Newbie wants to try an 11 lb boneless pork shoulder

[vayank5150]

OK, now some questions.  I put the shoulder on the smoker and it took about 5 hours to get the IT up to 150 deg f.  I pulled it off, braised it and placed it in the oven (per Mdboatbum's directions) at 275 deg f.  It took another two and a half hours to get the IT up to 200 deg f.  I pulled it from the oven, wrapped it in foil and placed it in a cooler with towels on top for another 45 minutes.  When it came time to pull the meat, I noticed a beautiful smoke ring in the meat, but the pulling required much more effort than I anticipated.  This shoulder was NOT fall off the bone or even falling apart.  To use a Myron term, it had a definite tug to it.  Now granted, the meat was moist and the finishing sauce I stole from this website was awesome, but I was a little deflated after 7 1/2 hours of work, I had hoped to have melt in your mouth, fall off the bone type pulled pork.  Any ideas what might have caused it to tighten up?  Did I cook it too long?  Not long enough?  Any ideas would be helpful!

 

[vtmecheng]

So how did it taste? Was it moist?  Looks like you got some good smoke in there.

Good call on the mustard before rub, that's an automatic that I forgot to mention.

 

[vtmecheng]

OK, now some questions.  I put the shoulder on the smoker and it took about 5 hours to get the IT up to 150 deg f.  I pulled it off, braised it and placed it in the oven (per Mdboatbum's directions).  It took another two and a half hours to get the IT up to 200 deg f.  I pulled it from the oven, wrapped it in foil and placed it in a cooler with towels on top for another 45 minutes.  When it came time to pull the meat, I noticed a beautiful smoke ring in the meat, but the pulling required much more effort than I anticipated.  This shoulder was NOT fall off the bone or even falling apart.  To use a Myron term, it had a definite tug to it.  Now granted, the meat was moist and the finishing sauce I stole from this website was awesome, but I was a little deflated after 7 1/2 hours of work, I had hoped to have meat inn your mouth, fall off the bone type pulled pork.  Any ideas what might have caused it to tighten up?  Did I cook it too long?  Not long enough?  Any ideas would be helpful!

So you did an 11 lb shoulder in 7.5 hours.  What did you set your oven to? That sounds a little fast and I am thinking your connective tissue didn't break down enough but that's just a guess.  When using the oven to finish I run it at 225 with convection on.  I'm a low and slow guy for pulled pork (well for most things on the smoker) and try to keep that philosophy even when finishing in the oven. I could be way off base here and will be interested to here what other say.

 

[maple sticks]

OK, now some questions.  I put the shoulder on the smoker and it took about 5 hours to get the IT up to 150 deg f.  I pulled it off, braised it and placed it in the oven (per Mdboatbum's directions) at 275 deg f.  It took another two and a half hours to get the IT up to 200 deg f.  I pulled it from the oven, wrapped it in foil and placed it in a cooler with towels on top for another 45 minutes.  When it came time to pull the meat, I noticed a beautiful smoke ring in the meat, but the pulling required much more effort than I anticipated.  This shoulder was NOT fall off the bone or even falling apart.  To use a Myron term, it had a definite tug to it.  Now granted, the meat was moist and the finishing sauce I stole from this website was awesome, but I was a little deflated after 7 1/2 hours of work, I had hoped to have melt in your mouth, fall off the bone type pulled pork.  Any ideas what might have caused it to tighten up?  Did I cook it too long?  Not long enough?  Any ideas would be helpful!

Pulling at 200* should be perfect. So my first guess would be are you sure it was 200*. Checking in several spots gives a better reading. Just a couple of guesses.

 

[bruno994]

Yep, sounds like it just needed more time.  I tend to cook more to feel, not IT.  The IT is a useful number to know during a cook, but when the meat is done, it's done, no matter the IT.  Use the toothpick or probe method for determining done ness.  if a toothpick or probe slides in with little to no resistance it's done.  Also, on bone in butts or shoulders, if the bone easily slides out, it's done. 

Maple Sticks is right also, your probe could have been in a pocket or area of high fat concentration, giving you an inaccurate reading on the IT.

 

[vayank5150]

I had the oven set at 275, and it is possible that the probe was in a bad location.  Our new oven has a probe built into it and I used convection. I guess I should have probed around a bit more, but then again, my daughter was getting hungry!

 

[mdboatbum]

 Once it hits 190˚, check for tenderness by poking at it with a toothpick or skewer. When it's ready, it should probe with little to no resistance. It might be ready at 190˚, or it might take 200˚, or even 205˚.

Ahem. Just so I'm not accused of giving bad advice.

I'm just yankin' yer chain a little. In all seriousness, they're all different and will be done when they're done. You probably would have been there in another half hour or so. Your end result looks pretty good, nonetheless. Keep at it, it'll come. By the way, everyone's taste is different. What I might call perfectly done, melt in your mouth tender, someone else might call mush. For a lot of people, you produced the perfect texture. Figure out what you like and how to get it. In this instance, it sounds like you just needed a little more time.

 

[vayank5150]

No

Ahem. Just so I'm not accused of giving bad advice. :biggrin:
I'm just yankin' yer chain a little. In all seriousness, they're all different and will be done when they're done. You probably would have been there in another half hour or so. Your end result looks pretty good, nonetheless. Keep at it, it'll come. By the way, everyone's taste is different. What I might call perfectly done, melt in your mouth tender, someone else might call mush. For a lot of people, you produced the perfect texture. Figure out what you like and how to get it. In this instance, it sounds like you just needed a little more time.

No blaming from here. I truly appreciate all of the advice and support I have found here. Just so you know, I do believe my meat probe was in a bad spot on this first one, as my second turned out pretty awesome if I do say do myself. Now my recent chuck roast is a different story altogether!

 

[mayor mcpork]

It sounds to me like it cooked to fast. I do about a 15 hour smoke on my 4-5lb pork shoulders, keeping it around 225 degrees the entire time (and no crutch). Then an hour or so in the cooler. Your meat was not fall-off-the-bone because all of the connective tissue did not have time to melt. Especially for an 11lb butt, I think that you need to slow it down. Low and slow.