A bit confused, about temp and cook time for my pork shoulder 5-7 lbs
A table on the site said about 225 and 1.5 hours per pound
The book I'm using says medium to low which according to the book is 300 and between 4-6 hours cook time
so which is right or are they both? If I was in my oven in the kitchen I'd be sorted but this new fangled charcoal cooking method is so unscientific
225F will work - and is 'traditional' for low & slow on the BBQ. Lots of people have been having success doing it at higher temperatures as well. The key is cooking to the internal temperature - between 195 and 205F as a guide. Once it starts to get to this temperature, start checking. The bone (if it has one) should be moveable without meat sticking to it. Your temperature probe should slide into the meat without any real force. When you have that, take it off the BBQ, wrap tightly in foil & tea towels for at least an hour, preferably longer. Then pull it. Hope that helps. Simon
The long and short of it is that it will be done when it's done. Various people cook at different temperatures, many start low and ramp up later during the cook.
Feel is the way to tell it's ready, it may be done anywhere from 180F - 215F internal depending on the meat itself and the cooking temperature. A rule of thumb is that the hotter you cook, the higher the internal temperature you will need to hit. It's all about the sweet spot where the connective tissues and collagen render down, the time that your pork sits in its plateau is the key to getting a good result texture wise.
Pork shoulder is very forgiving in terms of what temp it is cooked at. You can get good results at 225 or 300. When I'm doing pulled pork I typically cook at 250 - mainly because that's the temp my WSM seems to like settling at. Occasionally there are fluctuations up or done - I don't sweat about this.
It really is done when it's done. 225 and 1.5 hours per pound are useful as a rule of thumb but it is very approximate. Whilst I do monitor internal temp of the pork ultimately the decision to take it off the cooker is usually made according to how easily a probe glides into the meat.
I'd want it on the cooker by 7am at the latest if it was 7lbs. Have you got a coolbox? If not get one. They are great for resting meat in. I've rested similar size pork shoulders for up to 3 hours with good results - I know others have gone longer.
I am new to all of this also and just bought a WSM in January. I smoked 2.5 kg of pork shoulder last weekend. I like to cook but have not got the knowledge yet to run a smoker for 16 hours over night on one charge without getting up in the middle of the night to check the water and stoke the fire.
To me if you have a hard target for the time then (please don't shoot me for this) in my opinion the smoke flavour for the meat is achieved in the first 5-6 hours, the rest is just cooking. In the method I used there is 3 hours of time wrapped in 2 layers of aluminium foil at the end. This is broken down into two hours in the oven at GM 1 to take the meat to the magic 190F and 1 hour (or more) resting. I believe also that preparation is important. The meat needs to be brined for 24 hours and then a rub applied to get a good bark and it should also be at room temperature when it hits the smoker.
I agree with RobinC also as the coolbox with a couple bags of ice are good to brine the night before also.
You don't need to brine pork shoulders. By all means experiment with brining and/or injections but save that for future cooks. IMHO pork shoulder contains more than enough fat to produce moist results.
Try and keep your first cook simple. This is really about learning to control your cooker rather than the cooking process itself.
Final decision will be made when I pick the pork up from the butchers and find out its weight. Also hope the BBQ arrives or it will be errr not thinking about that.
