce.
Hot and fast
You have 5 hours. 300°F, wrap at 165, pull at 200. Less smoke, still shreds.
Overnight hold
Lunch service. Pull, wrap, 150°F hold. Pull just before the table.
On the plate
With this, try
- With this dish, try making petite roasted potatoes.
Same pan as a roast or chicken. Or a sheet next to chops. Halve, oil, salt, rosemary. 425°F cut-side down until the faces brown. Toss in the meat drippings at the end.
40 min
- With this dish, try making grilled onions.
Alongside a tri-tip or skirt. Thick rounds, oil, salt, the cool then hot zone until soft and marked.
25 min
- With this dish, try making pinto beans.
Start when a packer wraps, or at the beginning of a shoulder. Soaked beans, smoked hock, onion, chili. Simmer until creamy. Salt late.
2 hr 30 min