First Shoulder

[dajamjar]

Going past my butchers today to pickup some pork shoulder, the guys being exceptionally helpful and has offered to keep the whole shoulder unbutchered so we can agree what cut i want.

Theres a lot of conflicting opinions out there so wanted to ask in here, is Picnic vs Butt purely personal preference or is there something more and what do folks in here use?

[Vic.]

I think most in here like to keep the bone in. My butcher only sells pork shoulder roasts which are nicely trimmed and rolled up in netting. They don't take as long to cook and slice nicely.

[Steve]

The picnic part of the shoulder is smaller and has fewer muscles in it. Thus it has less connective tissue to melt. You can cook the whole shoulder if you like. I prefer the butt personally, think it pulls better.

[dajamjar]

I am now the proud owner of 11lb of Pork Shoulder gently resting in my fridge.

I've aimed for Butt, but as the butcher wasnt familiar with the american names for these cuts i think i've got a little more than bargained for, i've got the shoulder blade up to and including back bone.

He's going to lookup the exact cuts for future reference but i assume i can just go with what i've got, unless anyone thinks theres need to trim further?

And right on queue the weathers cleared and its nice and sunny, might try and get this on tonight, guessing i've got a 14 hour + cook on my hands.

[All Weather Griller]

Post a pic dude.

[dajamjar]

Empty beer bottle to provide a little scale.

[LM600]

Sounds like you have a top notch butcher there Mate

If not already, I'd take the skin off and save it to make pork scratchings...mmm....

Apart from that, just a dry rub before going on the smoker, a load of mesquite (I like mesquite but hickory and/or oak is pretty cool too) and some apple juice in a spray bottle to spritz during the cook.

Hmm...even though I have just stuffed my face with some PP (from the Bank Hol cook (cooked, pulled, cooled, frozen!)) I can see a trip to the butcher tomorrow now!

[dajamjar]

It was raining last night but i decided to take a gamble and it went into the smoker at 1am, charcoal basket a mix of lump and cocoshells with 3 chunks of oak and 2 chunks of cherry. Set the Maverick to beep if the temp dropped below 180 or above 250 and it only went off once, at 8am because it was absolutely chucking down with rain, otherwise its been happily sitting between 200 and 220.

Just went in to flip, spritz and stick a thermometer up in and the temp's exactly 160F, gonna let it hit 165F-170F before throwing some more lumpwood in and foiling the shoulder.

Looking good for pulled pork and beef ribs for dinner!

[dajamjar]

How it looked as it went in the foil.

[dajamjar]

The guy that coined the phrase 'a watched pot never boils' wants to try a pork shoulder. Its sitting at 180f and has been for about the past 45 minutes, had came out of its stall quite nicely but seems to have hung again. Looks like it might just be ribs for dinner tonight, on the plus side pulled pork for lunch tomorrow.