Who doesn’t love a good roast dinner? Especially as the colder winter months set in they draw in much more of an appeal on a lazy Sunday.. Given our love of Great BBQ, smokey coals and burning wood scents we decided to take our Sunday roast to the BBQ Shack on a rainy day in October.
It’s always a good feeling being by the fireplace and tending to a dish for the family.
If you’re reading this then we’ll assume you’ve at least got a fleeting interest in BBQ and roast dinners and want to hear about our delicious roast cooked over coals.. So lets begin shall we!
We picked up a suitably glutenous bone in pork shoulder from the excellent Easter Compton Farm shop and set off armed with the main feature of any good roast as a typical meat eater would, with that caveman bit of brain drooling with anticipation for the rewards!
First thing in the morning after pouring a coffee I set to work loading the Aldi Kamado with a fresh load of BigK lump wood coals started in the Chimney starter.
Did you know the popular Aldi "Gardenline" Kamado is a rebranded LaHacienda? They get some mixed reviews but i've had ours for over 6 years and left it out in all sorts of bad weather and it's been faultless!
Whilst the kamado began warming up to about 130c (265f) I grabbed the seasonings and decided to throw together a batch of a fairly simple basic Rub for the pork so to not take the dish too far away from the Great British Sunday roast we’d set our hearts on (and leaving enough to modify for the next pork cooks).. Mixing up:
- 6 Tbsp Brown sugar (Help develop a nice bark and sweetness)
- 2 Tbsp garlic powder (Yummy / keeps Vampires at bay)
- 3 Tbsp course brown pepper (we prefer home ground, just because..)
- 2 Tbsp Paprika
Now, to get that rub to stay put on drier and denser meats like pork you need a good base marinade to adhere that delicious rub.. For that we mixed up:
- 2 heaped Tbsp of Wholegrain mustard (Don’t be alarmed, the flavour will mellow during the cook)
- A large dollop of Mayonnaise
I then removed the skin from the Pork shoulder (Kept to one side for crackling, something I’m yet to master on the open fire).. Apply the marinade to the meat and be sure to get it in every nook and cranny, then used an old Angus & Oink dispenser to store and dispense the rub evenly all over the meat.
Hi-ho hi-ho, it’s off to the grill we go….
Now that the grill was up to temp and holding nicely, I dropped a piece of unspent cherry wood on the coals and set the meat on the grill with a heat deflector in place for a low n slow indirect cook, popped a digital temp probe in the meat and began the waiting game with a good nap… Just kidding, I made a start on preparing the next pieces of this home made masterpiece!
Back inside the kitchen I chopped the carrot and parsnips in quarters lengthways and then in half down the middle and tossed them in some vegetable oil with a little touch of honey for sweetness and set aside, then peeled and par boiled the quartered Maris piper potatoes and gave them a shake about in a large tub to rough them up to help a good crispness set in on the skin.
When the meat was sitting at about 80c (165f) and looking great I removed it from the grill and wrapped it up in butcher paper and placed it inside a empty cooler box wrapped up in several towels / old jogging bottoms and jumpers..
A cooler box is a worthy investment for any budding Low and slow BBQ enthusiasts.. This allows the meat to hold it’s temp, redistribute it’s juices and get relaxed for a great dish, when YOU are ready instead of keeping your guests starving plotting pizza delivery because the meats not pushed through the stall (More on that in another blog!)
You can leave it there for several hours, ours rested for about 2 hours whilst we cooked the vegetables.
I cranked the temperature up on the grill to about 190c (375f) and popped the tray of veggies on the grill (still set up with the deflector for an indirect cook), I added the extra shelf and another small piece of cherry to the coals, loading the potatoes (in goosefat) on top, but after about 30-40 minutes when the veggies were looking deliciously caramelised I put the potates on the lower main grill and added some packet made sage and onion stuffing balls to the upper shelf. I foil wrapped the veggies and added them to the cool box in towels..
After another 30-40 minutes the potatoes were looking perfect and feeling crunchy against the metal fork. We’re done!
Inside I went, we’d prepared some gravy (sadly just made on the stove inside!) and I unwrapped the pork, the bone pulled off the joint with almost no resistance. It was still steaming in its centre ready to be served. We plated up and it was just an incredible experience. It was this cook that convinced me to always try to do roast potatoes over coal, it takes on the essence of the fire so well and just works!
We’d recommend everyone give it a go!
You can watch our rough and ready video of the process below and here,
This is something we’ve really enjoyed doing and have plans to do many more blogs and videos of our life cooking over open flames and coal as our little business making Grill accessories and other pieces grows. We love taking on projects for all kinds of grills and love what we do, so please check out the site to see what we make as standard; and maybe send us a message if you have an idea in mind you’d like to turn into a reality! We love a challenge!