This past weekend I cooked a couple of pork shoulders as a favor for a friend. The shoulders had come from wild pigs that his son had shot.
On examination, they looked a little darker than store-bought shoulders and with a lot less visible fat. About two hours prior to cooking, I applied some John Henry's Cherry Chipoltle rub. An hour prior to cooking, I took then out of the refrigerator so that they could come up to room temperature.
I loaded the WSM with Weber Competition, 2 chunks of cherry and 2 chunks of hickory. I usually go with a foil wrapped clay pot inside the water pan. However, for this this cook I filled the water pan with hot water. Using the Minion Method the smoker was up to 200 degrees in about 20 minutes, at which point I put in the meat. The cooker quickly got up to 235 degrees at the lid and stayed there for 10 hours. At hour 10, I removed the lid and sprayed the the shoulders with apple juice.
Here is my problem. The meat stalled at 185 degrees. It would never get any higher. At first, I thought that something was wrong with my Maverick ET-73. I confirmed the temp with my probe thermometer.
After about 14 hours the meat hadn't gotten beyond 185 degrees, but looked and felt dry to the touch. I pulled it from the cooker, sprayed it with apple juice, and double wrapped it in HD foil. I let it sit in a cooler for 2 hours. When I pulled it, it was indeed dry. It tasted great, but dry. I was not pleased.
What did I do wrong?
On examination, they looked a little darker than store-bought shoulders and with a lot less visible fat. About two hours prior to cooking, I applied some John Henry's Cherry Chipoltle rub. An hour prior to cooking, I took then out of the refrigerator so that they could come up to room temperature.
I loaded the WSM with Weber Competition, 2 chunks of cherry and 2 chunks of hickory. I usually go with a foil wrapped clay pot inside the water pan. However, for this this cook I filled the water pan with hot water. Using the Minion Method the smoker was up to 200 degrees in about 20 minutes, at which point I put in the meat. The cooker quickly got up to 235 degrees at the lid and stayed there for 10 hours. At hour 10, I removed the lid and sprayed the the shoulders with apple juice.
Here is my problem. The meat stalled at 185 degrees. It would never get any higher. At first, I thought that something was wrong with my Maverick ET-73. I confirmed the temp with my probe thermometer.
After about 14 hours the meat hadn't gotten beyond 185 degrees, but looked and felt dry to the touch. I pulled it from the cooker, sprayed it with apple juice, and double wrapped it in HD foil. I let it sit in a cooler for 2 hours. When I pulled it, it was indeed dry. It tasted great, but dry. I was not pleased.
What did I do wrong?
