Pork shoulder was a little tough

[staf0s]

Hey everyone. Been doing some reading on the forums, and lots of Youtube videos, and thought it was time to post on here and ask some questions.

The other day I started a 5.22lb pork shoulder on my Weber Kettle. Using charcoal briquettes with the Snake Method (this is by far my favorite method yet). After about 41/2 hours on, it hit a stall at 154. At that point I put it in an aluminum drip pan and covered it with foil. My temps stayed at a steady 230-250 through out the whole cook. Ive seen people adjusting their smokers to 260-300 so i didnt think the 20degree fluctuation was much of a big deal. Anyways, once it was panned and foiled, it went for about another hour or so until it hit 199. Once i took it off the Weber I opened it and emptied out all the juice which just about filled up a whole cereal bowl. I loosely wrapped the shoulder in foil and some towels to rest for an hour. As I started pulling it I noticed that about half if it was pretty tough and not nearly as moist as other parts of the shoulder. There was definitely some resistance when trying to pull the meat apart. After I was finished I poured a little bit of the hot juice into the try and tossed it together with the pork. Nonetheless it was very tasty and had great flavor. Im just curious as to what went wrong in the cook?

A few details: When I panned the shoulder and covered it the temps rose to 300 at one point and I had to adjust the temps. I believe the entire cook time from start to end of the resting period was about 61/2 hours. I didnt expect it to reach 199-200 that fast. I brined the shoulder for about 5 hours, removed the fat cap, smoked it with the fatside up, and I covered the entire shoulder with Meat Church's Honey Hog Hot.

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• staf0s
• Jun 26, 2017

I went to the store and grabbed a 7.22lb shoulder tonight and im going to throw it on the Weber tomorrow morning.Any advise before the cook? Should I brine it? I feel like anytime I wrap beef or pork in foil it just boils in its own juices and ruin any sort of bark that formed. Should I try it without foil and just be patient through the stall?

Appreciate any help, as im completely new at this and only have about 10 cooks under my belt and half of them we successful.

Cheers! -Jeremy

 

[noboundaries]

Wow, I'm having deja vu with this post.  Not sure why.

Next time, let the internal temp climb to 203-205F.  That should eliminate the tough parts you found taking it off at 199F.  199F can be fine, but sometimes just a few degrees makes all the difference. 

If you are going to wrap the meat, you're going to have soft bark.  One thing you can do is not wrap the meat until the IT is 175-180F.  Back when time was an issue for me, that's what I would do.  It is usually after the stall so even if you wrap you get a firmer bark.  Or you can skip foiling the butt completely.  It takes longer to smoke/cook, but the bark is firm and tasty. 

Brining?  Make sure your butt is not enhanced with salts and phosphates.  If you brine, inject the brine into the meat for best coverage. 

Butts don't really care about chamber temp.  I've done them in my smoker from 225F to 350F.  They all came out delicious and juicy.  If you have a lot of sugar in your rub, try not to go above 325F until you wrap the meat.  Once wrapped, you can go to any temp.  Heck, I've even seen 450F after wrapping.  It just speeds things along.     

 

[sauced]

Easy one....get the internal temp to at least 205.

 

[staf0s]

Easy one....get the internal temp to at least 205.

Will do thanks. I was always under the assumption that the meat cook a little while covered and resting. But I suppose it won't raise that much at all if there is no heat source

 

[browneyesvictim]

Looks good Jeremy. Agree with the suggestions. I have never brined a shoulder, but I do like an overnight seasoning/marinade. Especially you have removed the fat cap, adding the juices back in at the end is a good thing in my opinion! If you want a crusty dry bark reduce your foiling time and/or back off on adding the drippings or finishing sauce.

Are you going by a built-in meat probe on an MES by chance? They are notorious for being off. One of the easiest tests is if you can easily pull the bone out you know its done. You should hardly be able to handle the roast it will be so fall-apart. You would be hard-pressed to try to overcook it. It wont dry out especially when adding drippings our sauce after its pulled.

 

[tropics]

Lots of good info there I check mine with a probe and also a tooth pick to be sure it is tender.

Richie

 

[staf0s]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I did remove the fatcap I'm just betting that I took it off too early. Especially since IT was 199.

I'm using a Maverick ET-733 and I'm leaving the meat probe in the shoulder the whole time.

I actually have another shoulder going as we speak. It's been on for 1 hour exactly and I'm doing the same method as last time. Grill temps are at a steady 226, applewood chips, I have apple juice ready to spray in about 30 minutes or whenever it starts to form a crust at least. One thing I wanted to do but didn't was inject the shoulder. Next time for sure!

I think for this one I'm going to try and wait out the stall without foiling. But we will see! I have my thermometer set to 205 internal and I will absolutely be doing the prob check (for tenderness)

Stay tuned I will post a picture when I open the grill next!

 

[staf0s]

Ok looks like I'm posting sooner than I thought! I noticed the smoke was very weak so I added a half a handful of apple chips, sprayed with some apple juice and snapped some pics. IT reads 115 and it's been on for almost 2 hours.

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• staf0s
• Jun 26, 2017

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• staf0s
• Jun 26, 2017

 

[shyzabrau]

Could be that it was 199* in one muscle type and lower in another. Might check a few places when you reach your target temp - this gives you dual advantages - more temperature data and multiple probe tests!

 

[drunkenmeatfist]

I would suggest holding off on the spritzing until a good bark has formed otherwise you could be spraying off the rub. Also, if you like bark you might want to avoid wrapping in foil completely. If you are wrapping just to help with the stall then I would suggest just increasing the pit temp to 275. Seems like you are on your way. 

 

[cksteele]

also  dont dump the liquid  there  is tons of flavour in that. i keep  it in the dish as i pull the pork adds  moisture 

 

[millerbuilds]

Agree with above about the temp...  Don't pull until at least 203.  Then let it rest for at least 30 minute before pulling.  If you wrap it in a few towels and put it in the cooler, let it rest for 2 hours.

Also, check the temp in more than one place, I have tested and found that a probe left in for the cook reads high, the metal probe transfers heat to the area it is stuck.  Use the probe as a guide then check a bunch of other places with an accurate thermometer and a long toothpick.

Good luck on the next one.

Smoke ON!

- Jason

 

[staf0s]

I probed around a bit and found that there a few areas that had about a 10degree difference. I spun the butt around for some better even cooking. It looks great right now but the temp probe did have a good amount of resistance when pulling it out. Current internal temp is 158 @ 277. Ive backed off on the smoke and focusing getting through the stall.

In one area it was 169 internal. Where the probe currently reads is 158 still

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• staf0s
• Jun 26, 2017

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• staf0s
• Jun 26, 2017