Shoulder of mutton

[crphillips]

I love lamb. It's my favourite meat to eat. I've never done anything with mutton but I fancy buying a good quality organic shoulder of mutton to cook nice and low and slow on the GMG. Has anyone cooked mutton and how do they find it if cooked on a long cook? What kind of internal temp are we looking for?

[joker smoker]

http://bbq.about.com/cs/lamb/a/aa102000a.htm

CHEGK THIS!

[crphillips]

Ah thanks very much for that! In that case I'm gonna get me a hunk a mutton to BBQ.

[keith157]

Not BBQ'd it but have cooked lots of hoggit & mutton conventionaly, treat it like a large piece of lamb but remember the flavours are stronger (IMHO nicer) when you come to your choice of rub, likewise I'd keep to lamb internal temperatures if possible. You may need to trim a bit of fat here and there especially on the shoulder cuts but the flavour of the meat benefits from internal basting, so I don't think you would loose anything with a careful trim.
Doubtless someone more experienced can advise you better

[Swindon_Ed]

I'm not sure what flavour pellets you've got but I've done a few legs of lamb now and I find they taste good with cherry wood and they can take a fair amount of smoke.

I've been doing my lamb legs kashmiri style although I don't know if you might want to give Toby's famous minted lamb recipe a go with your mutton.

I've not done a shoulder yet but know a couple of people that have and I'd suggest after your initial smoking to raise the heat to 325f as the internal fat doesn't render down like pork shoulder and this higher heat will crispen it up a bit.

[keith157]

Thanks Ed, recently put a shoulder in the freezer for the first family BBQ that small tip will stop me looking a right wally

[crphillips]

Cheers guys. Last time I did a shoulder of lamb I took the meat off when it reached 190ish and then ramped the heat up to 450ish and put it back on for 15 mins to crisp everything up. It was lovely. I'm gonna give mutton a go so I'll let you know how I get on!