6LB Lamb Shoulder Blade.

[TonyUK]

Took delivery of a 6lb lamb shoulder blade from my butcher earlier in the week. I've never seen a lamb shoulder like this before. It has been butchered exactly like a pork butt...with bone-in.
Going for a Greek / Middle Eastern flavour profile. A pomegranate molasses slather and rubbed with with a blitzed mix of SPOG / rosemary / thyme / black onion seeds / cumin / sage & mustard seeds. Into the fridge overnight. (Stock photo below).


0540: Lamb on the Bullet ready to go. A dozen briqs getting ready & Minion set-up. Orange & apple wood for smoke.


I've had an eventful morning to say the least. I could not get the pit temp up above 200f, & I was burning through fuel at a rate of knots! This happened to me on my last cook. It’s got to be a fuel issue, (Aussie Heat Beads, normally very reliable). 4hrs in & I need to build a new fire. No big deal. Or so I thought. After opening the door to have a look I had a SouthCo latch malfunction!! It would turn, but the compression mechanism aint working. Aargh! Thinking on my feet, I got some SS tie wire & pulled the door to the middle section by twisting the two ends with a pair of pliers. By no means perfect, but I'm back in the game. But I'm still yet to build a new fire, this time using different fuel.


09:00hrs.
I fired up 12 briqs for a Minion start. Once the briqs were halfway “cooked” I did the hot squat. Aussie Heat Beads nearly done in! Eh? Built a new basket using Pro-Q Cocoshell Briqs.


New fire going within 25 minutes. 45 minutes later I’m sitting rock-steady at 260f pit temp. Lamb Butt at 158IT.


After 8hrs got to 203IT. Foiled / towelled & into a cool-box for a few of hours.


The Pull & Your plate to follow...........

 

[JeffG]

Tony that lamb shoulder looks amazing, I'll be checking back in for the Pull.....

 

[Jonas-Switzerland]

Oh... Oh that looks amazing.

 

[Kevin L (NKY)]

If you were just a bit closer I would stop by and help you reduce it's contents by about 25%...

 

[Andy Kaminski]

What a wonderful looking cut.
The whole thing looks drippingly perfect .

 

[JimK]

Beautiful!

 

[Tim Campbell]

Wow, Tony. Looks fantastic.

 

[TonyUK]

As promised The Pull & Your Plate.

The lamb pulled grate. There were tendons that attached the scapula to the upper femur that you could have re-strung a banjo with. The return, I would say, was a third of the initial cook weight. +/- 2lbs.

Unfoiling. Still hot after 2.5hrs.


The Pull. Crispy bark, nice smoke ring & moist meat.

The Build. Greek gyros breads, lamb & a nice couple of dabs of mango bhutney-chutney. It provided a nice bit of heat & some sweetness to cut through the big lamb flavour.


Your Plate. The loaded gyros bread, tabouleh & a Greek salad, as always smashed out of the park by Mrs TUK.


I really enjoyed this cook, although I had a challenge or two along the way.

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

[Tim Campbell]

Yes, yes please. Outstanding.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Winner!
I like the results, having watched the process from the day of purchase, I would gladly jump a flight to Aberdeen!
Well done, sir!

 

[JeffG]

Didn't disappoint, nice pull Tony.

 

[Bruno]

Lamb isn’t my thing but my wife loves it, I’ve tried this before but with a different cut. I’m going to try and source one of these for her. That looks fantastic!!

 

[TonyUK]

Would I buy this cut again? Yes.......but.....
It would be a toss-up between this cut, a full leg or shanks. The shoulder blade & leg are similarly priced, but the leg would win by a smidge due to its better post-cook yield. That's all. The shanks are grate value for money, not much meat on them but you can load up the grate with quite a few of them. (A nice dilemma to have). All three taste wonderful.