Gochujang chilli paste has become a recent favourite chez kitchen exile. I love the flavour, sweetness of the chilli itself, coupled with a punchy hot hit, it adds so much to every dish. This recipe took a while to get the flavour profile just the way I wanted it. The pork goes so well with ramen dishes, I roasted a 700g piece of shoulder which after slow cooking is roughly enough for four people. I served this with simple ramen noodles using the meat juices to add flavour to the dashi broth and added a little of the rendered fat which had some of the chilli. 

When slow roasting for long periods, I tend to go by tenderness of the meat. I check to see if the meat is starting to give and pull away easy after about 5 hours for a 700g piece, if it does, I take it off the barbecue. Bear in mind if you are cooking a larger piece, then it will need much longer, so give yourself plenty of time for bigger joints of meat.

700g pork shoulder
2 sticks lemongrass bashed to release the oil
40g Korean chilli paste
30ml soy sauce

20ml ketchap manis
6 lime leaves
2 shallots sliced into rounds

4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
50g ginger sliced
400ml water

Mix together the chilli paste, soy and ketchap manis
Smear all over the shoulder
Place the ginger, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, lime leaves and garlic in an airtight container and place the meat on top
Marinate for a minimum of 24 hours (my preference is 48), turn the meat every 6 hours to ensure the flavour permeates both sides or you can vacuum pack the meat ensuring that the aromatics are evenly distributed on each side in the bag
Set up BBQ indirect at 140c, add the water to the tray with the meat and cook for 6 hours basting every half hour

If you are using a larger piece of meat then you will need to cook for longer

Rest for one hour before serving