We’ve finally arrived at a point where we have all the information we need to make pork barbecue. However, there are an awful lot of details, so let’s recap to make sure we're all on the same page:
We’ll be barbecuing a 10- to 14-pound bone-in, uncured pork shoulder. Our shoulder has had half its skin and external fat removed so that a fat-cap remains on one side. We will not use a dry rub.
We’re cooking in a round kettle of relatively large diameter. The kettle is equipped with adjustable ventilation dampers in both kettle body and lid.
We’ll be cooking slowly, at a low temperature. Total cooking time is based on the rule of one hour per pound or fraction of a pound. For example, if the shoulder weighs 10-1/4 pounds, then total cooking time is 11 hours.
We’re cooking with smoldering hardwood. and we’re using the indirect method with a drip-pan. In order to do this:
- We first place an oblong metal-foil drip-pan - one that’s large enough to catch any drops of liquid fat that fall from the shoulder during cooking - in the center of the fire-grate.
- Then, alongside the drip-pan on either side (i.e., along the two opposite sides of the pan that are longest, where there’s enough space), we lay down splints of fat wood in a crossing, or ‘star-like’, pattern (or at least as near to such a pattern as space permits).
- Next, we build a stack of hardwood chunks on top of the fat wood on both sides of the drip-pan, in such a way that all of the chunks will be exposed to the flame of the fat wood when we light it. We stack our hardwood chunks on the fat wood so that there’s enough fat wood exposed under both stacks to be able to light them.
At this point, we’re ready to fire up our kettle and actually start barbecuing, which is the topic of tomorrow’s post.
Happy cooking!
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