Help! Pernil on the egg - drip pan or roast pan?

jpeac2 · August 2009

All -

Good morning! First post but a long time follower! Thank you so much for all your help as I have searched so many different topics that have helped me in a pinch on the egg.

Curious if anyone has some thoughts for me. I am porting a recipe to the egg for a Pernil (I read the previous topic but it didnt address what I am curious about). If you are not familiar, it is a pork shoulder with latin flavors.

Basically the normal recipe calls for me to put it in the oven for about 300 in a pan with a little water for 4-5 hours.

On the egg, should I still put it in a pan? Or should I just put a drip pan under the shoulder? I am thinking in the regular recipe the liquids help keep it moist (I could be wrong in this assumption). In the regular recipe it is tented with foil.

If I leave the pork in a pan does it have to be a roast pan or can it be something like a brownie pan (short on pans here)?

Thanks for your help!

stike · August 2009

you essentially want to replicate an oven. so, any barrier between the fire and the meat will work. you could use a platesetter, or a pan.

you don't need to add any liquid to the pan. it won't add any moisture to the meat. but if the reason it is done in the original recipe is to make it a very humid cooking environment, you could certainly go ahead and add liquid.

essentially, if you want to roast the meat, just a barrier is fine. any barrier. a shallow pan, a roasting pan with the meat on the rack, a layer of foil, a platesetter.... anything.

i roast with a platesetter legs up, foil on the platesetter if i expect a lot of drippings (to keep the thing clean), and then the meat on the grid above it all. or on a roasting rack in a pan

if the water is necessary to sorta "steam" the meat, you can do it, but you don't need it as a barrier, really.

jpeac2 · August 2009

Hmm nice input!

So if it just rests on the grate and I have a drip pan below it, wont it come out a tad bit dryer than if I had put it in a pan and covered in tin foil?

Or does the length of cooking time and temp make the difference here?

jeffinsgf · August 2009

I did one similar to your method yesterday. It was possibly the best pork roast I've ever done on my Egg. I had it in a Pyrex baking dish, with a pizza stone on a Spider between the fire and the baking dish. The dish kept the drippings next to the fat layer, rendering even more drippings. However, it was not the least bit greasy. Following an Emeril Lagasse recipe, I started it at 400 degrees for the first hour and then reduced it to 300 degrees for another 5 or 6 hours. The roast was 195ish throughout after 5 hours, so I took it off the fire. It was just as thoroughly rendered as an overnight low and slow, with a much nicer bark than I personally have ever achieved with a low and slow. I will be experimenting with the higher temp cook and the use of a baking dish for the next several cooks.

Another thing I did that I've used a time or two was to make 9 small slits in each broad side of the roast and insert a clove of garlic into each slit.

Help! Pernil on the egg - drip pan or roast pan?

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