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JasonATI
JasonATI Posts: 62
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
What would be the difference in cooking times if you cook one big pork shoulder verses two smaller ones that would equal the total weight of the large.

Comments

  • If they're tied together nothing, otherwise the smaller two will cook faster than the larger one. I've read that you don't want to go much smaller than 7 lbs as they tend to dry out.

    Doug
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    go with the 2 smaller ones if they are 6 plus pounds, i think you will find out that they will be jucy!! B)
  • Like Doug said........my opinion would be to do the two only if they are larger than six pounds each. If you leave space between them, then they will cook much faster than one large one. Say you are doing two six pound pieces of meat versus one twelve.......the six pounders are going to cook at just over half the time of the twelve pounder.

    When you are cooking more than one piece of meat, you can plan the APPROXIMATE cook time based on the largest one, although you may want to take the smaller one off before the larger one finishes.

    This is all of course, just my humble opinion! :)
  • JasonATI
    JasonATI Posts: 62
    That helps alot thanks, I wasn't sure how to word the question or how to search it.
  • FearlessGrill
    FearlessGrill Posts: 695
    In general, if you are cooking multiple pieces of meat, putting them in the Egg with some air space between the pieces will have them cook at approximately the same rate as if each piece was in there alone (I say approximately because putting 20 lbs of cold meat in the Egg, rather than 10, will cause it to take longer to come back to a stable temp). So if you want to cook 12 lbs of pork shoulder, it would take about 24 hours, using the 2 hrs/lb guideline, if it was all one big piece. However, if you cut it in half, you would have two 6 lb pieces, each of which should cook in about 12 hours.

    The same principle applies in reverse too. Last summer, I had asked a friend to pick up some brisket, but only if she could find a piece over 6 lbs. Of course, she showed up with two small flats of 4lb and 2lb. I knew the 2lb piece would really dry out if I cooked them separately. Using an upholstery needle and some linen thread, I stitched the two pieces together (so they wouldn't separate when the meat shrunk during the cook) and made a 6lb 'Frankenbrisket'. It dried out a bit, but was still pretty good.

    -John
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    4 and 2 pound briskets are best ground into hamburger :woohoo:

    Brisket Burgers are great eats.
  • FearlessGrill
    FearlessGrill Posts: 695
    Agree completely. Unfortunately, we were camping, the person who bought them was joining us late, and was responsible for bringing the food in. It would have been a 2+ hour trip to head out and buy something else, so we made due with what she brought. I was frankly surprised it worked, but it did.

    -John