Cut up pork shoulder

[jjw]

I'm interested to know if there are any major problems with me cutting a pork shoulder, perhaps in halfs or fourths to cut down on quantity cooked at one time (and perhaps time as well)

also, can i purchase it this way?

and if the answer to all this is yes, would it have to reach a lower internal temperature, or still around 180 or 190?

any insight on this would be appreciated

 

[rbranstner]

Yes you can take a pork butt and cut it in half to cut down the time on cooking. It won't cut it in half but it will but down the time for sure. I don't know if you can buy them this way or not but I wouldn't think so. You would still need to bring the internal temp up to 190+ if you cut it in half. I go to 200+ if I am pulling it and 180-190 if I am slicing it.

 

[5lakes]

Hi jjw,

Welcome to SMF. Great place to get help.

You could cut the shoulder into smaller pieces....

Butt..... That won't affect what you need for internal temp.

It seems to me, and I could be wrong and will be corrected if so, cutting the shoulder would really defeat the purpose. Keeping it whole, the meat will cook slower, absorb more smoke, taste better and be more tender.

Our local Fareway will cut any piece of meat any way you want it. Incredible meat department, Fareway has.

hope this helps,

Jerry

 

[lutznutz]

Halving my shoulders cut down on the smoke time by 3 hours, but YMMV.

I started halving them to get more tasty, tasty bark.

 

[jjw]

thanks for the info everybody, i guess internal temp isnt affected by smaller meat sizes

just to clarify, im not talking about cutting up into chunks, just in half, or maybe into quarters, so i dont have to each as much at once. im not as concerned about time, i can start one a them in the morn and smoke til lunch or dinner, i just dont like leftovers.

but wouldnt the smoke still penetrate a smaller piece of meat?

 

[jjw]

how much time am i lookin at here do you estimate? lets say if i was to do a half shoulder?

ill be doing indirect heat on a charcoal grill, perhaps with the woodchips thrown in. how long should i expect this to cook? ive fixed ribs and chicken before with the indirect heat, but i would assume this would take hours, yes?

 

[ddave]

Say it ain't so.

Yes. A 5 pound butt at 225° to 250° can easily take 9 hours to get to 195° internal temp.

Dave

 

[phil brown]

I used to use a Weber kettle for everything. The results were great, but the effort was Herculean. I often resorted to foiling it and throwing it in the oven after several hours. There's plenty of debate as to what temperature you should do this. I'd say 170°F if you can wait that long, but I've done it at 140-150°F in a pinch.

 

[jjw]

ok, but lets say the butt weighs three pounds (as in a 6 pound but cut in half), what time range would you estimate id be at here? (assuming ill be maintaining 225 to 250 and want to get it up to 190 or so)

 

[jjw]

really? i was under the impression that most do it around 250.

 

[jjw]

as far as the leftovers go, ill clarify. i like my meat fresh. remicrowaved tastes bad to me. nhowever after thinkin about it, as that i do prepare a lot of country style begetables, i figure left over pork could be used in place of bacon. so a little extra is fine, but id still like to half the shoulder

 

[mballi3011]

The shoulder is gonna take almost 2 hours a pound no matter how big it is. You can cut the time down by cutting it in half put you still have to put in the time. Once you smoke it and then enjoy eating it you will be willing to wait for the meat to smoke.

 

[jjw]

oh thats not an issue. i figure then with 3 pounds of meat, im lookin at six hours. ill start it up in the mornin and be ready for lunch.

cutting it up would more be for the purposes of total quantity, as opposed to time.

thanks for the info folks