A couple of weeks ago, one of our local ‘Mega-Mart’ stores ran a special on whole pork legs.  I picked up a couple, and tucked them in the fridge for the week.  My thought was to do them both up in a big pig roasting weekend, so when Friday night arrived, it was time to get going.

I decided to do one as a smoked pork leg, and the other in a simplified version of a Cuban style roast.

So, first up on Friday night was the Cuban style.  I unwrapped the 22lb leg (both were about the same size), and gave it a very thorough rinse in the sink.  I chose to go with a recipe I located on line, and you can find it here.  I stayed fairly true to the recipe, but did decide to up the flavor with an injection into the meat as the leg can be fairly lean.  I cut the skin as directed – make sure you have a very sharp knife as the skin is thick and tough and will be a bear to cut without a very sharp knife.  On went the rub, and back into the fridge it went.  I then made up the injection liquid, and put it in the fridge to keep. 

Saturday morning, it was the smoked legs turn.  Again, I went thru the unwrap and rinse process.  Then I cut the skin into a cross hatch pattern, about 1 inch square.  Then I gave it a good solid rub with a spice rub mix that I did up for it.  It then got tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and returned to the fridge for some time to marinade itself.

Jump forward to Sunday morning – I was expecting temps right around freezing, so I decided to go old school and do the smoke leg on the gas grill with plentiful supply of Applewood chips for smoke.  What I was not expecting, was this…

No matter, the deck where the grill is located is covered, so not really an issue. 

Oh, did I mention it was 5 am?

The smoke leg was brought out to the counter, and unwrapped.  It needed an hour on the counter to warm up a bit, before going to the grill.  I made a simple injection of apple juice and butter with a bit of salt for the roast, and injected about a cups worth into the leg.  I mixed some remaining dry rub with applesauce, and rubbed about half of it all over the leg.  Off to the grill it went. 

I used a mix of soaked Applewood chunks, and dry Applewood ‘shreds’ as a kindling and started them on the grill over a burner on low, and due to the colder temps, I had to run the right burner on low as well, with a bit of foil on both sides of the leg to keep the direct heat off the meat which was in the middle of the grill.

Next up was the Cuban.  An hour at room temp to come up in temp a bit, then I injected the liquid into the leg.  Again, it was about a cup of liquid to help flavor the meat, and keep it moist.

It went into a tray and into the oven it went per the directions.  This one is much simpler, it is a ‘set it and forget it’ cook in the oven.

Attention then returned back to the smoke leg on the grill.  This leg is a bit needy of attention, you have to monitor temps, change wood chips and keep an eye on it to make sure that nothing goes amiss.  I went thru about 8 trays of chips during the smoking time, which went from 6 am until noon.  I wasn’t using a heavy smoke, so I was able to smoke the longer time without turning it sooty or bitter.  I sprayed the chips in each tray with apple juice, and every half hour or so after the first 5 hours of smoking I sprayed the leg with the juice as well.

After about 3 hours, I gave it another light brushing with about half of the remaining apple sauce and spice mix.  The remaining was brushed on after about 8 hours of the 10 hour cook time.

Now, cooking any chunk of meat this large is a time consuming process.  Fortunately I planned the day to do the cooking, and it coincided with the Barrett-Jackson car auction on TV.  Something that I really appreciate having when doing a project like this are my remote thermometers.  These allow me to monitor the temp of the grill, and each of the two roasts while watching the tv or doing whatever.  It really helps me keep an eye on things, without having to unweld my butt from the couch…

Fast forward a few hours… 

About 3 pm the Cuban hit temp.  It smelled great, and looked great too.  I pulled it from the oven, tented it and let it sit on the cutting board to rest for an hour.  At 4:30 we sat down to dinner, garlic bread, rice and grill roasted corn with mizithera cheese, and sliced Cuban pork.  I had a defatted the drippings, and concentrated them on the stove.  After adding a bit of fresh oregano, it was good to go.  I spooned the sauce over the slices of pork, which carried the herb and lemon flavours a bit further.  We were both very happy with the result, and I really can’t think of much I would do differently next time.

The recipe I was using for the smoked leg was a bit vague on finishing temp, so I went with pretty much what I would do with a pork shoulder.  That was ok, but it did overcooked the meat a bit.  I was hoping to get it to pull, which the recipe said it would, but not at 190 degrees internal temp apparently.  Next time, I will stop the cooking about 150-160, and then just chop the pork for the pulled pork effect. 

I made up a vinegar based bbq sauce for it, and when the pork was reheated with a sufficient dose of the sauce, it did come out quite nice. The vinegar gave it a nice bit of zing, and Kathy really liked the pork with it, and in the end that is what matters.  A few things learned, and a lot of really good eats as the result of the time spent. 

The final outcome of the weekends efforts was about 25 pounds of prepared meat that we bagged into individual portions and placed in the freezer.  They will be super handy on the days when cooking all day isn’t an option, and there is a lot of good food that was gained from a bit less than $60 worth of meat.

Enjoy!