When to start my cook

[Rod MacLennan]

Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time poster...

We have the whole family coming round on Saturday for lunch and wife says we should be eating at 2pm.

I know this sort of thing has been asked many a time, but I'm looking for advice on cook time for a pork shoulder.

It's about 13.5 lbs skin on, so I reckon 10-11 prepared (the shoulder has some ribs(? - I've attached an image of a shoulder that looks similar to mine with the bones) attached to the bottom that I will remove along with skin and excess fat)? Plan is to cook at 250-275 and foil when internal temp is around 160-165. Will then continue cook until IT is 200 before resting for at least an hour wrapped in a towel in a cooler.

When should I look to start smoking to allow time to cook and rest whilst also giving me some breathing room? As I say, it has to be ready by 2pm!

The oft stated 90 min per lb at 225 estimate, gives a 16.5 cook time, but I assume it would be shorter given slightly higher temp and foiling... I'm just not sure by how much...

Should I just smoke overnight (9 or 10pm start) or is this overkill?

Many thanks

Rod

 

[Larry D.]

That's a different, and larger cut than I have cooked, so I can't give you any advice based on actual experience. That said, I would probably do the overnight cook starting at around 10:00 p.m., planning to hold the finished shoulder in a cooler if it should get done sooner than expected. That should give you a window of several hours and avoid rushing to get things ready at the last minute.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Welcome to the worlds most entertaining grilling/smoking site!
I’ve not done anything even close to that particular cut of pork but, my last large(11#) butt took 17 hours so, that would be my best anecdotal message.
If it were me, I’d start that thing about 6:00 and be very happy to have it rest for three or four hours wrapped in a cooler. What was the piece sold as? That’s no shoulder from any butcher I’ve ever worked with but, that doesn’t mean much when it’s time to cook.
Start as early as you can, since you have an absolute timeline.

 

[Rich G]

Rod, I'm guessing your bone-in shoulder is cut a bit different in the UK than what we are used to seeing here which would be more of what you would find labelled as a blade roast (which is part of that monster you've got there!) If I've got my brain turned around right, it looks like your shoulder cut includes a bit of the top part of the loin with ribs attached, too.

I think that I'd echo what @Timothy F. Lewis said above......err on the side of being done EARLY. You can wrap the pork in foil, and put it in a cooler lined top/bottom with towels, and it will keep very hot for several hours. Pulled pork is very forgiving of this treatment, and you don't run the risk of missing your lovely bride's 2pm seating time! I used to always figure on 1.5 hours per pound plus a couple of extra hours for safety sake.....that was cooking at 240 with no foil wrap, so yours might be a touch quicker. A 6p start gives you 18 hours to get that sucker done (and you can always go as high as 300 if you want to move it along.....)

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Rich

 

[Tony-Chicago]

Well a normal shoulder can be about 5 hours on the hot side, or 7 to 12 on a slow cook. Cut in half (60/40) and it can be a bit quicker. Trim that shoulder and slow overnight or hot and fast early in the morning. Maybe start at 5 and be ready early. If overnight you can start slow, and check morning. Still have plenty of time to bump up the heat and make sure you are done early.
Remember you can always switch to the oven, especially after wrapping, and raise temp a bit too. May take a bit of pressure off.

 

[Rod MacLennan]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Definitely going to cook overnight to be safe.

I've included some photos of the actual cut. It's labelled as a Boston butt, but I think Rich may be correct in that it includes some 'extras' underneath the shoulder cut. Some Googling suggests they are ribs and will easily cut away to give the traditional US Boston butt cut:

I'm hoping this will both get weight/volume down to reduce cook time and also provide a bone free bottom surface for application of rub, etc.

 

[Rod MacLennan]

Good news is that now that the skin and rib section is removed I have something that more resembles a pork butt and weight down to a more reasonable 4.7 kg / 10.3 lbs.

Will apply rub a bit later and then refrigerate until time to put in the wsm.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Go ahead and rub it now, that won’t hurt a thing. I’d still start around 6 even with the reduced weight from bone extraction. It will be grand!

 

[Rich G]

That's a nice looking hunk of pork, Rod! Tomorrow's lunch should be tasty!

I hope you saved those bones for some good pork stock!

R

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Damn, I’m really getting hungry!

 

[Jeff Boudman]

Good news is that now that the skin and rib section is removed I have something that more resembles a pork butt and weight down to a more reasonable 4.7 kg / 10.3 lbs.

Will apply rub a bit later and then refrigerate until time to put in the wsm.

Looking forward to pictures of the cook.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[J Hasselberger]

I'm with Timothy and Rich -- err on the safe side for length of cook. A pork butt will keep for close to 5 hours in a towel-lined cooler and still be plenty hot. I do overnight pork butts pretty frequently and I usually put them on at around 10:00p or 11:00p. When you check temp in the morning, you can then plan the rest of the cook more accurately. If it needs to hurry up, I'll foil. If it's cooking faster than the plan, I'll leave it unwrapped.

Jeff

 

[Rod MacLennan]

Pork went on at 9pm as was smoking some half chickens for dinner first. It's currently happily smoking away at around 260 F.

Plan is to leave it untouched for the first 3 hours or so then put IT temp probe in and start spritzing approx. hourly (if I'm awake) until IT is 160. Then wrap. Will get some photos later on

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I’d skip the spritz and just leave it closed and “hands off” until morning. Full disclosure, I do not spritz, I do not wrap, I have been told that what I do is high on the “Yummy scale” so, why fool with success?
Last Saturday’s brisket went on about 8:45, I didn’t touch the lid until 13:30 next day.
That puppy had bark and bite! Seriously, the best brisket yet on the books!
I repeat, don’t peek. But, that’s only one mans opinion. However, this man...eats...a LOT!

 

[Rod MacLennan]

So... have just foiled at around 03:30; IT was a little over 160. 1st photo is 3 hrs in, 2nd is 6.5 hrs in before foiling.

I spritzed a couple of times as I happened to wake up, but each time resulted in a temperature spike up to 320 or so, which needed to be managed. In future, I think I will take Timothy's advice and skip the spritzing to avoid the hassle and allow time to sleep!

Another odd thing that happened around 1am was the low temp alarm went off on the grate probe. I panicked a bit and rushed outside, checked coals, checked probe, etc. This inevitably led to a big temp spike (I took the opportunity to spritz at least). I can only imagine some juice hit the probe or similar. In future I need to keep calm and check the lid temp and be a bit more patient. Naturally, actual temps won't plummet 50+ degrees in a few mins...

All a good learning experience!

 

[Rod MacLennan]

Pulled the meat a little before 6am with IT at 205, so a shorter than expected 9 hour cook. I suspect I could have skipped wrapping and still been fine for lunch at 2pm, but didn't want to risk it.

The foiled meat has now been wrapped in a towel and placed in a polystyrene box. I guess it will stay in there until 1pm, so 7 hrs, which is a long time, hopefully it will stay warm enough...

Another slight concern is the loss of some juices through the wrap during the cook, but nothing too major I hope

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Good, sounds like things are working out nicely! Send pictures after you shred it if you remember,(I often get too caught up in the feeding and eating to send them) don't worry about loss of juice, you will be rewarded.

 

[Jeff Boudman]

It appears you did a fine job.

 

[Rod MacLennan]

End result was... OK. A bit tough, but fine with juice and sauce added in. A couple of possibilities I can think of. (1) The meat ended up resting for over 7 hours, it was still at 150 IT, but could possibly be overdone (I also didn't vent the foil before putting in the cooler so IT may have risen above 210...). (2) Cook temps were too high, due to the various flare ups.

EDIT: On second taste with juice, some rub, and BBQ sauce added it's not too bad at all. I think I had better results last time round when I injected whilst following Harry Soo's recipe.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Your point about the possible heat rise in the cooler is entirely plausible. That might have done a little about texture but, I’d not get too concerned about that really. The extended rest is one of my favorite ways to get everything under control and set up for the feasting.
The spikes are a reasonable assumption for some drying I suppose as well.
I will be setting up a double butt cook for 20 in a couple of weeks. I’ve been using the Harry Soo smoke wood on the bottom method for the last few cooks and I’m sold on it!