Grilled pork shoulder -- latin american style

I love pig.  It's my favorite animal.

Here is an excerpt from an extremely important episode of the Simpsons.

Marge: All right, Lisa, if you don't want lamb
       chops, there are lots of other things I can make.  Chicken
       breast.  Rump roast.  Hot dogs.

Each forms an image in Lisa's mind.  The corresponding part falls off
onto a plate.

 Lisa: No I can't!  I can't eat any of them!
Homer: Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute.  Lisa honey, are you
       saying you're *never* going to eat any animal again?  What about
       bacon?
 Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
 Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
 Lisa: Dad!  Those all come from the same animal!
Homer: [Chuckles] Yeah, right Lisa.  A wonderful, magical animal.

Yes -- pig is a magical animal.  I learned this early on from Homer, but my love for the animal has only grown as I have learned the joys of pork tenderloins, pork cube steak parmigiana, bacon, and it goes on and on.  It has driven me to begin dreaming of being an organic pig farmer -- free range piggies, if you will.  Hopefully the won't smell like cigarettes and beer... (go watch Trailer Park Boys if you would like to understand the reference)

So as I explained in my previous post, I had a Cinco de Mayo party in September and I wanted to have pork burritos.  I looked for carnitas recipes, and found out that involved boiling the pig in lard, which sounds well and good, but I had a hankering to cook the pig on the grill.  One of my personal grilling heroes is Steve Raichlen, whom you may remember from such shows as The Primal Grill.  He has some amazing recipes, one of which I absolutely love for South Carolina Pulled Pork.  I'll write about that one another day...

I used the cooking time and mopping method and adapted for a latin american flavor.  Here goes my version:

5-10lb pork shoulder with the skin on -- definitely need the skin on...

Cut a hatch pattern in the pork skin so when you season, it will be able to get to the meat.  Season the pork shoulder with salt, pepper, powdered garlic, powdered onion, oregano and chili powder.  I don't know what measurements I used, but just be reasonable about it.

Set up a Weber One Touch (as far as I'm concerned, there is no other grill) grill for indirect heating
Put a pan in between the coals which will catch the drippings to be added to meat later on.  Aluminum foil will work, but it's a pain to get it out afterwards without spilling.  I have a 9" x 13" metal pan that works great, but if you're concerned about it looking pretty afterwards, I would advise against using it.

Put the grate on (be sure to orient it so you can add coals as you go) and put the meat directly above the pan.

About every 45 minutes you will want to go out, add a few coals and then mop the meat with a mixture of fresh lime juice, simple syrup, salt and water.

You'll be repeating this for the next 5 hours or so, depending on how hot the fire is and how big your shoulder is.  You're looking to get the interior of the roast to 195° -- this is really warm, but don't worry about drying it out.  The fat is extremely marbled in the shoulder and will keep it moist.  The outside will look pretty dark, but don't worry, this is going to happen.

Once it is done, the roast should be literally falling off the shoulder bone, if you have to cut much, it's probably not done.  You should be able to pull it apart with great ease.  Retrieve the pan of drippings as the meat should be placed into it once it is pulled.  Add to it 2 cups of sofrito, I found the jarred stuff works well, but I'm sure someone will take offense to that.  Mix it all up and then stick it in a tortilla with the aforementioned cilantro lime rice, some guacamole and some black beans, and baby you got a stew goin!

Engage.