The Texas BBQ Forum

I've got a boneless 2.6lb piece of pork leg with some skin on, I'm wanting to do a slow cook, but don't know the best way to do it. I'm wanting to have the skin for crackling, will this piece of meat make good pulled pork?

I know what rub I'm going to use and how to prepare the skin. How long will a piece of meat that size take to cook? I'm thinking 200-250F temp.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

What are you planning on cooking it "with" , Tom

I'll be setting my gas BBQ up for indirect heat with a smoker box for some wood chips soaked it apple juice.

I'm not familiar with Gas Cooking BUT I'm thinking that those temps would be just fine and ?maybe? even spritz or baste with apple juice occasionally - - - - cooking time ?hour per pound maybe? but regardless you'll need to monitor the I.T. until you get it to "your" required finished temp. I like 170+ but that may not pull well for you. Hopefully someone with more experience in Pig Leg Smoking will chime in. When you planning the Cook?

OH, one more thing and remember I'm not familiar with Gas Grills so I assume that you're going indirect is there room on your unit for a water pan - - - it could also contain beer or apple juice or all of the above.

Some good tips there thank you. I will baste withe apple juice, I never thought of doing that

So around 2-3 hours, plus monitor int temp, Will that be long enough to get good crackling and bark formed?

I was going for I T 190F from another article I read, is that too high or should I be looking for abit lower.

I was planning on putting a water pan in but now will fill it with beer and apple juice from your recommendations thanks.

I'm going to do it on Thursday.

190 would be fine and I'm thinking it will "pull" better at that temp ??? as far as the cracklin goes - - - ?I really don't have a clue but if you monitor it about every 45 min to an hour you should be able to tell when it's the right doneness for "YOU" - - - all pits cook differently and the skin or fat cap will act accordingly to the heat source someone did a pork belly the other day with the prettiest color that I've seen in a long time - - - if I can find his thread I'll post it here for you to compare with.

Most all of this stuff we do is personal preference combined with safety but I am a huge fan of APPLE when I'm cooking Pork - - - - I use Apple Pellets in my Pellet Grill, Apple chips over my charcoal and Apple Juice for added moisture - - - just my preference.

OK, found it - - - altho this is completely different than your cook except for being pork just look at the color he achieved - - - to me that's what cracklins should look like
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29589&p=243959&hilit=pork+belly#p243959

thanks for the advice, it's been a huge help to me.

Hopefully I'll get some good results like from that post.

I'm pretty good at crackling, I only ever put salt on the skin, unless its rotisserie . Good luck with your cook. Pics???

Russ

I decided to bite the bullet and go get a kettle BBQ and use charcoal.

Just put the pork in, temp is steady at 225F

Hopefully get some good results.

Your smoke flavor just doubled IMHO. Sure looks like a winning team you've put together, Tom, with that liquid pan and temp probe I'm thinking you're gonna score big at your Digs with this one.

As I mentioned, I'm no cracklin guru but hopefully someone like Russ or others will chime in here. You ?may? even end up removing the skin/cap/cracklins from the roast towards the end and doing something different with it???????? don't know just a thought

Meat turned out great taste wise, a lot better than I could of hoped for for a first attempt. Took around 5 hours all up, either I had the temps too low or the weight was wrong as the 3 hour estimate was abit off. Next time I think I'll try 200f I T instead of 190f, could of done with abit longer for how I like pulled pork. Crackling was nonexistent, think I may have ruined it by putting the rub on the skin instead of just salt. Any suggestions on how to do it better next would be helpful.

All up though very happy with the purchase and I'm already planning what to do next.

Thanks for all the advice folks

Looks good - - I was thinking that it might need a higher finished I.T. to make good pulled sammiches - - - Winner Winner Pulled Pork Dinner