Pork Shoulder

[DaveT261]

I did my first pork shoulder this weekend.  I got up at 3 am and prepped the shoulder by cutting off the top layer of the fat cap leaving a good quarter inch, injected it with a 75/25 mix of apple juice and orange juice, used my jaccard to tenderize two inches deep, applied mustard, put my rub on it and let it set until 5 in the afternoon.  I set my temp at 230 and added 6 hours of hickory pucks, I held a steady temp between 220 and 230 the entire time.  I had an hour and a half stall  at mid 140's which I think that is a perfect stall time, once past the stall my temps steadily rose to 192 which took around 19 hours.  I took it off and foiled it and wrapped in towels and put in my small cooler that I bought especially for shoulders and let it set for two hours.  I mooshed it with 6 fingers and pulled the bones out clean.  The meat pulled so easily I did not really even need to use my bear claws.  Now for the bad news, it was bland. I have never seen a shoulder cook so perfect and not have a good shoulder taste.  I do not know where I went wrong.  I mopped it every couple hours, and kept it moist.  I could hardly taste or even smell the smoke.  I normally use bbq sauce sparingly on shoulders but the sauce was about all the taste there was to it.  I have had so much good luck with everything I smoked on my Bradley this throws me for a loop.  It was a perfect run with great stall time.  Where did I go wrong?  What do you do thats any different than what I done.  I think for now on I will go back and use my offset smoker to do shoulders if they dont turn out any better. 

Anyone have any suggestions??

[STLstyle]

???  Got me on that one.  My butts always have flavor with similar prep minus the jaccard treatment.  Try again with another shoulder.  Maybe it was that piece of meat.

[KyNola]

Sounds like you did everything right.  I have found that most smoked meats are actually better if they are given an opportunity to rest at least overnight before the smoke flavor really comes to the front.  Pulling it when you did sounds right. That is when I would have pulled it too.  Once I pull the meat, I place it in a large airtight container and let it rest in the frig until the next day.  There is a distinct difference in the smoke taste.

There is something else too.  Since you were "in the smoke" off and on several times during the cooking period, your taste buds may have gotten desensitized to the smoke flavor.  I know it sound weird but it is true.

Give the meat a day and taste it again and tell us what you think. 

[beefmann]

congrats Dave, off on a good start on the smoke and many more to come

[Caneyscud]

I think my KY friend probably hit it on the head - blown out taste buds! 

Have you used that injection on butts before?  I've never injected a butt before so don't know how that might affect the taste.  A couple of other things.  I am a mopper, but I usually don't start mopping for several hours.  I want the surface to set and the bark to start forming before I start mopping.  Then I let the surface dryout between moppings.  If it is still wet, then the smoke is just on the liquid and when you add more, the liquid with the smoke flavor falls off.  And I like a mop with solids in it - butter solids, mustard, herbs and spices, cooked onions, etc... that get deposited on the butt, stay there and get layered in smoke flavor. 

[KyNola]

And my friend Caney makes a great point.  If you kept the surface of the meat moist, the bark most likely didn't have an opportunity to form well.  In my humble opinion, the bark is actually where most of the smoke winds up landing and concentrating.

I have never mopped a pork butt but that is just my personal preference.

Give it another try!  Bradley owners never make mistakes.  We just have happy accidents. :)

[Tenpoint5]

I have done the injection thing on butts and it helps. However there is one factor everyone is seemingly forgetting. The PIG!! I have had butts that have been treated exactly the same as the one next to it but just didn't have the same flavor. So I am going to blame it on the individual HOG that gave that pork butt to me!!

[DaveT261]

I have done the injection thing on butts and it helps. However there is one factor everyone is seemingly forgetting. The PIG!! I have had butts that have been treated exactly the same as the one next to it but just didn't have the same flavor. So I am going to blame it on the individual HOG that gave that pork butt to me!!

This may be the problem, I don't know.  I have been smoking butts for probably 20 years and never had one turn out like this. 

To answer some of the questions that have been posted:

I use a jaccard (i use a 48 pin) to break down the top layers of muscle so more smoke can get deeper in the meat.  In my past experiences it has always seemed to help

I always mop butts, but never before the stall, and I have always done a 25% citrus in my injections because I have found out it helps to break down the collegians during the stall.

When I pulled the pork I only made myself one sandwich, (well maybe two), then I put it in my "AirLok" container and put it in the fridge after it cooled and did not open it until the next day.

If nobody else has had any problems with their butts being bland it might have been the meat.  Maybe I have been lucky for all those years and never got a bad one. 

I will try again and let everyone know.

Thanks for all the help.

Dave

[NePaSmoKer]

Everyone has cameras.

How bout some pics

OR



Or prob a bunch of