Overview
Cooking tougher cuts of meat slowly at low temperatures transforms the connective tissue into gelatin, resulting in a melt-in-the-mouth texture and an amazing depth of flavour. This recipe is the perfect demonstration of how low & slow cooking works, and it’s almost impossible to get wrong!
Set up your EGG
Soak a handful of hickory woodchips in water.
Set up your EGG for indirect cooking with the ConvEGGtor in a legs-up position, topped with a Stainless Steel Grid. Your target temperature is 110˚C.
When ready to start cooking, drain the water from the woodchips, remove the ConvEGGtor and sprinkle the chips in a large circle onto the charcoal.
Add your rub
Pat the shoulder dry of any moisture. Mix the dry rub ingredients together in a bowl then thoroughly rub into the surface of the meat with your fingertips.
When you’ve finished massaging the dry rub into the pork shoulder, replace the ConvEGGtor and the Stainless Steel Grid and place the pork directly on top.
Cook your pork
If you’re using the EGG Genius to monitor the pork’s temperature – something we strongly recommend – now’s the time to insert your probe.
The weight of your pork will define the cooking time. Slow cooking can take anywhere from 5-12 hours. It is essential you cook to temperature, not time: the target internal temperature for the meat is 90˚C-93˚C.
The temperature of the meat will slowly rise and then apparently plateau or even fall by a few degrees. This is not the EGG needing more oxygen or fuel. As collagen starts to break down and turn to gelatin, an enormous amount of energy is required, so the temperature of the meat stabilises while the chemical reactions take place. Don’t try to speed up this process with more heat. Once the majority of the tissues have been rendered, the temperature will climb again.
Make your coleslaw
While the meat is cooking, making your slaw and sauce.
Place the mayonnaise, lemon juice and mustard in a large serving bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well.
Add the cabbage, onion, carrots and coriander and stir well to coat in the dressing. Cover and chill for 2-3 hours before serving.
Make your BBQ sauce
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
PULL THE PORK
When that target temperature is reached, remove the pork to a cutting board and tent with tin foil. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes.
When rested, use Meat Claws to shred the pork into strands. It may be easier to cut the pork into smaller pieces before doing this.
Mix the pulled pork in with your BBQ sauce, and serve with the coleslaw in a fresh white bap.
