Advice for a Pork Shoulder

[jcnaz]

Okay guys,
Today I bought a 9.34 lb. bone in pork shoulder for $1.49/lb.


My plan is, later this week,to dry rub this and let it sit in the fridge over night, then go "low and slow" on my 22.5 OTG, Comp.K snake with apple wood chunks.
My questions are:
Should I bone this out?
Seperate it into two smaller chunks?
Remove any/all of the rind?
Water pan or not?
Pull it off the kettle at what internal temp?
How long do you think it should take?
Any help is greatly appreciated!:)

[1buckie]

A) Should I bone this out?

DO NOT remove the bone....that's your pop-up timer.....
I got some in a pinch the other week & they flat pissed me off being de-boned....cooked really weird, got them done, but cooked really weird...............

B) Seperate it into two smaller chunks?

If you'd like, I personally think they cook a bit smoother if left intact, some do like to halve them to cut cooking time down & increase the area of bark....so your call on that..........it will then become a question of where & how it gets cut, smaller & larger end, & what to do cutting in relation to the bone.....have ya got a Sawz-all?

C) Remove any/all of the rind?

That might be a good idea to just peel the rind, I would however leave some of the fatcap on for flavoring...................

D)  Water pan or not?

Again, your choice....a lot of folks do use one & swear by the help it gives to the moisture factor......personally, I just put a pan of beans & onions & sweet peppers underneath the meat & call it a night.......

E) Pull it off the kettle at what internal temp?

Depends on what you want out of it.....to slice, 180f Approx.
To chop & mix with sauce, a bit higher up, like maybe 190.....
to pull, it will most likely be near or above 200f.....but there's where your bone comes in handy, as it will slide out without the meat sticking when it's done to pull & it will probe (skewer, icepick, therm point) REALLY easy, like zip~~> NO resistance.....

F) How long do you think it should take?

They really are an individual character & even ones of the same size, under same conditions will take different times.....
At 250f I guess 1-1/4 hours per pound.....if you go way low, like trying to keep choking it DOWN TO 225, it may be a very long cook.....that's a thing I see people do a lot....try to maintain a very low heat & end up waddling around in under 200degree temps for way too long....
Start your coals & let them burn for 20 minutes & see exactly where your temp is AT THE GRATE, where the meat is going to be....then adjust up or down with an educated guess on the lower vents 1st, quick check maybe 10 minutes later to see if your temp is raising or lowering enough to keep you happy & then set on the meat.....don't get nervous. it will drop the temp of the pit when you set in a mass of cold meat................it'll catch up soon enough..........

You'll be at 8~8-1/2 # after trimming the rind, so a guess would be 7 cooking with two resting.....
Allow 9~10 hours perhaps a bit more....@ 250 this is......I run 260~275 normally & there's no ill effects....the pig can take it ......

Here another famous quote:
"Resist the urge to peek, the meat aint going anywhere..."

Here's a few that have some info & setups in them:

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/nothing-new-just-some-pork-beans/msg42534/#msg42534

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/will-this-pork-taste-like-beef/msg50541/?topicseen#msg50541

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/anniversary-pulled-pork/msg56260/?topicseen#msg56260

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/previous-lunker-'turds/msg14095/?topicseen#msg14095

And here's one from Cookingmama that's just like yours, done with rind on.....

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/pernil/msg33913/?topicseen#msg33913

[Chasing_smoke]

The master has spoken, I have nothing new to add. I do recommend the snake method though. Easiest way to do long cooks period, the last cook I left the house 3 or 4 times without worry. Have fun and write it down so you can learn from your experience.


"my kettle is more powerful it will do almost anything."

[mike.stavlund]

+1 to both CS and especially to the Master, buckie.  You are in good hands.

I just wanted to make sure that buckie noticed that jcnaz has a *picnic* shoulder, not a true shoulder (aka, 'Boston Butt').  It's more like the 'bicep' of the pig.  I've cooked a couple of these, and found that they acted a bit differently than BB, maybe because of the larger bone.  Buckie, can jcnaz expect the bone to slide right out in this case?

Please forgive me, buckie, if you have already taken this into account. 

[1buckie]

"I've cooked a couple of these, and found that they acted a bit differently than BB, maybe because of the larger bone.  Buckie, can jcnaz expect the bone to slide right out in this case? "



Last thing on the response....

And here's one from Cookingmama that's just like yours, done with rind on.....

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/pernil/msg33913/?topicseen#msg33913

[jcnaz]

Thank you guys!...and especially Buckie!!
Hoping to prep it tomorrow and cook the day after. I will post pics of the cook.

[Chasing_smoke]

I did one just like that a few weeks ago. I decided to remove most of the fat cap since it was much tougher and thicker than normal. My thinking was I wanted the smoke to get into the meat, that fat cap was too thick for that IMO.  I tried to leave some of the under lying fat on to keep the pork moist. Then cooked it with that side up. I also brined this one, didn't notice a big difference except the stall was longer than normal.

Here's mine hitting the grill





"my kettle is more powerful it will do almost anything."

[kendoll]

I would recommend taking at least the 'skin' layer of the fat cap off otherwise your rub doesn't penetrate as well.

Ken

[1buckie]

 I forgot the most important part......or the two most important parts.....

If you can plan to wrap it in foil ( some like butcher paper nowadays, claims it lets the meat "breathe"....it's dead, it ain't breathin' ).....so foil & a clean, old bath towel & set in a small, dry cooler for as long as you can stand to , up to a couple hours......THEN pull it, you'll be a happy camper......

2nd thing is don't worry, be happy & have fun with it !!!

PS: in re: to #1....don't be usin' the wife's fine linens for wrapping or #2 comes to a halt real quick......