Smoked pulled pork carnitas

Setting up your smoker may seem complicated but once you start practising and tweaking you will soon be the envy of all your friends at barbecues. First you are going to need a barbecue that you can smoke in. Webber make some great barbecues and they're not too expensive. As a basic rule, you need a kettle barbecue with a lid and vent holes both on the base and on the lid, and ideally it will have a built-in temperature gauge. The vent holes are important, both to allow control of the temperature inside, and to allow the smoke to escape so you don't end up with overly smoky, bitter-tasting meat. Charcoal is just as important as having the right barbecue. As with everything in life, you get what you pay for. If you buy cheap charcoal it probably won’t last very long and will cause you more issues than buying the right stuff to start with. For low and slow cooking and smoking we suggest you buy good quality charcoal briquettes. Briquettes are compacted so you need less and they burn slower and longer than lumpwood charcoal, so are perfect for long smoking in your barbecue.

To set up your smoker, place 3-4 firelighters on one side in the bottom of the barbecue, and top with a generous amount of charcoal briquettes, ensuring everything is in one side of the base. Half open the vents on the top and bottom of the barbecue. Light the firelighters and allow the charcoal to burn for 10 minutes with the lid off, then place the lid on and allow the charcoal to burn and develop for at least 20 minutes. Place the cooking grill on and place a small oven dish filled with cold water on the side directly on top of the hot coals. This deflects the intense heat away from the meat and will create humidity within the barbecue to stop the meat from shrinking and drying out.

Place a handful of wood chips on top of the hot coals and replace the lid of the barbecue for 2 minutes to allow the temperature to increase. Close the vents so that they are one-third open, allowing enough oxygen in to keep the coals burning and enough smoke out so that you don’t over-smoke the meat. You will have to adjust this to ensure you are hitting 140°C/275°F in your barbecue. You are now ready to cook. We suggest adding another handful of wood chips every 60-90 minutes to continue the smoking process during cooking.

To cook the pork, mix all the rub ingredients together and then rub into the pork until fully covered. Smoke the pork for 4 hours, keeping a constant temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2. Transfer the pork shoulder to a deep-sided baking tray and add the orange juice, garlic, jalapenos, bay leaves and limes. Cover with tin foil and cook for 2½ hours. Remove the tin foil and, using two forks, shred the meat from the bone.

To serve, add a good amount of shreded pork to the flatbreads with red cabbage and sriracha hot sauce, and garnish with chopped parsley.