Lamb shoulder on the kettle - first timer tips?

I'm having guests over this weekend and thinking about trying out a slow roasted lamb shoulder on my kettle. Never done this cut before. Was planning on an overnight marinade in a simple yogurt/garlic/herb mixture. Then roasting over indirect for a few hours.

Does anyone have any tips to impart? Some things I'm not sure about: should I keep it covered for part of the cook to let it braise in its juices a bit? I did the 3-2-1 method a few weeks ago with beef short ribs and they were phenomenal.

Was also planning on using very little, if any smoke. I have oak, cherry, and hickory. Which would be best suited?

What temp should I cook to? Should I aim to keep it around the 200 mark, or go higher with this cut?

I'm imagining that when this thing is done, it will be in a state that it can be pulled apart, and served with rice. Is this correct, or is it more of a slicing meat?

Finally, how big of a roast should I aim for? We are 6 adults and 5 children. Of course leftovers are never a problem!

Thanks!

Thanks for the links. I'm surprised I can't find more people using yogurt as a marinade/tenderizing agent. It seems to be more popular in Indian and Pakistani bbq. I've used yogurt before for marinating chicken and it has always been great. Also interesting that the leg (of lamb) is so much more popular than the shoulder. Yet the shoulder seems like it could be the easier and more delicious cut? I guess people avoid it because it takes so much longer to cook in order to get tender?

Thanks guys! Should I cook it covered it for an hour or two to braise? Or is that not necessary? Is yogurt worth using?

Finally - should I try for a bone-in or boneless? Called a few places and seem like I can get both.

Ordered the shoulders just now. They are a bit pricier than I was prepared for - around $8/lb for bone-in. And he said each one is around 5 lbs - I'm having 12-15 people, so getting two. This is a local "mom and pop" old school butcher shop that gets really premium stuff - so I'm hoping it will be worth the extra $$$. The owner told me their lamb is really top notch.

Another supermarket butcher has bone-in for 3.99/lb. Whole Food has boneless for 7.99.

Anyway, will be sure to post pics here. I'm just torn if I should use yogurt in my marinade or not. I decided I'm going to cook it in a pan so I capture all the juices during the cook. I'll probably keep it covered for part of the cook as well. Figure it can't hurt. When its done, I'll pull the meat off and serve it in the pan juices.

Updates with pre-cook-pron

Picked up the meat today - it's certainly an odd cut! Butcher told me it's technically called a square cut shoulder roast. He described it as "junk" - meaning it is full of all kinds of awkward bones, gristle and fat - but he said it is incredibly delicious. I'm having 12 adults over tomorrow and am a bit nervous taking this kind of risk. I really have no idea if this is even going to be enough meat because I can't figure out how this thing is going to look or cut up when its done. I ended up getting two shoulders - one 8 lb and one 7 lb. Price as 6.99/lb - and most of it is bone - so not cheap by any means! The butcher told me he thinks even with these 15 lbs of meat, it will barely be enough for 12 people. Is that possible?

I made a rub/paste out of dry oregano, thyme, pinch of rosemary, salt, black pepper, lemon zest, and a ton of fresh garlic. I processed it with olive oil and mixed in about 10 tblsp of yogurt.

I made a bunch of slits and rubbed the hell out of it. Sitting in my fridge overnight.

Going to put these in a roasting pan with some fresh thyme around it, chopped up celery, carrot and onion, and a bunch of tiny potatoes. Thinking of putting a bit of white wine and some water at the bottom, and covering it up after the first hour or two. I want this thing to be falling apart and also would be nice to have some good juices at the end.

I have no idea how long to expect these to cook for. I figure it could be about 5-6 hours for one, but is it going to be longer if I'm doing two? I'm using a Weber kettle set up for indirect.

Will update the thread with new pics as I go. Thanks everyone for your help.

Here's some more pics - mid cook. Got it on the grill at 8:45am. Now 1:30pm and the internal temp is 145. Grate temp has been between 225 and 275 the whole time.

I cooked it uncovered for the first 3 hours. Then added some white wine, veggies and some water and herbs and covered it up. In another half hour I'm going to uncover it and cook for one more hour.

Oh also, I used a bit cherry wood for the first hour of cooking.

So curious how this is going to turn out! I don't even have a back-up meat!

So - the cook was a success - but I don't think I will be making this cut again. The main reason is that it was a huge pain in the ass to pull the meat off the bones. I was able to pull enough to serve to my guests, but there was still so much meat left over on the bones that I didn't want to throw away. So I threw in the (enormous) bones into a 425 degree over to help make it easier to pull the remains off. My wife and I spent almost an hour getting all the bits and pieces off. Chunks of amazing meat were embedded between huge pieces of fat and gristle and all kinds of bones making it almost impossible to get to.

On top of that, the FAT on this thing was absolutely ridiculous. I've never seen fat like this. After getting my hands in there, it was almost impossible to wash off - even with lots of soap. I had to run my hands under almost-boiling water to clean them. Also every utensil that touched it was impossible to clean. I had a whole bunch of au jus left over which I put in a container in the fridge. The next day, the fat on the top was so hard that I was barely able to cut through it with a knife.

The meat was great - had a nice smokey and garlicky flavor. I used cherry wood for the first hour. It was a bit more gamey than I usually like and also incredibly rich.

If I do a lamb roast again I will try for a boneless one, or maybe do the leg. Thanks everyone for the tips here.

~H

One other question for the experts on this topic - is leftover pulled meat like what I have above, "freezable"? I have a lot left over and already ate it two nights in a row. This meat is so fatty and rich that I don't think I can have it again just yet!