Warning!! Embarrassingly unscientific post!!
I cooked a 'whole' lamb in the PBC at the weekend. Last minute 'challenge' from a needy friend.
I've no idea how much it weighed, but it was a ram I guess about a year old. Maybe 80-90 live, 30 - 40lb when butchered?
I chopped the lamb in half as it wouldn't quite fold into the barrel - cutting the vertebrae just beneath the lowest rib. I took the head off at the shoulder.
The chest + shoulders I hooked just into the sholders/neck - ribs at the bottom. The haunches / pelvis I hung with hooks into the thigh, spine pointing down. Head I hooked through the neck, head down. So all the big cuts were at the top. It all fit. Just.
I didn't use any additional smoke beyond kingford blue. Given the amount to meat, the initial temp spike didn't get much above 300, but I knew the coals were well lit. The temp hovered in the 275 range for the whole cook, which lasted exactly 3, maybe 4 hours. The big meats got to 203 and I pulled it out.
The haunches had fallen, but fortunately remained upright balancing on the spine so almost no meat was lost.
As usual, the PBC won. The meat pulled, it was succulent, moist - everything we come to expect. The really nice surprise was that it was only a little smokey. Lamb + lots of smoke is just not good (to me at least). This wasn't. We 'reassembled' the lamb before pulling it apart / picking at it. It was terrific and the crowd roared! (perhaps I imagined that).
Sorry for the appalling lack of detail, including pics. Suffice to say, it worked.
Matt
I cooked a 'whole' lamb in the PBC at the weekend. Last minute 'challenge' from a needy friend.
I've no idea how much it weighed, but it was a ram I guess about a year old. Maybe 80-90 live, 30 - 40lb when butchered?
I chopped the lamb in half as it wouldn't quite fold into the barrel - cutting the vertebrae just beneath the lowest rib. I took the head off at the shoulder.
The chest + shoulders I hooked just into the sholders/neck - ribs at the bottom. The haunches / pelvis I hung with hooks into the thigh, spine pointing down. Head I hooked through the neck, head down. So all the big cuts were at the top. It all fit. Just.
I didn't use any additional smoke beyond kingford blue. Given the amount to meat, the initial temp spike didn't get much above 300, but I knew the coals were well lit. The temp hovered in the 275 range for the whole cook, which lasted exactly 3, maybe 4 hours. The big meats got to 203 and I pulled it out.
The haunches had fallen, but fortunately remained upright balancing on the spine so almost no meat was lost.
As usual, the PBC won. The meat pulled, it was succulent, moist - everything we come to expect. The really nice surprise was that it was only a little smokey. Lamb + lots of smoke is just not good (to me at least). This wasn't. We 'reassembled' the lamb before pulling it apart / picking at it. It was terrific and the crowd roared! (perhaps I imagined that).
Sorry for the appalling lack of detail, including pics. Suffice to say, it worked.
Matt
Comment