British BBQ Society Forums

Toby wrote:There are massive differences number one being what happens to the fat. Cooked my last lot of pork at 200 (because I wanted some sleep) then ramped it up to 250, took a long time but was by far the best I have cooked for a while

you say there are massive differences but don't go in to say what. What does happen to the fat? I don't know but I would assume the fat would start breaking down at a certain temperature and one would assume that so long as that temp is sustained for long enough the fat and fibres would break down.

I suppose the experiment would be two ovens, two identical pieces of pork and two different temps. the one i did today for 225 the whole cook was not as good as the one last week at 250/260. This joint was a sainsburys value one though, so I'm sure that played a part too.


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Today's one didn't go as well as before, took it off at 203F but it didn't pull properly, the joint didn't have the shoulder blade in it, it had the 'elbow'? Is that the actual shoulder joint ?

Tasted fine but not what I expected, not as good as the last one by far

Herbiefish wrote:

Toby wrote:There are massive differences number one being what happens to the fat. Cooked my last lot of pork at 200 (because I wanted some sleep) then ramped it up to 250, took a long time but was by far the best I have cooked for a while

you say there are massive differences but don't go in to say what. What does happen to the fat? I don't know but I would assume the fat would start breaking down at a certain temperature and one would assume that so long as that temp is sustained for long enough the fat and fibres would break down.

I suppose the experiment would be two ovens, two identical pieces of pork and two different temps. the one i did today for 225 the whole cook was not as good as the one last week at 250/260. This joint was a sainsburys value one though, so I'm sure that played a part too.


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The longer you give the fat to cook the more it renders down. Spare ribs (i trim down belly ribs) are a prime example. cook them quickly and you often get a layer of fat in them which is unpleasant. Cook them longer and the fat fully renders and completely disappears.

Yeah that's cool but 4 hours isn't quick. So it could be that a shorter time at a higher temp yields equally good results. I will have to try for myself I think.


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4 hours is quick. Even hot and fast, say 325 you are looking at 6 hours cook time with another hour holding. The majority of people will take 5 hours for ribs if they are using a low and slow method so to try and achieve the same results on a shoulder in 4 would be very difficult and inconsistent

I should have explained better. I meant 4 hours for general cooking is regarded as slow cooking. For low and slow it is fast.

I remember a Ramsay programme last year showed cooking pulled pork and he had a huge shoulder in the oven for about 5 hours at 150c, so just a tad over 300f. That looked and seemed to pull nice afterwards.


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I wish id checked the temps with my thermapen, I think maybe because of the large bone I might have had the Maverick probe near a bone giving me incorrect temps

I think for now I wont be buying anymore joints 'bone in'

I also found yesterday that there was a 10f difference between one end if the joint to the other. One end was a fair bit thicker. I didn't whether to over shoot one end or under shoot the other. I tries to get a happy medium but found one end underdone a tad.

What would most people do in this case?


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Always buy bone in if you can it helps a lot with cooking through it also helps with the moisture (don't ask me how!)

Ref what temp to cook to, use the temp as a guide but probe the meat an take it off when it's soft. You want the bigger bit to be cooked as this gives you the bigger return. Adding a bit of sauce and mixing it all together will hide any discrepancy