Pork Shoulder for pulled pork

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
Well our pork shoulder is in the smoker. This is going to be a first for me so we shall see where we end up,

Linda chose the recipe from Alton Brown on Food Network you can see it here

What we did was to use a plastic tub we got from dollar store to be able to soak it in the molasses brine overnight.

Then we had a crisis this morn because before we put the rub on Linda started having thoughts about the skin needing to come off and in the recipe he makes no mention of this.

I looked at what Darren had done and took the view he had his off from the pics, no time to ask. So that caused a further run to the workshop to sharpen the knives in this house. Man I am going to buy a set and lock them up so when I want a sharp knife I have it. My wife has no respect for sharp objects or blunt ones but sharp enough to cut yourself when you force it to do something its not capable of because its BLUNT!!! woman. :bang::eek: sorry but I think some of you know what I mean.

So the precious minutes of getting up early to get this shoulder its cooking time, are ticking away while we do all these extraneous activities.

Cooking together is fun...Not ...but sometimes, we a team at times.

So now all I got to do is keep that puppy smoking and at the correct temp which Alton is calling as 210F ,I thought that was a bit low but hey who am I.

Brent....next week the PID has just been moved to the very top of the list ....right up there because this hit and miss thermostat nonsense is out.

I am going to have to look up your thread and check out the details, expect an email from me. :)

Visitors arrive at 5pm right now we got a drizzle that is from the rain that you guys down south west sent us last night and it looks like until afternoon. Hopefully it clears by late afternoon.

No mechanic duties today, yippee, my union says I don't have to work in the rain. :bliss:

Have a good one guys my stomach is grumbling already. :D:thumb:
 
A cook temperature of 210° seems a little low, but if Alton says do it like that, it's gotta work. I do ribs and butts at 225-250. Ribs take 5-6 hours; butts 8-10 hours.

As to the skin being taken off, I've never seen a Boston butt with skin on it. Did you get a whole pork shoulder ?
 
The 210 seems a little low to me as well.

My PID Factory has suffered from other projects being put on the front burner, both at work and home. Hopefully I'll get that solved herein the next week or so.
 
Search snippet:
"Shoulders, pork butts and picnic "hams" are part and parcel of the same front leg and shoulder of a hog...When the top of the shoulder is removed it
becomes a pork butt or Boston butt. What remains is a picnic or picnic shoulder. Both can be used for "pulled pork". The butt being favored because
of the higher meat to bone ratio..or boneless. Whole shoulders, and fresh picnics are usually sold skin on...while the butt portion is sold skin off."

We've done a picnic shoulder in the past and left the skin on, takes a little longer that way but boy o boy does that part ever crispen up and tastes soooo
good... & add another curious of the temp. called for.
 
210 is lower than I'd normally cook (225 - 250), but it will just take longer. I know folks that cook at 180, but for 20 or more hours though. A lot of the temp theory has to do with the type of smoke you're generating, which won't apply to you as much since you're running electric, the type you get is all you're going to get. If you're getting a white smoke you're getting a little more soot and ash on the product, if it's coming out with a blueish tint, that is ideal for most folks. The temps for most smokers to get that blue tint is a little higher temp. The target is the temp of the meat, which will be about 195 (ideal) to 200, which will depend on the size of the piece. A good test is when the bone is loose or the probe goes in the meat real easy.

As for leaving the skin on. That is preference, the ones I buy come without it, but will add a lot of flavor with it. Most folks remove it to get more smoke inside, but some leave it and will leave the skin exposed the entire cook time to get it nice and crispy (southern folks call this cracklin). Can also score it to allow more smoke/seasonings to get inside too though.
 
Well after seeing the comments from Ya all i cranked the temp up. I dont want to be hear to next day before i eat. Now i am getting worried it wont be ready for visitors.

How come you guys never said this is stressful. :rofl: Do you know what its like with a wife that works to rule with a clock. She played her cards very cleverly cause she put the ball all in my court. But that never worried me before so I aint gonna let it now.:rofl: Thanks to all of you for the feedback.
 
Well after seeing the comments from Ya all i cranked the temp up. I dont want to be hear to next day before i eat. Now i am getting worried it wont be ready for visitors.
Good idea!! I'm starting my 5th one tonight. Finding a system that works for you is a great thing!! The brines and rubs just make it better, but the procedure is what matters. While in PID purgatory :(;) I picked up a $16 Taylor http://overstockfootage.com/overstockenterprises/waterfilters/IMG_0024.JPG from Lowes. It works great!!! I use it to get the box to temp and then stick it in the meat. Tonight is a 6.6lb that I used a compilation rub on. It's a bit spicier than the usual ones, but when I get low one type, I toss them all into a mason jar so there is no way to know what's in it! Apple juice injection. Resting now and in the box at 2200 hrs. Making some sauce in the morning so that'll be fun!
I'm going to try Alton's method in two weeks; that guy knows his food chemistry like no one else...he also hates tri-tip :mad:. If he says it works...it'll work!!
Oh!!! my point was that 225* is the minimum I run, being based on the top shelf guys here...Darrin and Brent :wave:. I have never gone wrong at that temp.
BTW, you didn't mention what flavor smoke you are using...inquiring minds want to know!!! Eat well my friend!!
 
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Well after seeing the comments from Ya all i cranked the temp up. I dont want to be hear to next day before i eat. Now i am getting worried it wont be ready for visitors.

How come you guys never said this is stressful. ...

I'll never question any procedure Alton Brown presents. BUT... the only way I see his 210° will work is that he maintains it very close the entire time. Personal experience has shown me that I want at least 225°. One issue I've run into is the "wall" - a butt will hit 160° internal temperature and stay there for at least two hours. Using a higher temperature (up to a point) will help ensure you get past that before your guests go home hungry.

Stressful? Ain't no stress at all. Shiner Bock and good Scotch takes care of that! :beer:
 
So here is the update ....

By late afternoon temp of meat had on got to the 150's and stalled at which point we decided to do the wrap it in tin foil with a dash of apple juice. What i understand is called Texas crunch method.

I also had put the temp up to at least 225 or slight higher......and this is the problem, i only had the temp gauge on the door to go buy and in earlier calibration i worked out that this thermometer with its course scale and ver short (like i think less tha 1" probe) is anything but really measuring the oven temp. (Brent had warned me of this way back which is why i tried to get a relative indication at the start) Of course there is no telling if this gauge is even linear so who knows.
Well guests arrived and we all had some snacks and waited and waited and by 8:30 pm it hit 190 so we took it off but by that time no one hosts very much included was going to wait a hour for it to rest. So we gave it 15 min and i began pulling it.

So here i want to get very specific because frankly i was very disappointed.
I need all of you to chime in on specifics here so i get a comparison to what ya all experience.

The meat came away from the bone in what i am gonna call the various muscle segments but when i used the forks to pull these apart lets say the pulled but the meat was a touch on the dry side.

Next actually there was little smoke flavor and the outer "crust" was dry and given the spice mix rub went in dry it had stayed on and attached to the meat in such a way that the tip of the meat that had this on would have a harsh taste of "raw" spices that made up the rub.
Personally i did not like this.

So then we had the pulled meat in a dish and we ended up putting a smokey BBQ sauce on the meat. I did not quite enjoy having smokey BBQ sauce straight from the bottle on my meat. Normally we have basted this sauce on meat while on the BBQ and then its completely different.

So do you guys add sauce to the meat after pulling or does your meat come apart juicy and not in need of a sauce and only a touch is added if sy you out it on a bun like say adding ketchup if it was a burger.

Main thing is our guests enjoyed it but none of us were too thrilled at eating at 9pm

i have done a small butts before, done them on the BBQ with tin foil wood packets for smoke and used higher temps and had better luck. Sure my meat did not come apart as easily as this time but it was better.

This recipe tested me. I was suspicious of the temp right from get go and when u guys all chimed in i could do nothing else but agree.

Now one issue that concerns me is it was cool and raining drizzle yesterday here i had the smoker under a awning so it was not in the rain, but..i am concerned as to what the real temp was in the oven beyond this door gauge.

The other thing is wrapped in tin foil well dont expect too much smoke to penetrate. And also this units small wood tray is a nuisance i will be upgrading to Brents recommendation on that subject to so as to not need to try get the tray out and change out the burnt wood to fresh wood to keep smoke going.

Sorry about not mentioning it earlier but i used apple wood for those that want the specific wood.

So a 12 hour stint is not something i am geared for with my current setup.

Thank goodness i consulted you guys because i shudder to think what would have happened had I not increased the temp and had we not wrapped it to move through the stall faster.

Please weigh in with any comments and advice i really need input to risk having another go at this size chunk of meat. Also it was not exactly a really fatty piece dont know if that affected the moistness or if our extremely short resting time had something to do with it.

Thanks.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2
 
Here are my basics:

Open cooking chamber and firebox lid.
Load 10-12 pounds of Kingsford briquets in the firebox.
Put starter fluid on only the outside edge and light it. Let it burn down until there's no more fluid odor.
Add blocks of desired wood (soaked in water) to the charcoal.
Place meat on cooking grate. Inject butts with apple juice and apple cider vinegar.
Manage firebox to keep smoker between 225° to 250°.
Toss additional wood blocks in the firebox as needed to maintain a good smoke level.
Spritz butts with apple juice every 45-60 minutes.
When internal temperature of butt hits 160° (about 6 hrs), spritz with apple juice and wrap with foil.
Insert temperature probe and return to grate until internal temperature rises to 190° (about 3 hours).
Remove from foil and return to grate for about an hour until the bark stiffens up nicely.

Something I did the last time I smoked butts was to place them in aluminum pans when I wrapped them in foil. When I removed the foil, I let the fluids run into the pan. Later, after pulling the meat, I added the au jus to it for moisture.
 
I just opened mine after 10 hours...almost there! I refueled the smoke box and shut the door again. Over night temp of 225-230 all night. Being the rookie of the crowed, I can only tell you what I've learned...this is by no way the right way or only way...but until I learn more...it's my way. I've been doing them overnight with out one failure...2 hours a pound seems to be the magic number, at least for now. Prep; wash and trim, I rub the outside with spicy brown mustard. Some do this so the rub sticks...kinda like glue, I like the flavor of the bark when it's done! Add the rub, your choice...your way. This one I'm using a rub with a little more bite, there are three I use. This one also was injected with apple juice and sea salt. There are tricks to injecting, but having a substantial knowledge of muscle physiology helps...that way the juice doesn't just leak out everywhere!! It gets to rest for about an hour then in the box! It takes about 30 minutes for me to find the temp of the day. Add the smoke box, apple is yummy, this one I used a mix of apple and cherry, just because. and then leave it alone. Usually end up with an IT of 200-205* Since I overnight them...stall is of no matter. I run smoke for about 1/2 the total time...3 hours at the start and 3 at the end. So at 0900 this morning I'll the little rascal out of the box, foil it and wrap it in a towel and put it in the oven...off of course, to let it rest. The I can do whatever...make sauce, watch football, eat tacos, make a pen. The rush is over and I slept through the hard part! And oh yeah....falls apart. Oh!...the last 2 have been bone in. I have 3 in the freezer...2 boneless and 1 bone in, just depends on where you buy them. Hope that helps...I'm still having a ball with the whole process and reading all sorts of stuff. Turkey breast for Thanksgiving is the next trial and error mission!
Sometimes I'll heat some in the sauce, sometimes we just pour sauce in it...sometimes you feel like a nut...sometimes you don't!
 
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Darren is the real expert on this stuff. I reckon I've just been lucky.

Before I got used to cooking at altitude here, I had real problems cooking something as simple as a beer can chicken. I didn't realize it would just take longer here, for whatever reasons. It's sure no fun to have guests around while still waiting on the food to get up to temp.

But that's where something like pulled pork can be awfully forgiving. You can start it WAY early, and if it gets to temp too soon, wrap it in foil and put it in a cooler for a couple of hours to rest before you pull it. Just because the meat gets to pulling temperature doesn't mean that it's ready to pull right away. It won't hurt it to sit at 190 for an hour or two to let the collagen in the meat dissolve so that the meat is perfectly pullable.

As far as smoke flavor goes, where theres fire there's smoke. The little wood chip tray just does not do much at a low and slow temp. The burner just isn't on enough to heat up the wood and keep it going, especially if you soak it in water like they suggest. I'd suggest literally lighting it on fire, or using one of the amazn pellet smokers.

As far as the spice rub goes, well, I have to say, as much as I'm a fan of Alton Brown, sometimes his taste in spices leaves me a little. I use a pretty basic spice rub and have added using 'raw' sugar crystals at Darren's suggestion. Sometimes simple is better.

Wild Willy's Number One-derful Rub

This is our main all-purpose rub, good on ribs, brisket, chicken, and more.

  • 3/4 cup paprika
  • 1/4 cup ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons cayenne
Mix the spices thoroughly in a bowl. Store covered in a cool, dark pantry. Makes about 2 cups.

As far as the dryness goes, there are probably a few issues at play there.

1) Too long at too low a temperature.
2) The Meat itself - Pork nowadays tends to be much leaner than it used to be and that can lead to dryness. A brine, or injection, can help there.
3) Too high of an end temp. Was the temperature right at 190? Or was it above it? Too high of a temp can 'squeeze' the juice right out of the meat.
4) Not letting it rest long enough. A lot of the juice will come out of the meat as you cut it up if you don't let it rest. I'm guessing that probably happened as it

Just a matter of practice I think and getting the mechanics of it down.



 
....Main thing is our guests enjoyed it but none of us were too thrilled at eating at 9pm ....
Same thing happened with my first attempt. I cooked at too low a temp and it took ages. We ate late:). I like the idea of smoke for the first three hours, get 'er cooked through the stall with the Texas crutch, then unwrap into an aluminum pan to save the juices and smoke again for the last hour to crisp up the crust. An hour and a half per pound seems to work. Also, ya gotta get an accurate thermometer.
 
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