Getting the ideal bark for pork shoulder

[hardcookin]

My smoker seems to cook fast. Yes my gauges is calibrated.
I usually start my fire and take my meat out of the fridge and prep it. And the put it on when my smoker is settled in.
I have cooked butts at 325 and really haven't noticed a taste difference between smoking them a 275.

 

[jbellard]

I usually cook my pork butts between 250-300 and they take about 8-10hrs.

I will usually cook for 5-6hrs, then wrap in foil once the fat cap cracks on top.

I have done unwrapped and you definitely get more bark but miss out on saving some of that precious juice.

Great thing is just to experiment and figure out what you like best.

 

[zwiller]

While each smoker is different I see a pattern emerging that stick burners are "faster" smokers than my MES. WSM is somewhere in the middle. Makes sense I suppose as the MES is tiny in comparison to stick burner weighing hundreds of pounds.

If you want the best of both worlds, bark and juice, try injecting especially with phosphate. Little to no juice left, just the rendered fat.

 

[SmokinLogs]

I don’t have near the experience that most of these guys do, but I’ve found that yes smoking at 225-250 with wrapping from the stall period to finished will speed the process up, but smoking the whole time 225-250 gives a better bark and way more Smokey flavor. I know most people say once the meat reaches around 145-165 temp they don’t take on much more smoke. Idk if it’s true, but I could taste way more smoke on my unwrapped butts. Maybe while wrapped for so long as the meat sweats it’s losing some smoke flavor in the juice. But either way, for me it’s worth waiting the extra time for the extra flavor. I couldn’t tell much difference in tenderness. Once the fat renders it’s ready to fall right apart wether it’s wrapped or not. I’ve never done one hot and fast, but I will have to try that soon!