1st pork shoulder smoke on 22" WSM


 
M

Matthew F.

New member
Hey everyone. I am going to be attempting my first pulled pork this weekend and I was looking for some pointers or tips to produce some good Q. I have a 22" WSM that I just seasoned with some chicken and ribs (which came out wonderful BTW). I'm looking to put a simple rub of salt, pepper, granulated onion, granulated garlic and a little paprika for color. I was going to use a little yellow ballpark mustard to get the rub to stick and keep the surface of the meat a little cooler to get a smoke ring. Anyone have a few pointers on how to produce a nice bark (recommended smoker temp, time on smoker, spritzing, wrapping)? Thanks!

Matt
 
Sometimes a pork shoulder can fool you. Usually I go at about 250F on the WSM top rack till the pork reaches 205 internal temp. Cook by internal temp
and not by time. It can stall and seem like it won't get past 190 or 195, but it will, just give it time. Enjoy your new WSM!
 
If you did ok with chicken and ribs, the pork shoulder won't be difficult. Bob is right, 250 is a good temp and cook by temp (or tenderness) and not time. Removing the cap and trimming most of the fat will give you the most bark. Keep the spritzing to a minimum. Wrap if you need to speed it up, just make sure you have a good bark formed before you wrap it. And most importantly, rest it for several hours before you pull it, foil-wrapped in a cooler with some towels for insulation. Have fun.

Jeff
 
Man, I just did my first pork butt on my 22 WSM yesterday: you can see my thread on it.

Don't over-complicate it. Trim it, rub it, smoke it, wrap it in paper if you must, and ultimately check for probe tender and an internal temp of about 203. Then let it rest at least an hour. You'll love it!
 
I normally do two 8.0-9.0 lb. Bone-In Boston Butts at a time. I put one on the top grate and one on the bottom. I use Harry Soo's rub recipe (from the PDF on here) and run the WSM at a target temperature of 275 degrees. When the bark is set (normally with an internal temperature of 165-170 degrees), I wrap the butts in heavy duty foil and swap their positions on the grate (top on bottom and bottom on top) to sort of even things out. I use Harry's recipe and add a bit of apple juice, brown sugar and Honey or Agave syrup (remember, less is more...).

I start checking for tenderness at 195 degrees internal meat temperatures and pull when the butts are tender all over.

I rest the butts a minimum of one hour before pulling.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
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