Smoking Pork Shoulder For Father's Day


 

J Spang

New member
To start....I love my WSM. Lol. I got it for Christmas as a gift that I had my eye on for awhile, but never bought for myself. It took awhile for the weather to break here in the northeast but decent weather/temperatures are here finally. I have have done small cooks(enough for 2 adults 1 teen and 2 young kids with a little left overs for a few days) 2 out of the last 3 weekends..... and plan on doing another this weekend for fathers day.

So this weekend is like to smoke pork shoulder for about 7-8 adults. I would like some left overs as well to last a couple days for my lunch at work. I plan on doing bone in shoulders. And I believe I've read before you should have about a half pound for each person??? So do you think I'd be better off buying 2 shoulders at approx 7-9 lbs or 1 large one at approx 12-14lbs.

I'm still real new to smoking. And I'm just wondering if there are advantages (such as shorter cook time, more even cook, amount of charcoal used) to using two smaller cuts as opposed to one larger one?

Any input, ideas, or tips would be greatly appreciated!!!
 
J Spang;
I typically buy 8.0-9.0 lb. bone in Butts. I almost always do two at a time. It takes 8-10 hours and takes almost no extra time to do two. I PLAN to have left overs. My wife vacuum packs any left overs in two person packages, then freezes them. I try to keep frozen pulled pork on hand for those quick meals. It is just as good as fresh off the grill and VERY handy to have.

My grand daughter is getting married in N.C. She asked me to make pulled pork for nearly thirty people for the rehearsal dinner. So, we did THREE bone in butts of 8.0+lbs. It is pulled, vacuum packed and frozen for the trip.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
I would go with two smaller ones rather that one enormous one. Two smaller ones should go faster than one big one, though probably not by much given how long it takes to begin with.

My take on this is that you're in for a LONG day of tending the smoker so you might as well make the most of it. Cooking two doesn't take much longer than one so you might as well. It freezes well. I've done four butts at one time and ate from that cook for a very long time. I'd rather spend 16 hours once than 12-14 hour twice, or even four times.

If you're cooking for company, plan to have the butts off the smoker and resting at least several hours before dinner time. I'd seriously consider shooting for having it rested and holding in a cooler a good six hours in advance. A couple butts will stay plenty warm wrapped up in a cooler for a very long time. And if things don't go exactly as planned (do they ever?) you'll have sufficient time to make them right. I've had a few butts get done early but most of them seem to take a lot longer than expected. I like to plan for that.
 
There's another angle on weight...

Cuts such as a pork butt are very specific in their nature. As such, a smaller butt will come from a smaller pig while a larger butt will come from a larger pig. That larger pig may also be older. There is a chance that more weighty pork butt is past it's prime, quality wise.

Out here, we normally see that same 8 - 9 lbs.
 
Great info guys! I'll definitely go with 2 smaller ones as opposed to 1 huge one. That was kind of the direction I was leaning but wanted to hear some opinions from people with more experience and knowledge than myself.
 
I always aim for smaller pork butts, often cutting them in half before rubbing. This gives more bark per serving.
 
So apparently we're supposed to have rain all day Sunday with periods of sever thunderstorms. So I'm thinking of just smoking it all day Saturday then reheating for Sunday afternoon in the oven probably. How do you guys reheat shoulders so they don't dry out? Should I leave the shoulders whole until we're ready to serve or should I just shred them then refrigerate them? Any suggests how to reheat?
 
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I recommend the smaller ones too. You could even do 3 or 4 of them and freeze the leftovers.

You're going to lose about 50% of the starting weight. So calculate how many sandwiches/servings you need X 1/4 lb. then double that for the weight you need to smoke.

Figuring 1/4# for each sandwich I always weigh vacuum bags at 1# (4 sandwiches).

Whenever the granddaughters visit they almost always leave with 1 or 2 bags.
 
J, I'd pull them and mix the meat all together, and then refrigerate. The bark will help flavor the inside meat and personally I almost prefer pulled pork the day after. If you have a roaster (like a Nesco) or a couple of crock pots they can be used to reheat. Some people like to add a little bit of moisture via liquid (apple juice and vinegar are popular) but I think rendered bacon fat is great for reviving day-old pork.

As if you needed a reason to cook some bacon.;)
 
Great advice with the crock pot. My mind was stuck on the oven or microwave. Glad I asked. Thanks for the input!
 
Smoked pulled pork is going to be my first smoke on the WSM so I haven't cooked one yet, but I wanted to weigh in on the crock pot route. That's the way we've always gone when doing pulled pork, however we've always cooked them in the crock pot with our favorite root beer. It adds amazing flavor into the meat. Just another option for ya.
 

 

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