first smoked pork shoulder

[khoelscher1]

Just bought my SI # 2 last Monday and put my first shoulder on Friday night.

I trimmed off the skin, rubbed it in Mustard and a rub called brown sugar bourbon.

I had to open the smoker after 1 hour because I realized that I forgot to put a container of water in it.

I set the temp to 225, and left it that way through the night.  I noticed that once temperature stabilized, it was averaging well below 225, so I adjusted the temp one line past 225.  That got my average a lot closer to 225.

It took a total of 21 hours to raise IT to 195.  I pulled it at 195 and double wrapped in aluminum foil and a towel and put in cooler for almost 2 hours.

At some point in the cook, I ran out of water in my pan.

The meat was very good, but a tad on the dry side.  I think next time I need a bigger pan of water.  Overall, I was very please with my first smoke in the SI#2

 

[Pork Belly]

Sorry about the mixed results, you will get it figured out. That looks like a mini loaf pan in the first picture. I am surprised that It ran dry. I typically have about 12 oz of liquid and have never gone dry. You could have Brined the meat to add moisture. I am sure Tony will link his Brine recipe when he sees your post. I am curious, was it skin you trimmed off or a fat layer? Either way I would have left that in place for the smoke. A skin on shoulder is seldom seen where I live. In those long smokes you want that fat on the meat to render and baste the meat. More often than not when I read a post where someone bumps up the heat they get dry meat. I know the temp swings are crazy, but they work. I quit monitoring smoker temp and just watch the internal temp of the meat.  Good luck on the next one!

 

[es1025]

I ended up buying a round cake pan as my water pan.

I smoke pork at 240, both ribs and butts.

For the butts, i do wrap at 165 until a final it of 201.

I did notice the last time i smoked a butt i had very little water remaining.

 

[Pork Belly]

Ed I think you are the exception to the standard. So far I have only heard of mini-loaf pans and beer cans. I was using empty bean cans when I smoked baked beans but felt I needed a little more surface area. Your not having any issues with the cake pan blocking heat of acting as a heat sink? Is it up on a rack?

 

[es1025]

Brian

Bottom rack away from the meat and the smoker probe. I saw a video that a cake pan was used. Thought i try it.  Trying to make sure i dont run out of water.  I only use water in the pan.

 

[Smokster]

Hi Keith, welcome to the club.  I have never tried smoking a pork shoulder before but I often thought about it as I have seen them on sale for a dollar a pound. They do tend to have a thick layer of skin and I would normally buy to salt and make a dry cured prosciutto.

The shoulder does have a large bone, and based on your picture, I see that your probe was placed in the centre.  Was it near or touching the bone?  If so, that can through of your internal temperature.  As well, what was the weight of the meat and did you leave some fat on it, or did you trim it all off?

 

[DivotMaker]

Welcome to the party, Kieth!  Your roast looks great.  I say "roast," instead of "butt" because that's what you smoked, and it's why it came with skin on it.  What you have is called a "picnic" roast, not a Boston butt.  The picnic cut is the lower part of the front leg of the hog, and often comes with skin on.  This cut is a great alternative to a traditional ham, from the rear leg, and got its name as a less-expensive cut than a ham that people would take to picnics!  The Boston butt part of the pork shoulder is high on the front leg, and has a different bone (the shoulder blade).  Boston butts are generally preferred for pulled pork, due to the fat content.  I've smoked picnic roasts before, and they have always come out too dry for my taste.

Not to disappoint Brian, here's that link for brining a butt!

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1012.0

Once you brine one, you'll never go back to the ways of old! 

 

[khoelscher1]

Sorry about the mixed results, you will get it figured out. That looks like a mini loaf pan in the first picture. I am surprised that It ran dry. I typically have about 12 oz of liquid and have never gone dry. You could have Brined the meat to add moisture. I am sure Tony will link his Brine recipe when he sees your post. I am curious, was it skin you trimmed off or a fat layer? Either way I would have left that in place for the smoke. A skin on shoulder is seldom seen where I live. In those long smokes you want that fat on the meat to render and baste the meat. More often than not when I read a post where someone bumps up the heat they get dry meat. I know the temp swings are crazy, but they work. I quit monitoring smoker temp and just watch the internal temp of the meat.  Good luck on the next one!

It is actually not a mini loaf pan.  I did not have one at the time... it is just a drip pan off of my grill.  The loaf pans are quite a bit deeper, so that was probably part of the problem.  I may try to brine the next time.  I have never brined anything because I normally have only smoked birds and they always come with a salt solution already in them.  I believe what I took of was skin.  It was textured like skin.

 

[khoelscher1]

Hi Keith, welcome to the club.  I have never tried smoking a pork shoulder before but I often thought about it as I have seen them on sale for a dollar a pound. They do tend to have a thick layer of skin and I would normally buy to salt and make a dry cured prosciutto.

The shoulder does have a large bone, and based on your picture, I see that your probe was placed in the centre.  Was it near or touching the bone?  If so, that can through of your internal temperature.  As well, what was the weight of the meat and did you leave some fat on it, or did you trim it all off?

I made sure the probe was not touching the bone, but maybe it was close enough to effect the temps.  I'll have to play around with that.  The meat was 8.5 pounds and I did leave some fat on it, but maybe not enough

 

[khoelscher1]

Welcome to the party, Kieth!  Your roast looks great.  I say "roast," instead of "butt" because that's what you smoked, and it's why it came with skin on it.  What you have is called a "picnic" roast, not a Boston butt.  The picnic cut is the lower part of the front leg of the hog, and often comes with skin on.  This cut is a great alternative to a traditional ham, from the rear leg, and got its name as a less-expensive cut than a ham that people would take to picnics!  The Boston butt part of the pork shoulder is high on the front leg, and has a different bone (the shoulder blade).  Boston butts are generally preferred for pulled pork, due to the fat content.  I've smoked picnic roasts before, and they have always come out too dry for my taste.

Not to disappoint Brian, here's that link for brining a butt!

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1012.0

Once you brine one, you'll never go back to the ways of old! 

Thanks for the information DivotMaker.  I am not an expert when it comes to cuts of meat.  It seems like there are 3 or 4 different names for each cut and I can't keep them straight.  Luckily, my meat did not turn out dry enough that BBQ won't fix it!!!

 

[BedouinBob]

The comments on brining makes me wonder if there is an unsalted alternative, especially when it comes to birds. Has anyone tried a herb based brine? It seems to me that it might trade herb flavor for salt in the bird the manufacturers put there.

 

[Pork Belly]

The simple version as explained by Alton Brown is:
The salt water causes the meat cells to expel moisture, the cells then draw in moisture this pulls the flavors into the meat. The cell structure actually over compensates and pulls in excess fluid. This is the affect that keeps the meat moist.

So you can have a herb flavored brine, but it must have salt. Without salt you have a watery herb marinade.

 

[BedouinBob]

Brian, good point. Maybe injection is the answer for poultry or a equilibrium brine so the salt is not added too heavily.

 

[DivotMaker]

The comments on brining makes me wonder if there is an unsalted alternative, especially when it comes to birds. Has anyone tried a herb based brine? It seems to me that it might trade herb flavor for salt in the bird the manufacturers put there.

Bob, you can marinate without salt, but you cannot brine.  Brining is actually a chemical reaction with the salt and protein molecules in the meat.  Check out the "Brining 101" post in the brines & marinades section to see what I'm talking about.