1st Smoked Pork Shoulder Roast

smoker pete · January 16, 2011, 08:54:11 PM

It was time to get off my Butt ;D so I picked up a nice 8.59lb Pork Shoulder Roast from my local butcher for my 1st Pulled Pork.

Slathered the Butt with some CT and John Henry's Pecan Rub Seasoning. Wrapped in plastic food wrap and into the fridge overnight. The Shoulder Roast was well trimmed and had a nice small fat cap on it.

Into the OBS for 5 hours of Hickory with the PID set at 225ºF for 30 hours. 20 minutes later is when the troubles reared their ugly head. First off the Smoke Generator would not advance any bisquettes. After many attempts I unloaded all the Hickory pucks and to make a long story short I loaded a bisquette manually every 20 minutes for 5 hours. Hey, I got my exercise ;D So the bottom line is I need to clean the SG more often :-[

Then I noticed a large pool of water under the OBS. Turns out that the foil which was holding 4+ cups of hot water had a hole in it and the water was all over the bottom of the OBS and leaked out through the front left leg assembly. Long story short - got a new pan, mopped everything up and continued on with my 1st Butt ;D Note to self: Don't be too frugal (that's cheap to everyone else but in Ripon the Dutch like to say they're 'frugal')

Here's the Butt after 22½ hours. Fortunately I've read so many posts from everyone that I knew not to panic when the Butt stalled. In the first 6 hours it went from an IT of 48º to 156º. I'm thinking this is gonna be done in no time ... Wrong!!!! That's when I remembered about the STALL. It's gonna stall - it always stalls - and yup ... everything slowed to a crawl. But then I was in no hurry. It took another 15½ hours to go from 156º to 198º. That's when I pulled it. I will say that I'm really glad my Son installed a 2nd element in my OBS cause with the PID it performed flawlessly. Got me some nice bark on that porker.

Here it is after a 3 hour FTC. I was going to do 4 hours FTC but my appetite got the best of me ::)

Using the new pitch forks the wife picked up for me I pulled my first Butt. Everything was so moist and tender that I didn't even need the meat puller. It literally just fell off the bone.

Wife had a nice Sammy but I just grazzed ;) So here's the money $hot with the bark mixed in. All in all, it was a huge success and I just received a call my two granddaughters who just loved the meat. That made it all worth while! I need to do me another one or two real soon. But after my first 24+ hour smoke/FTC I think I'll just kick back and get some zzzzz's ;D ;D

DTAggie · January 16, 2011, 08:59:32 PM

Mighty fine indeed Pete

SoCalBuilder · January 16, 2011, 09:00:52 PM

HOLY COW!!!!! - hand feeding bisquettes for five hours? That is patience with a capital 'P'. The end product sure looks nice though. I'm sure the next one will be a lot less work.

GusRobin · January 16, 2011, 09:01:25 PM

Very nice job. No mater how many I do, I always grt a tinge of panic when I hit the stall and it appears it will never get done.

smoker pete · January 16, 2011, 09:08:08 PM

Quote from: GusRobin on January 16, 2011, 09:01:25 PM
Very nice job. No mater how many I do, I always grt a tinge of panic when I hit the stall and it appears it will never get done.

Now that I've witnessed it myself I couldn't agree more Gus. It started out like a gang buster and then died for the longest time. I guess the 'magic' happens around 160º to 170º ??! But like I said, thanks to guys like you Gus I didn't panic and stayed the course.

classicrockgriller · January 16, 2011, 09:35:45 PM

"Here it is after a 3 hour FTC. I was going to do 4 hours FTC but my appetite got the best of me"

I am a firm believer in FTC but with a butt looking like that I wouldn't

have waited as long as you did.

That Bad Boy (or Gurl) is just right on Target! WOW!

Super Job! Nice moist, firm pulls. The Bark is off the chain!

SouthernSmoked · January 17, 2011, 04:16:33 AM

Heck Yeah! now I'm really hungry...........

muebe · January 17, 2011, 05:03:37 AM

Great job Pete and that looks fantastic! During that stall time some amazing things are going on inside the meat. All the connective tissues are breaking down into liquid and this will cool the IT down causing the stall. Then when all that connective tissue has been melted IT will rise and you got pulled pork.

Caneyscud · January 17, 2011, 05:40:30 AM

The plateau is your friend - treat it well. Be kind to it. Stroke it's ego a time or two and it will stick around and return the kindness. Ah the magic of low-n-slow. The teasing, the sights, the smell, that aroma of pork fat and smoke - something ethereal, excites something in the olfactory cortex, that trips something in the pre-frontal lobe, that along with signals from the visual cortex pounds on the pre-frontal lobe result in not only sweet memories of great barbecue meals in the past, but kicks the drool glands into high gear. You tongue and taste buds are screaming for relief - screaming for the satisfaction they know is coming. And then you give in - enough is enough. A man and his parts can only take so much!!

That by the way is Caney's explanation of the shortened FTC! ;D

smoker pete · January 17, 2011, 09:21:54 AM

Quote from: Caneyscud on January 17, 2011, 05:40:30 AM
The plateau is your friend - treat it well. Be kind to it. Stroke it's ego a time or two and it will stick around and return the kindness. Ah the magic of low-n-slow. The teasing, the sights, the smell, that aroma of pork fat and smoke - something ethereal, excites something in the olfactory cortex, that trips something in the pre-frontal lobe, that along with signals from the visual cortex pounds on the pre-frontal lobe result in not only sweet memories of great barbecue meals in the past, but kicks the drool glands into high gear. You tongue and taste buds are screaming for relief - screaming for the satisfaction they know is coming. And then you give in - enough is enough. A man and his parts can only take so much!!

My goodness Caney ... Now I know the definition of "Food Porn" ... ;D ;D

OU812 · January 17, 2011, 10:17:20 AM

That, is a mighty fine lookin hunk of pork you got there Pete!

Now that you got in some zzzzzzzzzzzzz's you better clean your SG and get ready for some more butt. ;D

SnellySmokesEm · January 17, 2011, 10:27:42 AM

Now thats a sexy butt! All you Bradley owners are spoiled! ;D ;D ;D I have to add wood chips ever 30 minutes or so in the Master Built... ;D ;D ;D ;D

watchdog56 · January 17, 2011, 04:11:16 PM

Nice job. Will be doing 3 butts for Super Bowl,planning on about 20 hour area (that is what it took me last year at this time),hopefully not the 30.

flac203 · January 20, 2011, 09:11:16 AM

Starting my first Pork Shoulder... does anyone Brine it overnight first?

KyNola · January 20, 2011, 09:30:43 AM

I won't speak for others but I have done my fair share of butts and I have never brined one. Have never found the need to brine as they are plenty moist from all of the fat and connective tissue breaking down.

Others will chime in soon. I think I recall that FLBR may have brined some.