Smoked Pulled Pork

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wklkjn

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jun 29, 2016
77
42
Bolivar, Ohio
Got back on the horse today and made my second attempt at smoking a Pork Butt.  As I found out, it was a Pork Shoulder, bone-in.

Can someone explain if there's a difference between the two?

So I prepped the Pork last night, rubbed with McCormic and put in plastic bag in fridge.

Started the smoker at 7am this morning with the following settings.  It's a Master Built Propane, 2-door model.  I really like it.

I used Pecan wood chips and Pecan wood chunks.  First time using Pecan and it was very good.

Filled the water pan, put the pork on the middle top rack with fat side up.

Under the pork, I put an empty pan to catch drippings - which turned out to be very, very little in the pan after pork was complete.

Set the smoker temperature for between 250 and 275 for the whole day.

I don't know if it was the vents, but several people told me to keep the air vents and top smoke vent open all the way.  This is the first time I did that, and I wonder if that helped the smoker keep a stable temperature all day long.

Usually, with the vents closed up more, I was always fiddling with the gas control knob.

So, thanks to everyone that told me to open the vents!!!


3 1/2 hours into the smoke, it looks amazing.  The internal temp of meat is 145.

Good progress.  Like I said, I'm running around 265 for smoker temp.

You can see the probe in the bottom left of the photo.  That's hooked to an I Grill mini.

I like it, but it only has one probe.  It's bluetooth so I can keep track of it on my I phone.


At 6 1/2 hours, I hit 170.  There was no 'stall' at 160 as I've read about.  So, I wrapped it in aluminum foil, and stopped putting new wood in, and just kept going at 265 smoker temperature.

At 9 hours, I hit 205.  I turned off the smoker and left the pork sit in the smoker for maybe a half an hour, still wrapped in foil.

As I picked it up off the smoker rack, I could feel how soft it was.  It was breaking apart slightly as I moved it to a tray to bring in the house.

All I can think about is, "Is that bone going to come out, and is it going to be tender?"

Well, let me just say, it pays to ask questions and listen to experienced people.

I unwrapped the pork and could tell immediately it was tender through and through.

As I tried to pick it up with a big fork and tongs, it literally fell apart.

I picked up the bone and it just fell away from the meat.

And it had great 'bark' on it too.

Oh yea, I took pics.  :)

That's the top piece of fat.  It came right off in one piece.

This is how it fell apart as I tried to put it on the cutting board.


The bone fell right out.  Beautiful.


All shredded up.  It took less than 5 minutes to pull it all apart.  


Grand Finale.

Ok, so I made a pulled pork sandwich, cole slaw, and uh, more pulled pork!!!!

Thanks for the help, as usual.  

It is so satisfying to successfully do something like this.  

I did drizzle some BBQ sauce on it but didn't take another photo.

And, the best part?  My wife loved it.  

She said "I really like the pieces with the 'crust'.

I told her "That's the bark!".  :)

 
Looks great!  Just some info...That's a Pork BUTT. The actual Shoulder of the Hog, it has a Blade Bone. A Pork Shoulder sometimes labeled Picnic Shoulder, is the lower portion of the Front Leg and attaches at the small end of the bone in that pic. Long story short...Originally the entire front portion of Hog, in front of the Rib cage and from Spine to Hock was called the Whole Shoulder or Shoulder. Some 200 years ago, Hogs butchered in Boston MA had the upper actual shoulder removed from the Whole Shoulder and packed in wooden casks called " Butts." The pork was distributed to other parts of the east coast in these casks and the pork cut inside started being called Boston Butts and later simply Pork Butt. The Lower front Leg, once separated, retained the name " Shoulder " or Picnic Shoulder ...JJ
 
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Yup. Great looking pp.

To add to what JJ said, the picnic has the leg bone in it. Yours had the blade bone, a butt.
 
"As I found out, it was a Pork Shoulder, bone-in.  Can someone explain if there's a difference between the two?"

Chef JimmyJ posted a great explanation and history above!  I was also not aware of the differences in the pork shoulder names when I started smoking about a month ago and when I was in the local grocery store shopping asked the butcher exactly what the difference was.  He was kind enough to go in the back cooler (didn't have any in the display for some reason) and brought out a shrink-wrapped butt and a shrink-wrapped picnic shoulder, held them together where there were once connected as one and said they just cut it there and here are your two cuts of meat!

Worth noting:

--> The picnic shoulder has the shank (actual shoulder joint) in it and from what I've seen always a thick skin still on it; the butt just has the shoulder blade in it and a fat cap.
--> Some stores apparently have various names for the Butt - one store near me (Wegmans) calls it a "Blade Roast".

--> There is also something I've found called a "Smoked Daisy Butt".  It's a nice little couple of pound pre-smoked "Premium Boneless Pork Shoulder" that I use for Split-pea or Cuban Black Bean soup in the winter time.  Maybe I'll have enough smoked pork shoulder saved up to last me through this winter and not have to resort to this!
 
Some additional info...Smoked Daisy Butt, aka, Daisy Ham, Cottage Ham and Pork Goody (The name of a dish and the Cut of meat, at least in the area I grew up)...Is a great cut. Cured and Smoked it can be used in any dish that calls for Ham and it's size, usually 2 pounds or less, makes it convenient not having to cut a piece off a 10lb Ham and deal with the rest. 

Pork Goody...A central European dish of Cabbage, Potatoes and other veg, Carrot, Celery, Onions, Garlic and Bay Leaves, simmered together with a Cured and Smoked Pork Shoulder. Works with Ham or Smoked Sausage like Kielbasa. Growing up in a Polish Family, this was a common Supper... The Pork can be homemade easy enough, Pops Brine and Smoke or for the Jersey guys, the Freirich Brand, most available, and others, is sold in Grocery stores (Stop and Shop, Shop-Rite, Foodtown and BJ's). Freirich labels it Porkette but also may be seen as Daisy Ham or Smoked Shoulder...JJ

http://www.freirich.com/our-products/porkette-smoked-cellar-trimmed-pork-butt-2/

ProductLabelDetail_10028.jpg
 
 
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