Low and Slow Pork Shoulder 18 hour coo


 
Cliff Bartlett

Cliff Bartlett

R.I.P. 5/17/2021
Used up the last of our pulled pork a couple of weeks ago. Had a nice bone in shoulder in the freezer so I went with that. It weighed in at 8.15 lbs. Wanted to do something different so I put together some of Chris Lilly's rub and also a batch of his injection liquid. Rubbed it down and injected before I went to bed Saturday night. Got up at 1:45 am and got my WSM fired up to 225. Going to let it roll at this temperature with no foil or butcher paper. Got it on the smoker at exactly 2:00 am. Used my new CyberQ Smoke for this cook. Back to bed. Got up Sunday morning and the butt was cruising along at 145. Kept an eye on it throughout the day. Made a potato salad to go with the sammies later tonight. Baked a loaf of Tarting Country Bread too for meals this week. Threw on some abt's early evening as well. Made up a pot of Killer Hogs BBQ sauce for the pork as well. Busy day. Here goes.

Ready to inject.

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Rubbed.

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On the WSM at @ 2:00 am.

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This was around the 6 hour mark.

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Only pulled the lid three times the entire cook. This was around the 12 hour mark.

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Around 14 hours. Checked fuel. Still cruising at 225. Didn't really need to, but added a chimney or so as I could see it wasn't close yet.

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Getting there. I'd boosted the temp to 250 with an hour to go. This thing is cool.

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Goodies.

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I mentioned the bread for the upcoming week. Did all the work yesterday in my down time during the cook. Baked this morning.

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Applied some sauce when it was about 20 minutes out.

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Pulled at 203 IT. Time was 8:25 pm, 18 hour 25 minute cook.

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Plated it up.

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Everything came out great and I had a heck of a lot of fun. Probably the best pork shoulder I’ve ever done. Meat was flavorful, moist and juicy. The bark was excellent, almost crunchy in places. Hope you all had a great weekend. That's it for a few days. Thanks for looking.
 
Home Run! The pulled pork looks superb. Love the plate. I'm sure the potato salad was top of the line. Oh... & the ABTs & that bread.
Xtra points for the early rise & long cook.
 
Not sure I could decide whether to hit the pulled pork or the ABTs first. I might just have to put an ABT or two on the sandwich.
 
Another killer cook in the books Cliff. Well done! I can only imagine how good it tasted.
 
Another winner, Cliff! You know I'm a sucker for your bread (you are getting better rise with your sourdough starter than I do with my instant yeast!) I haven't been able to talk myself into the early morning start time in quite a while......kudos for you to get 'er done (hope you had a little liquid refreshment to keep you fortified!)

R
 
Looks simply amazing Cliff. 18 hours is a long time, and it was time well spent!

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Just fantastic results. Next time I season a butt I want it to look like your photo when just placed on the WSM. Bravo !
 
Thanks to all of you for the extremely supportive comments!

Rich G said:
(hope you had a little liquid refreshment to keep you fortified!)
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Did I ever! That's why I didn't get that butt on until 2:00 am. I was shooting for 1:00!

SeanHaz said:
where is that amazing looking bread on the plate?
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Baked the bread Monday morning after an overnight bulk ferment.

Rich Dahl said:
What did you do in your spare time? ;)
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Actually had quite a lot of spare time Sunday. I'd done the potato salad Saturday to give it a chance to mix. The ABT's were in the freezer from a cook that never happened a couple of weeks ago. So I put together the Tartine for our meals beginning on Monday. That's a lengthy process. Six turns after the final mix over the span of 4 or 5 hours. Managed to squeeze in a snooze too.

Thanks again everyone!
 
Awesome review of the recipe and it looks like a beauty. I love crunchy bark. Within the next few weeks we're having a family gathering and I'll use this recipe; I've never injected a shoulder, yet, but I do often go naked through the entire smoke. My biggest challenge will be waking up at 1:45 and having it placed at 2:00. How in the heck did you do it that quickly?
 
I've used Chris Lilly's injection and rub from the beginning. Although my last couple butts weren't injected.

I've never experienced a long cook like that. I smoked an 8# (bone-in) butt, a 3# (boneless) butt, and a rack of Baby Backs on Sunday. The large one only took 7 hours at 230F., but I foil at about 150F (we don't like hard bark).

The pictures look great.
 
BFletcher said:
My biggest challenge will be waking up at 1:45 and having it placed at 2:00. How in the heck did you do it that quickly?
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Guess I wasn't very clear on this. My plan had been to get up around midnight and have it on by 1:00. I didn't get up until 1:00, but managed to get it on at 2:00 am. Took me about an hour to get the smoker up to temp and get it on, not 15 minutes. Sorry about that.

Bill Elwell said:
The large one only took 7 hours at 230F., but I foil at about 150F (we don't like hard bark).
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Thanks Bill. Foiling will definitely speed things up. If I'm up against the clock I usually foil, but this past year I've avoided it. I just like the ambiance of a long, low and slow cook. Would have loved to see pic's of your cook. Sounds fantastic!
 
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Cliff Bartlett said:
Thanks Bill. Foiling will definitely speed things up. If I'm up against the clock I usually foil, but this past year I've avoided it. I just like the ambiance of a long, low and slow cook. Would have loved to see pic's of your cook. Sounds fantastic!
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I take them for sure, but the rebel in me WON'T let me pay for a lot of things, like a site to post photo's. :)
 
Cliff, do you offer bread baking lessons? :p

Butt looks great, and I like your idea of placing it on a cooling rack for cooking. Makes cleanup easier, and reduces the chance of the meat falling apart at the grill.
 
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