Pork Shoulder Hit 212 :(

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

rangers13

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 29, 2010
27
10
Long Island, NY
Hi all I put a pork shoulder in last night at at midnight.  My thermo never alerted me to when it hit 200 and when I woke up it was at 212.  I think it may have been at this temp for 2 hrs or so.  Is it going to be ruined due to this?  Also we arent eating til 5 pm.  Should I leave it in the cooler til later or pull it sooner to prevent any more cooking?  Please help I have 10 ppl coming later and dont want to be serving something awful.  thanks
 
More info would be helpful.  How long was the shoulder in the smoker for?  What temp did you smoke it at?  Did you foil it at all while it was in the smoker or did it go to 212 bare?  As long as you foil, towel and cooler it, it should be fine.  Butts and shoulders are pretty forgiving.  My other question/concern would be how long it took to reach an internal temp of 140.
 
total time was about 10 hrs.  it was bare for about 5 hrs then foiled at 165.  was in foil til this morning when i woke up.it was smoking btw 230 and 238 the entire time.it only took maybe 2 or 3 hrs to hit 140.  i never had the plateau effect i keep hearing about.
 
put it in the cooler around 1015 am eastern.  when i was taking it out of the smokiner it felt very soft.  is this how it normally feels when done right?  also do u think I should leave it in the cooler til later this afternoon or will it get mushy that is my biggest worry?
 
Yes, it will be soft, it's a cooked chunk of meat.  Leave it wrapped and in the cooler until time to pull it.  It will be fine, don't worry about it being mushy.  You will need to let it cool a bit before you can touch it to do the pulling if you're doing it barehanded.  Make sure to save the juices and pour them over the meat when it's been pulled.
 
Not sure if your planning on using a vinegar based finishing sauce or not. If it were me I would sample some of the pulled product before adding any finishing sauce, juices from the cook are fine. Reason being if it is a a little on the mushy side adding vinegar will only worsen that. Looking forward to seeing the results and good luck!
 
Come on now Ranger, we need some Qview or this here smokin you're doing ain't never happened!  :)  Sounds like some good viddles at your place this evening, save me some! 
 
You should be fine, I usually take my pork to 210° if I am going to pull it. I used to take it to 200°, but found it was actually better going to 210°.
 
cool.gif


well this is where you tell us how Dawn (Irishteabear) did with her advise. You should be in good hands. Now you should be almost ready to post your thread on how good the PP was.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky