A little pork shoulder help

[austin87]

My friend's surprise birthday potluck is tomorrow. I'll be cooking the 8 lb cured boneless pork shoulder I posted about here: http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/in-10-days-we-will-have-ham/

The window to get to the party while the man of the hour is out of the house is between 5-6pm. In an ideal world, I hit 175 internal on this pork shoulder at about 3pm, double wrap it in foil, and put it into a cooler with towels to hold temp above 150 for 3-4 hours (I've got a small cooler I'll preheat with hot water, so holding temp should be no problem).

My ideal cooking temp is 225-250 with an acceptable range of 225-275. Question is, what time do I need to start this pork shoulder in the morning to make sure it's done by 3 or 4 at the latest? Curing will not affect cook time, but since I won't be wrapping before it comes off the grill I should expect a stall in the 160 range.

I'm thinking an hour per pound will put me starting around 6am. Is that cutting it a little short?

[MikeRocksTheRed]

My bone in shoulder (might have called it a butt in a previous post, but it was a shoulder) last weekend started the stall at 172, so I think you should be fine since you are only going to 175 for slicing and not to 200-205 for pulling.  If it stalls at a lower temp and doesn't move in an hour to hour and a half, you can always wrap it to get it done in time.

[austin87]

Good point. After its anywhere above 150 or so I really could do the wrapping then, pull it at 175, and keep it wrapped and straight into the cooler.

[MrHoss]

I been wrong before and I'll be wrong again but here she goes.

Final temp for slicing...........185-192 on a reliable thermostat. 175 is gonna be a little tough. Something magic happens starting around 182f internal on a shoulder. Where the whole damn thing was tight it now starts to loosen up. When I do my jerk pork I take it to around 190. Shy of being pull but still loose, juicy and slices.

As per when to start. As early as you can. These things take time...especially when you are towards the 225f mark. Unless you are positive your grate temp is actually 225 and not a little lower I'd even bump it up to around 250. If you are running short of time at all wrap the damn butt and cook it some. That'll hurry it along.

[austin87]

@MrHoss I'm thinking if I pull at 175 and immediately double wrap in foil it will hit 185. Do you think I need to cook it to 185 and then wrap, so it finishes at 195?

I have a Maverick and a Thermapen so I'll know exactly what grate and internal temp are.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

My stall took 3-4 hours to go from 172 up to about 185, so I would cook until its apparent you are through the stall!

[MrHoss]

I don't believe you will get any carry over cooking once you pull the meat from the cooker....especially if you go naked then pull and wrap. To get carry over I would think your grate temp would need to be 275f or higher.

[austin87]

I don't believe you will get any carry over cooking once you pull the meat from the cooker....especially if you go naked then pull and wrap. To get carry over I would think your grate temp would need to be 275f or higher.

Good point. Thanks!

[SmokenJoe]

I finally decided to try Harry Soos' SYD (Slap Yo Daddies) pork shoulder instructions.  It's old school, but it wiggled like a shimmy shimmy dancer when I thumped it  ...  um, um.   Go look at the info on tVWBB.com.   As I recall you hold 225 'til 160-170, foil wrap w/ apple juice & sugar, etc., take it on to 203 and pull it  ...  or some such.  It's all there on the web site.   If you want, I'll look up MY cook time in my log.   I used a WSM on a nice sunny day, light wind.   It should easily hold for 2-4 hours in a faux-Cambro.                            SJ

[austin87]

Pulling at 185 was a great temp for slicing into really tender, nearly fall apart pieces. I didn't check final temp after pulling and wrapping so I'm not sure if I got any carryover but it was still hot after 4 hours in a faux cambro. Here's the only shot I got before the party crowd went to town on it.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

As my girlfriend would say: AMAZEBALLS!!!


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[Tommy B]

I have never really cooked a butt to slice. I always pull. I don't even start to probe for tenderness until it hits 190. At 190 I start poking around and call it done when my probe goes in easily which is normally around 200. I rest for 1-3 hours depending on time. I always keep my probe in the meat during the resting process and have never seen more then a 2-3 degree over carry over temp once taken off the pit...  your cook looks great!