First Pork Shoulder Smoke - Feels like a fail

[Penny2121]

Hi All.

First smoke today 4-rack digital.  Pork shoulder from Costco at 230 degrees.  5 hours of smoking with hickory pucks.  9.5 hours and got to 205.  Didn't mean to get to 205, but had two pork shoulders going and this one was at the bottom without the wireless temp gauge.  Pulled it out and let sit for an hour in foil and wrapped in a towel.  Opened it up, pulled, and found pink meat.  The meat is all what I'll call "stringy"...so I'm sure it's done.

What did I do wrong?  How do I get that white/tan color I normally have seen?

Thanks!

[classicrockgriller]

Penny, you could have a couple of things going on.

A bad temp probe (you can check it in a glass of slushy ice water)

You hit a fat pocket (you need to probe in several areas of the butt)

Wrap the butt back up in foil and put in the oven at 225*

[Tenpoint5]

Did the Bone pull out clean?

[Penny2121]

No bone.  What happens when you cook it too long in regards to the color?  It just feels like it was overlooked.  I need a new/different/additional temp gauge for sure.

[classicrockgriller]

Penny, if it was overcooked, the meat would not be pink.

[hal4uk]

No bone.  What happens when you cook it too long in regards to the color?  It just feels like it was overlooked.  I need a new/different/additional temp gauge for sure.

Not sure exactly what you had there, or what happened, but I'd suggest trying a "bone-in Boston butt" next time.
I don't have a Costco, but I think they sell the same ones Sam's Club does -- they come 2 in a cryovac package, usually about 7-8 lbs each (about a 15lb package)
That's what almost everyone here uses for pulled pork.

A "Pork Shoulder" is the "boston butt" and the "picnic" (It's the whole front leg of a pig; don't be confused by the word "butt")
The "Boston butt" is generally (much) preferred over the picnic.

If you smoke a whole shoulder (not sure it will even fit in the Bradley) and mix all the meat together when it's done, you'll have some good pulled pork, but the picnic just by itself, ain't so great (IMHO).

Anyhow, when you do a Boston butt, like TP5 was saying --- that bone will slide right out when it's done and the meat will pull easy like "buttah".
You still need good thermometers, but that's a dead give-away that it's DONE.

Hope that helps.

[SiFumar]

If it was more a picnic....it could have been caused by more myoglobin which causes the darker in color meat.  Which happens in some more muscle meat that get more exercise.  I'm sure I will be corrected here...but this is how I see it.

How did it taste?

[Caneyscud]

Any chance it was a Picnic. - i.e. a cured shoulder (local designation).  Might explain the pink color. 

Dunno Hal i'm kinda partial to shoulders.  as long as I skin-em.  Without skinning they come out like whole hog.  The butt is indeed a part of the shoulder - the highest part of the shoulder.  A "shoulder" is the lower part of the shoulder and is more used when that porker was running around.  So's its got more of that collagen type stuff.  I think they are more succulent.  But are increasingly hard to find. 

I wish I could find a box of pork cushions.  Talk about good pulled pork.

[hal4uk]

Any chance it was a Picnic. - i.e. a cured shoulder (local designation).  Might explain the pink color. 

Dunno Hal i'm kinda partial to shoulders.  as long as I skin-em.  Without skinning they come out like whole hog.  The butt is indeed a part of the shoulder - the highest part of the shoulder.  A "shoulder" is the lower part of the shoulder and is more used when that porker was running around.  So's its got more of that collagen type stuff.  I think they are more succulent.  But are increasingly hard to find. 

I wish I could find a box of pork cushions.  Talk about good pulled pork.

CS...  (like for Christmas or $umthin'..  A SPECIAL occasion)...
Order a whole shoulder from SRF sometime.
It's "all that".  Seriously.

I've only done it ONCE (ain't cheap)... But, I WILL do it again.

[Wildcat]

Every once in a while I will get a butt (bone in) that has areas (usually around the bone) that has a strange reddish or pinkish color. These areas have always been completely cooked. Texture is mildly stringy and flavor is a little different, but good in any case. I think some butts just have those areas.

[KyNola]

Every once in a while I will get a butt (bone in) that has areas (usually around the bone) that has a strange reddish or pinkish color. These areas have always been completely cooked. Texture is mildly stringy and flavor is a little different, but good in any case. I think some butts just have those areas.

Ditto! Just did a couple the other day.  One of them had the pink area that my friend Wildcat described above.  The other one did not.  The one with the pink area was completely cooked.

[Penny2121]

Thank you all for the responses!  I'm starting to think they were indeed two different cuts in the same package.  The "pink" one had more of a taste similair (to me anyways) to a smoke turkey leg (texture too) that I would get from a local Renn festival in the early fall.

[squirtthecat]

Sounds like it could had some nitrates or something in it as a preservative..

[Pachanga]

I Smoked four blade in butts last week.  Pink meat was very noticeable, especially near the bone.  This is not unusual.  Texture, moistness and flavor are no different from the rest of the butt.  FYI, the IT was 195 degrees.  The blade slipped right out.

I brine all fowl that comes through my kitchen.  Fully cooked pink meat near the bone is very common.  I have to explain this to my guests.

I don't get excited about the color just as I don't get nervous when a pink smoke ring appears on a brisket.

I have researched for reasons but have not reached a definitive conclusion.

Good luck and slow smoking,

Pachanga