Pork Shoulder - Double Stall


 
S

Scotty Mac

New member
Smoked an 8.5 lb butt this weekend and I think it may be the best I've ever done, ridiculously tender and moist, fantastic crispy bark, just the right amount of smoke. Not a usual cook for me though and I wanted to see if any of you have encountered this yourselves and how it worked for you.

So the weird thing about it is that I never got it to my target temp of 195-200 F and it still turned out fantastic. My total cook time was about 13 hours, I ran it between 226 and 238 throughout the entire cook and then for the last hour or so I ran it between 250-260 trying to make temperature but it never got above 186. What I encountered was a double stall, the first was the expected stall (at around 165-168) right in the middle of the cook that lasted 4-5 hours. Then it seemed to break through that and the temp slowly but steadily came up into the 180s where it stalled out again, only very slowly creeping up to finally settle at 186. I measured with a handheld thermometer at this point too just to doublecheck that the probe was accurate and it was within 3-4 degrees anywhere on the shoulder I tested (always hotter though...so 189-190 range with the handheld) At that point it was 8:30 PM and the wife was whining and I was salivating so I decided to cut a chunk off the end so we could eat and leave the rest another hour to see if I could get it up to 195-200. Well I could have cut it with a rubber spatula at that point so I decided to take it off and it lo and behold it was perfect. The bone came out perfectly clean with no effort, it pulled apart effortlessly, it was done.

I know folks always say that every shoulder is different and I've definitely observed that as well but this is the first time I had a double stall like this so I wanted to get your feedback on it. Cheers!
 
I've had that happen too. It's poorly documented and I'm not sure what causes it, but you did the right thing. Maybe something changed in the humidity, or maybe you unwrapped it at that point? Maybe you basted the meat and that cooled it off? There's no telling but when I get that second stall I usually check for tenderness too.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I've had that happen too. It's poorly documented and I'm not sure what causes it, but you did the right thing. Maybe something changed in the humidity, or maybe you unwrapped it at that point? Maybe you basted the meat and that cooled it off? There's no telling but when I get that second stall I usually check for tenderness too.
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That's the thing Dustin, I didn't wrap it and I didn't baste or add any liquid to it.
I guess it could also be the humidity in the air but yesterday it was about 65 and sunny most of the day, not especially humid. The shoulder was a real nice piece of meat, great marbling and uniform thickness throughout. I got it at a butcher shop near me rather than from the grocery store like I'll often do so I'm thinking maybe that's the difference, a better cut of meat with more natural moisture? Either way, given how it turned out I'll be buying all my shoulders from them from now on!
 
You will see stalls when compounds change state like solid to liquid to vapor. I'm wondering if the moister in the meat began to evaporate. Totally uneducated guess but it could be it was beginning to dry out. :confused:
 
In most of my butt cooks, I get the stall (around 165-170) and then what I call "the crawl" where the temp doesn't stop rising, but does so very slowly. Typically about 9-10 hours in, I get the stall, then, about 2 hours later, that "breaks and the temp will jump to about 180-185. From there, it'll go up maybe 1 degree every 10 minutes or so, usually stopping dead at about 195. For the record, I never wrap them until I take 'em off for the rest.
 
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