My friend's birthday is on Halloween and he's been doing Halloween themed things for 29 years. Having a costume party birthday is getting a little old, so his girlfriend is arranging a surprise potluck.
I got a 10lb boneless pork shoulder and had the butcher butterfly it. I trimmed it of all exterior fat and cut away any big chunks of internal fat I could find (fat in the bowl on the right). After trimming it was about 8.5 lbs.
I added cure of kosher salt, brown sugar, and cure #1 in the appropriate ratios for an equilibrium cure. I cut the salt back from 2.25% on my last attempt to 2.00% on this attempt as I found the last batch a little salty. I have not used Tender Quick, but like using cure #1 since salt, sugar, and cure can be controlled individually. Tender Quick is a mixture of salt and sugar with 0.5% each of sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate.
It's not much to look at in the bag.
Last time I added the spices (garlic and onion powder, paprika, and cayenne) with the cure. This time I will change up the spices but add a thin sprinkling to all surfaces before cooking.
Every day I'll squish the bag around with my hands to distribute any liquid that accumulates to promote even curing.
On Friday, October 30 I'll start a late night smoke with the intention to hit 175 internal by about 3pm. I will double wrap in foil and put in a small cooler with towels to hold temp for the festivities at 6pm on Halloween.
Also, I'm rendering the fat in my cast iron Dutch oven to get some nice lard. That's just chopping the fat (I should have done it more finely) adding a little water, and letting it ride on low heat until the fat chunks have melted and there are crispy bits left, then strain and cool.
I'll update as the fat renders and cools, and as I start the smoke and finally slice it at the party.