First Pork Shoulders!!


 
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Michael Anderson

New member
Hey Guys and Gals,
I'm planning on smoking two 8 - 10lb pork shoulders this weekend. These will be my first shoulders. Any advice on prep would be appreciated.
The plan is to start at sun up tomorrow, so I should have max time needed. I plan on a Memphis style dry rub.
I guess my biggest question is....... anything
special I need to do to the shoulders before the rub and throwing them in the smoker?
 
You should plan on that taking 15-20 hours if the butts are that large. Therefore you should consider starting up at midnight the night before. That will give you a little more breathing room to complete the cooking in time for dinner.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jason M. Park:
[qb] You should plan on that taking 15-20 hours if the butts are that large. Therefore you should consider starting up at midnight the night before. That will give you a little more breathing room to complete the cooking in time for dinner. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>ditto!

them are big shoulders and if you don't start until sun-up then you might not be ready to pull until late at night. If you're having guests, they'll be starving or asleep.

Jason is right. Start at midnight. Stableize your cooker. Hit the rack. Have a leisurely moring and start checking those butts around noon.
 
WOW! So much for sunrise! OK, Midnight sounds good. So, next question, do I prep the Shoulders anyway special or just rub em down and throw them on?
 
Michael

I have 4 that average around 7 lbs each on now and they will go all night and well into tomorrow. Be sure to trim your fat caps well so the rub will penetrate. I just rub and rub and r.. Nothing special for me except a liberal amount. Be prepared for your temp to rise slowly because that much meat will suck it up. However make slight adjustments on the way up to a dome 250 or a top grate 225. I don't worry as long as my dome temp is between 240 and 275.

It's impossible to give you complete instructions on a posts, so I recommend you read what Chris has written on the main site under cooking.

Best of luck to you.

Paul
 
Michael,

Just follow the Mr. Brown Recipe here on this site. It has very thorough instructions and will yeild a fantastic end product. It covers everything from butt prep, rubbing to the cooking process and basting.
 
Michael - as a basic I'd rub them down, wrap 'em and refrigerate them overnight (or at least 12 hours). But Paul and Jason do have a point - Mr. Brown is a fantastic recipe. I'd follow it for my first cook.
 
Hey All!
Thanks for the all the great advice!
As far as the wife and I are concerned the shoulders came out great! But what do we know?
I had lots of great tasting "Bark" and the smoke ring seemed to penetrate almost 1/2 inch. The taste was killer and the meat was good and moist throughout.
The meat actually went on at 11PM and cooked through the night. At around 9AM I inserted my
digital remote thermometer and started watching the temp. It started at around 166 *F. At noon
it showed 185*F so I checked several different places and got readings in the 185 to 195 range all over. I pulled the meat and let it sit for
about 30 minutes and then opened it up. I couldn't help myself and was stealing little bits of the bark during this time. I had happy mouth!
All and all, I'm happy with the results but I know I have lots of room for improvement.
I did run into a few issues I'd like to seek help on though.
Both shoulders were around 9 to 10 lbs and cooking time ran around 13 hours. Could this be a result of altitude? Here in Colorado Springs, I'm at 6200 ft. Also I had a heck of a time with maintaining my temp at 225 to 250. Had a few times where it spiked to 350 which I think was due to my smoking wood actually flaming up after all the moisture was cooked off. Any advice!
As a matter of note, the rub and mop from the
"Mr. Brown" instructions were KILLER!!
 
Michael,
Don't know nothin bout that altitude. Left West "By God" Virginia once I was old enough to.

Wasn't there with you, but how long was it taking you to mop? Sometimes the temp will spike when you pull the hood. That might have been the problem.

Others will differ with me, but I don't mop briskets or Butts in a WSM. My stock answer is I just like the taste of "the smoke." Probably, the real reason is I am lazy, and would just as soon take a butt whoopin as to fool aroun with fighting the temps once the WSM has stabilized.

You and your wife know a lot. (This is where I wushed I knew how to insert that fancy quote thing they got here!) You know "killer" taste when you taste it!

Mike
 
Thanks again to all!
I think my biggest issue is the temp spike. I think I know what caused it and how to prevent it the next time.
I think I may also drape a sheet of foil on the
meat closest to the heat to allow a more even cooking between the meats. Seems the closest hunk seems to have a bit more "Browning".
Lots of ideas have popped up and I've already got two more ten pounders in the freezer.
I'll keep you all posted and THANKS again.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top