Fresh Shoulder & Ham - How to Handle Skin & Fat in MES40

nickofthejungle · Jan 22, 2013

Greetings Guys,

I have my first whole hog coming in a few days (very small guy).

Going to section it out and smoke it fresh (no cure), but I'm not sure how to handle the skin & fat on the hams & shoulders.

In an MES40, is it better to leave the skin & fat on fresh shoulers & hams or remove the skin & fat.

I'd like to replicate the whole-hog cookout in an MES40, keeping the sections as intact as possible. I'm sure it would look cool, but I'd bet the skin/fat would make a huge mess. Think the skin would even get crispy? I'm unsure if it will actually add any flavor.

Thoughts?

- Nick

smoke happens · Jan 22, 2013

I don't have an MES, but I have done several whole hogs in the 60 to 80 lb range. I am a fan of the skin in particular, which needs to be nice and crispy for my taste. I am not sure how you would get crispy skin at 250* to 300* though. I would think leaving it on with the fat would render some nice juice onto piggy jr in the smoking process though.

What is your goal for the final product, pulled pork or roast type cuts? That may help some of the MES guys offer up some better advice knowing what you want your final product to be.

hoity toit · Jan 22, 2013

nickofthejungle said:
Greetings Guys,

I have my first whole hog coming in a few days (very small guy).

Going to section it out and smoke it fresh (no cure), but I'm not sure how to handle the skin & fat on the hams & shoulders.

In an MES40, is it better to leave the skin & fat on fresh shoulers & hams or remove the skin & fat.

I'd like to replicate the whole-hog cookout in an MES40, keeping the sections as intact as possible. I'm sure it would look cool, but I'd bet the skin/fat would make a huge mess. Think the skin would even get crispy? I'm unsure if it will actually add any flavor.

Thoughts?

- Nick

I would leave it on and just watch your drip pan...you could also put a larger foil pan under the meat to catch most of the drippings...

nickofthejungle · Jan 22, 2013

Smoke Happens said:
I don't have an MES, but I have done several whole hogs in the 60 to 80 lb range. I am a fan of the skin in particular, which needs to be nice and crispy for my taste. I am not sure how you would get crispy skin at 250* to 300* though. I would think leaving it on with the fat would render some nice juice onto piggy jr in the smoking process though.

What is your goal for the final product, pulled pork or roast type cuts? That may help some of the MES guys offer up some better advice knowing what you want your final product to be.

Thanks, I plan to pull it. It's for my boy's birthday. I have a vision of laying out the cooked joints on a table and tearing into them with tongs in the buffet line.

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Fresh Shoulder & Ham - How to Handle Skin & Fat in MES40

nickofthejungle

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smoke happens

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hoity toit

Master of the Pit

nickofthejungle

Newbie

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