Any advice on smoking a leg of Pork

[Dogmonkey]

I've come into possession of a quality massive whole bone-in leg of pork (6-7kg). It’s going to get cooked this weekend.

I’m planning on giving it a bit of the low and slow, but though I’d see if anyone has any nuggets of experience here. Most of the stuff I have found only refers to smoking ready cured hams so not massively helpful. Plenty of stuff on shoulder/butt, but there doesn’t seem to be much on a fresh leg. – I can’t get the search function on the forum to bring back much either (lots of Lamb leg and Pork shoulders, but not much Leg of Pork)

I can’t be bothered to brine it and don’t have space to do that anyway. I’ll probably give it an overnight ‘dry’ brine with some salt before I cook it. I am planning on serving it sliced as you would with a roast leg of pork, rather than pulled (which I guess you can’t do with a leg anyway) so guess I only need to get to round about 65c internal temp as it’s likely to be pretty tender as it is so only really needs to cook rather than be broken down. I’m thinking of this as BBQ roast pork rather than pulled pork.

Conventional wisdom would say an hour per kilo and an extra half hour for luck at 180c in the oven, but I am planning on keeping it lower for longer at around 110C. 110c mainly because I know my Pro Q will give me at least six hours at that temp and I have a beer festival to go to in the afternoon so it will be unattended .

I’m planning on giving this 10-12 hours – would that sound about right? A 3kg bone-in neck end shoulder (Butt) gets to 65-70c in about 5-6 hours in my Pro-Q without foil.

I tend to take the skin off before smoking to get the smoke right in there and make delicious crackling in the oven, though I am a bit worried that it might dry out a bit being a bit less fatty than a shoulder.
Any experience of either? I would probably inject it (any suggestions for a liquid?) to help out with that, but will that be enough to keep it moist if I have harvested the skin and some fat? I don’t tend to have a problem with moistness when I remove the skin and fat from a shoulder even without foil or injecting.

The insatiable hunger for sweet, sweet crackling might cloud my judgement here……

So in short, I guess the main questions are

1)how long does fresh pork leg generally need to cook at 110c?
2)does leg tend to dry out on a low and slow?
3)presumably hitting 65c internal temp is just fine - going higher won’t really add anything?

I’ll probably give it a loving tender rub with the Pitt Cue House rub and might give it a sizzle over some coals with a glaze of some sort. I suppose it could get finished off in the oven on a high heat with a glaze on (skin removed, of course)

Sorry a bit of a ramble there – any advice gratefully received!

[essexsmoker]

I'm no expert but if you rub in salt you'll be curing it and drying it out?

Would have thought a leg would be too lean?

Also you say you don't want to pull it but after umptine hours of cook surely it won't carve and will fall apart?

[YetiDave]

An overnight salt rub won't get anywhere close to curing it. For a leg that size you're probably looking at a couple of weeks in brine, unless the brine's injected, even then it'd take over a week. I wouldn't worry about an overnight salt rub drying it out, but I can't really comment on cooking temps or time unfortunately - never cooked anything that big!

[essexsmoker]

My thinking was that if it's not that fatty a salt rub won't help.

[Dogmonkey]

The salt won't dry it out overnight - I think it's a bit of myth that it dries it out - no problems at all in my experience doing that. I don't want to actually cure it, just roast it, so I'm not too worried about giving it a full on cure. Even If I wanted to, I don't have anywhere to keep the monster!

Logic would tell me that so long as the internal temp doesn't go to hot or for too long it will hold together fine. But then logic doesn't always work with BBQ....

[keith157]

I've not done a leg as low and slow, I have done a couple on a rotisserie with smoke and that was around 4 hours. You have mentioned the main problem and that is the tendency of pork leg to dry out due to the lack of fat. This is where a rare breed/heritage breed would help as they tend to have more fat on them.

[essexsmoker]

The salt won't dry it out overnight - I think it's a bit of myth that it dries it out - no problems at all in my experience doing that. I don't want to actually cure it, just roast it, so I'm not too worried about giving it a full on cure. Even If I wanted to, I don't have anywhere to keep the monster!

Logic would tell me that so long as the internal temp doesn't go to hot or for too long it will hold together fine. But then logic doesn't always work with BBQ....

I know it takes a fair time to cure meat, but with a lean cut I thought err on the side of caution.

What is the idea behind salting it overnight? Does it help the cook?

[Dogmonkey]

Well, new development,turns out it's a massive gammon (cured and uncooked leg) which changes things. It's coming from a friend who wasn't sure what he had - told me it was a leg..... it's from these guys -

http://www.streamfarm.co.uk/produce/organic-pork/


So, I have managed to source a massive Stock pot, so I'll boil it up, skin on, (an hour per kilo) one evening this week and then skin it, leave a bit of fat on, lovingly brush it with a glaze then treat to few hours in the smoker with some apple or pear wood on Saturday. As it will be pre-cooked, the internal temp only needs to get to 60c to be safe. I guess it could be finished off on the grill to help caramelize the glaze.

I'm tempted to cut it in two (with a super sharp knife and a fresh, cleaned hacksaw) and try it two ways - will reduce the cooking time too.

I've done the Nigella Lawson recipe a few times, which you boil in Coke first - it's amazing and super easy -
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/ham ... a-cola-171 . One of those glorious recipes that tastes like you put way more time and effort into it that you actually did - turns out a great salty-sweet balance. I've never finished it off in the smoker, though - maybe one half like that and another boiled in plain water and injected with a rum syrup.

I'll keep a work in progress log going here, but if anyone has any knowledge to pass on, please do!

@essexsmoker The Salt is for flavour - a great article on Salt and brining is here if you haven't seen it - http://amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_pas ... rines.html

[JamsCowbell]

I love the coke ham recipe, I've also tried it with cherry coke but it doesn't really add anything.

[YetiDave]

Personally I'd soak it to reduce the saltiness then smoke it. Cooking it first will mean you'll get less smoke penetration. Either that or I'd cold smoke it then boil it