Pulled pork at 350?!?

[sunsanvil]

I was looking to try something, anything, beyond steak and sausages and our butcher happen to have a just-right-for-two pork shoulder.

Started by following this basic one from weber:
http://www.weber.com/recipes/pork/pulled-pork-barbecue-with-hot-pepper-vinegar-sauce

But thought "350-450?!?  Thats way too high". So I put it on and kept the kettle at 275-300.   FOUR HOURS later (this is barely a 2lb cut) it was only 165ish and the wife had had enough waiting so I lost faith and took it off.  Tasty, but NOT "pulled".

I thought extreme low temp was the way to get a shoulder to the 190 holy grail temp, but I'm now wondering if I should have just followed the recipe and shot for a kettle temp of 400ish.

It was a good experiment anyway as I proved to myself that with a vent tweak here, a lump add there, I was able to keep it consistent for a good four hours.

[1buckie]

 At 375 ~ 400, you would most likely have to have a lot of extra liquids for the thing to swim in, to keep it from being really dry.....

There's a set of scientific mumbo-jumbo that occurs to have the fats & connective tissue break down / disintegrate that needs "X" time to work.......it seems to work better @ these lower temps; read: given enough time..............

I usually run approx. 260, for as long as it takes; each one is a bit different & so takes different lengths of time.........
I don't usually stop cooking & rest until around 200 internal, the rest is: foil wrapped, then towel wrapped, then into a dry cooler, usually for at least 2 hours.....the rest period, in my estimation, makes a bunch of difference......

After that being said, I've had charcoal setups that kinda ran wild while I was sleeping & gone at 325 ~ 350, then being done quite a bit sooner..........
It's different, easily enough different for me to tell & need to add something to keep the moisture up until & at serving time.......never really wrecked one & a lot of people do them @ the higher heats, but it's tricky & the faster things are moving, the less time you have to correct any problems........just plain makes me nervous at the higher end of things,......

You can run up to say, 175 ~ 180 internal & rest a bit & slice it, that way, you're a bit past the fat breakdown point of about 160~ 165............pulled COULD be as low as 190, but usually is 200 or a bit higher....
I like a ten pound, bone-in shoulder, plenty of fat to keep it moist, plenty of surface to get a bunch of bark & when then bone slides / breaks free of the adjacent  meat the tissuses have broken down just right.....built in pop up timer !!!!

[sunsanvil]

Try try again.

Now I confess all I had, in addition to our half decent instant read, was the OTG's lid thermometer (yea yea, I know).   I'm thinking a basic Maverick two-probe should be my next purchase....

[1buckie]

You can go high tech if you'd like......these little oven therm gizmos are all I use & if you already have the built-in, just find  what the common difference is between grate & lid & you'll then always know right where you stand.....I think the lid would end up being somewhat higher, but I could easily be wrong !!!

[Tim in PA]

I noticed that my oven thermometer was about 25-50 degrees lower than the stock lid thermometer.

[sunsanvil]

If thats true then I was in the vicinity of 225... which would explain why after 4 hours we weren't even close.

[1buckie]

Common statements of the difference I've seen seem to be 35~ 50 degrees.......and sometimes 25 like Tim says...............

If you know what the difference is, it's really easy to mentally compensate & quickly know where you're at.....just take some readings, at different temps, at different times & it will give you a pretty good idea.......
Oven therms are just cheaper than a Maverick !!!

[G$]

One other aspect, related to your other temperature questions is this:

A small pork shoulder cooks 'differently' than a full shoulder or full butt.  PLUS, with a 'shoulder" that small, it is tough to say which muscles you really got.  Some strands on a pork shoulder are simply less prone to being pulled, regardless of how they are cooked.  I am not sure what you would even get in a "2 pound pork shoulder"  Any horns? tubes? money muscle? 
 
I look for 8 pound shoulders whether for home use or competition. They can be cooked low like I do, or hot and fast.  Either way can produce great results.  If I were cooking a two pounder, I would definitely cook it hot and fast with a good deal of that time wrapped in foil.  Assuming it is boneless, I am guessing i would slice it rather than pull it as well.

[bama bbq]

Oven therms are just cheaper than a Maverick !!!

Gary Wiviott would agree.  It's fun to monitor temps via remote control but he wrote the book Low and Slow and insists an oven thermometer is all you need.

[1buckie]

Oven therms are just cheaper than a Maverick !!!

Gary Wiviott would agree.  It's fun to monitor temps via remote control but he wrote the book Low and Slow and insists an oven thermometer is all you need.

I don't really insist. like maybe he would, but it ends up being the way I do things....

I have a Maverick, just never got it out of the box.............
just yesterday, fell asleep on the couch while ribs were toasting away & the dogs came in and jumped all over me after 1-1/2 hours without a quick check.....they know, I don't know how they know, they just know.......

i will get the thing out of the box for stuff like pastrami & things that need a much tighter control & stepped increases in temp......not like the usual haphazard silliness.......

[colin.p]

I have found that after an hour or two, the difference between the lid and the oven thermometer (at grate level) are very close together. Starting out, a big difference but later on, not so much.

[1buckie]

I have found that after an hour or two, the difference between the lid and the oven thermometer (at grate level) are very close together. Starting out, a big difference but later on, not so much.

This is good to know......

I've just got a lid therm one recently, so don't have the hang of lid one's yet & wouldn't want to spread  inaccurate info.....thanks Colin !!!!

[MacEggs]

I have found that after an hour or two, the difference between the lid and the oven thermometer (at grate level) are very close together. Starting out, a big difference but later on, not so much.

This is good to know......

I've just got a lid therm one recently, so don't have the hang of lid one's yet & wouldn't want to spread  inaccurate info.....thanks Colin !!!!

I have found the same thing with my UDS. I used the Maverick, along with the drum therm.
After a bit of time, the temps almost marry up. 

Perhaps, try a long stem thermometer, if you can find one and put it thru the lid vents.
BTW, I was about to grill a couple of steaks when this pic was taken.

[Harbormaster]

There are a number of guys that compete and cook "Hot-n-Fast" pork butts and briskets up in the 375 - 400 range.

I'm not one of them, but some of these guys are successful.

My WSMs settle in nicely at 250 - 275 and I just let 'em go.

[cgaengineer]

I've not seen much of a difference between 225 and 350 to be honest other than whatever you are cooking finishes faster at 350.