Whole Pork Shoulders--Help


 

Ray B

New member
I have some Pork Shoulders (not butts) that I'm doing this weekend. These are whole shoulders in the 17# ballpark.

Can anyone give me any advice on these. Should I separate them into butts and picnics or just leave them whole? How much longer will they take over a regular bone-in butt? Should I peel the skin/ rind off the picnic end or leave it be? Etc.

Basically I'm looking for anyone with experience here...
 
It depends on how long you want to spend smoking really. 34 hours + seems like a long time, but it may be worth it. IMO I'd cut them in half. I think the skin can be one of the tasties parts of the swine so leave it on. It will naturally separate from the meat. Good luck!
 
Ray, I did a monster butt back in the spring. It had the collar on and a piece of the picnic. It weighed 18.65 lbs. and took 23.5 hrs to cook at 250. If you are making these for pulled pork, then I would skin them, if you want to apply rub and have bark on the meat.
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Well, I talked to a friend who has some experience with this and he led me to believe that my cooking time would only be a couple of hours longer with the shoulders and he suggested I leave them whole, leave the fat on, and cook them with the skin side down.

He does not use a WSM, would his cook time be dramatically different you think on a side box smoker from the WSM? He said it usually takes him 14 hours to get shoulders done.

Now I'm not worried about gauging doneness... I'm wondering if I need to start smoking at 4:00 Friday for a 5:00 Saturday dinner?
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Ray, Here on TVWBB we give the following times for Pork Butt's and Picnics. 1.5 hrs. - 2 hrs per lb as a guide to judge on cooking time at 235º-240º grate temp. Now the higher you cook them, the faster they get done.
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Ray - I used to cook on a horizontal/SFB for a few years before the WSM. Cook times would be about the same as long as the temperature is the same and even in the horizontal.

Think to remember with horizontals is that the cheaper ones (like I had) can have wider swings in temps which can mean longer cooking times. The WSM is unique in it's price range for being able to hold temps even over long cooks vs. the same price point horizontal, which tend to be leaky and need mods to be as air tight.
 
I would seperate so they would fit easier and to get a little more outside cut. I like the outside cut or bark. I would remove the skin off the picnic. I want to get down to where the rub will flavor the meat. I lightly trim my butt only because I like to freeze the trimmings and use them beans or collards. If you don't trim I would say it would cook down after hours in the smoker.
 

 

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