The dreaded stall

[YetiDave]

Hi guys, just wondered if anyone has any tips for beating the stall? I had a 2.7kg pork shoulder in at 225-250 for almost 12 hours, about 8 of which it spent at 140-150F before I got fed up and foiled it before putting it in the oven to finish off. I did inject it and didn't foil it at any stage whilst it was in the Q.

I'm wondering - does injecting the meat potentially increase the length of a stall? After all it's caused by evaporative cooling, so excess liquid could account for it. I think next time I'll just foil it after 6 hours and see what happens, but I'd like to be able to cook a shoulder from start to finish, without foil and preferably without it sticking at exactly the same temperature for 8 hours!

[keith157]

No suggestions other then a good book and a glass of something refreshingly alcoholic.

[Swindon_Ed]

Only way to avoid the stall is to cook hotter as in above 300f but you'll need to foil after 3hrs as the rub will burn otherwise.

[Pecker]

I've always found this to be completely accurate:

http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_tec ... stall.html

Since I've read that I've usually foiled at 65C (150F) and I've never had a stall doing that.

I find that it damages your chances of a really good bark, though. So, you have a choice, sit out the stall (I've never known it not end if you wait long enough) and get a bar, or take your chances with the bark, foil, and get in done more quickly.

Steve W

[tommo666]

I saw this: http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/stallbbq.html

[keith157]

I saw this: http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/stallbbq.html

And it was almost all in understandable English (almost all) With a dedication to his art like that I vote him in as Chancellor of the Exchequer!!

[YetiDave]

I guess I can either foil it or get it in earlier then! I found it very hard to believe that a 2.7kg/6lb shoulder should take that long, but if a 3lb lump can take 14 hours to hit 205F then I think I'll put it in at 6am rather than 10am