A Pork Shoulder Cook

[BARDSLJR]

Planning to cook two 7.5 lb pork shoulders tomorrow, not that I need 15 lbs of pork shoulder to feed our extended family(3 grandkids, my daughter and her husband, my wife and I) , but that's the way Costco sells them. So we will be eating pulled pork in various forms all week, likely.

But the question is this: to wrap or not to wrap. Franklin recommends wrapping in foil at about 8 hours into a 10 hour cook, continuing for one hour at 270*, and finishing the last hour at 295*. I don't think I've ever wrapped my pork shoulder and they've always turned out great. I also have been cooking at 285, if memory serves.

What do you guys (and gals) do?

[tony b]

Unlike brisket, that I like to wrap in pink butcher paper - ala Franklin, I don't wrap butts or ribs. I'm generally in the 250 - 275F range for butts. I have done hot & fast butts at 325F if I'm short on time. I also like to inject butts with Butcher BBQ marinade. Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust is my "go to" rub for pork butt. 

Don't worry, you can never have enough pulled pork lying around. I'll even warm it up and put a fried egg on top for breakfast! Makes a good breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, peppers, onions, cheese and salsa. Pulled pork mac & cheese is another OTB dish. Pulled pork Bolognese over pasta. Just get funky with it! Oh, it freezes really well in a vacuum sealer bag, too.

Edited November 14, 2020 by tony b

[Troble]

I wrap mine in foil the last hour and pour a bunch of siracha, Brian sugar, apple juice abd beer and then put it back on

everything else Tony said is pretty much what I do. I serve with Hawaiian sweet rolls abs also use in morning for breakfast scrambled or fried egg sandwiches. 
 

this has been my base recipe for pulled pork for 10+ years 
http://slapyodaddybbq.com/images/06 Culinary Artistry/Slap Yo Daddy Pork Bone-In Pork Butt.pdf

[BARDSLJR]

Troble, do you lose the bark when you put all that liquid on it?

Tony, those are all good suggestions. I am also thinking pulled pork enchiladas and pulled pork hash with potatoes, onions and bell peppers, maybe with an egg over it.

[tony b]

51 minutes ago, BARDSLJR said:

pulled pork hash with potatoes, onions and bell peppers, maybe with an egg over it.

MONEY!!!

[Troble]

No I don’t lose the bark. I spray every 30 minutes after the first 5 hours and I don’t wrap it until the bark is caked on there. I’m actually doing this cook right now as we speak about 12 hours in wrapped and probably will take off in 30 

[LK BBQ]

I agree that it is not necessary at all to foil, unless you want to bypass the stall.  The pork comes out juicy regardless. 

Bardsljr, I wrap leftovers in single or double-serve foil packets, and store all of the packets in ziplocs in the freezer.  Pulled pork heats up really easily and well.  Any evening that I'm too lazy to cook, I can just throw a packet into the steam oven and have a pulled pork in minutes.  Most of the time, I'll make pulled pork tacos.  It's also great over rice, by itself, or for pork BBQ sandwiches. 

 

[BARDSLJR]

So, here's the beginning of the cook: first, the pork shoulders were slathered with yellow mustard and doused with Dizzy Pig's Dizzy Dust rub and left to sit in the fridge overnight. Next, the 32" KK was set up with the BBQ Guru and the Cloud BBQ remote meat sensors. Lastly, the KK is shown in business mode, ramping up. At the moment I am leisurely monitoring it from the loft, a second cup of very good Jack Mormon coffee (from Salt Lake City)  and scrambled eggs and boudin, the latter from Opelousas, La. The boudin is so strong with black pepper that I have broken a blinding head sweat, and my tongue has gone numb, but it all good.....

IMG_1964 2.HEIC IMG_1966 2.HEIC IMG_1967 3.HEIC

[BARDSLJR]

Let's try that again....

[tony b]

Looking good so far!

[BARDSLJR]

So, the final version: First photo is halfway through, about 5 hours; second is the finished product, nice bark. Lastly, pulled and chopped for serving. It turned out excellent, fed the whole family, and the Stansbury clan took home the other half for leftovers. And that was just one shoulder.....the other we will start reheating tonight and  use here in  various incarnations: sandwiches, enchiladas, hash, etc. Pulled pork souffle, anyone?

There was one glitch in an otherwise perfect, BBQ Guru-controlled cook: the plan was to wrap the shoulder in foil two hours before finishing (at about 190 degrees) and increase the temperature from 275* to 295*. Problem was, even though I had filled up the fuel basket full, there wasn't enough charcoal left to get the temp up. This was puzzling: I have filled the fuel basket before and had enough to run the KK for 24 hours before the temps starting dropping off. The only thing I can think of is that this charcoal was the last of the bag, from the bottom, and had a high proportion of very small chunks, so maybe they burn faster and/or don't have as much thermal energy???? It's a physics question, and as a liberal arts major, I am notoriously short on formal scientific training, so really, I don't know. In any case, it was in foil by this point, and was benefiting only from the heat, not the smoke, so I finished it in the oven, no big deal. It was delicious.

[tony b]

2 hours ago, BARDSLJR said:

The only thing I can think of is that this charcoal was the last of the bag, from the bottom, and had a high proportion of very small chunks, so maybe they burn faster and/or don't have as much thermal energy???? It's a physics question, and as a liberal arts major, I am notoriously short on formal scientific training, so really, I don't know.

The thermal mass (BTU/lbm) is the same, it's just the surface area to volume is a lot bigger, so these pieces burn up faster than larger chunks. Not a bad guess for a "non science" guy, @BARDSLJR.

[BARDSLJR]

Yeah, that's what I MEANT to say...🤤