Question I have Ham and shoulder meat from a wild boar. You mentioned to cook it at no hotter than 155 degrees because it will dry out. How long do you cook it and how can you check it to make sure it is done?
Answer Get an instant read thermometer they cost about $5 at a food equipment store at the mall. My wife got me a remote thermometer that has s sending unit. You stick the probe in the meat and run a cable out of the oven or grill to a sending unit and have a portable unit you can carry. I thas an alarm function too.
If you want the meat tender, sear it first on the grill, then wrap it in a double layer of foil after covering it with BBQ sauce and onions. Really slather it on. Then seal it up with a butchers fold...pull the two ends of the foil up on either side of the meat like you are folding a bed sheet...touch corner to corner...then fold the long edge down about an inch...repeat...repeat...repeat. You now have a seal that will hold in steam. Now continue to fold it down till it lays ont he meat. Now fold the ends the same way then under the ham or shoulder. That will hold in the steam and really cook and tenderize the meat. Now put in the grill or oven and use indirect heat, that is don't have the fire going right under the foil but set the meat to one side and heat the inside of the grill with a burner to one side.
You can have the heat hotter than 155 cookint this way. You just have to get the interior at least 155 to kill any parasites, like trichinosis. If braising like this, the outside heat can be hotter like 290 or more, because the seal will keep the meat from drying. If cooking without the foil, you will run the risk of drying the meat out. I have cooked whole hogs over an open fire, but they had the skin on and self baste with their own fat. Skinned or single hams or shoulder will dry. The shoulder is tough to begin with.
