Everything in my back yard had been settling into disuse because work sent me out west for several weeks. It was great but it was also a lot of restaurant meals for better or worse.
I was glad to be home and have some friends over on the weekend and we decided to chip in together on a pork shoulder for pulled pork. I continued with using hardwood lump charcoal in the WSM with this cook finishing off a bag of Royal Oak and then a top up with some lit Maple Leaf to prop up the temperature in the last couple of hours.
I wrapped the shoulder at 165 degrees. Unwrapped it at and let the bark firm up for an hour before saucing. Then another half hour to let the sauce set before I attempted to remove it from the WSM. The shoulder collapsed and fell apart under its own weight when I did. Thankfully one of my friends was standing there with the glass baking dish and caught it just as it began breaking apart otherwise half of it would have landed on the ground. The one picture in the pan before shredding shows how it came apart just from being moved off the grill.
The pork was amazing. This is the best one I’ve made yet. I’m also pretty much convinced that there is absolutely no problem using lump charcoal in the WSM apart from the vent opening adjustments being far more touchy than they are with briquettes. At this point, I don’t really have many use cases for briquettes so once I finish up my current stash, that’ll probably be it except for purchasing them on an as-needed basis. I do still use them in the ranch because they’re tamer than the lump which I’ve found can easily burn too hot in that giant beast.
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