Fresh whole pork shoulder cook

2Fategghead

I got my shoulder the other day and the butcher cut a lot of the meat off the butt. I told him I was disappointed and he said I could bring it back and he could make more money grinding it up for sausage. It weighs 15 pounds but is flatter than a flutter. :unsure:

About 4 inches tall at the tallest point.

Last week I ordered/asked for a whole shoulder the biggest.













I smoked the whole shoulder



at 250F dome and it still took a grueling 20 hours later before hitting 200F internal meat temp. It stayed at 155 through 165F internal for over 6 hours before moving again. Then when it came out of the plateau it took 6 hours to get to pull temp. So it took 7 hours to get to the plateau. 7 hours to go through the plateau and 6 hours to finish after the plateau.

Here is the finish pic in the egg.




I double wrapped the whole shoulder in two layers of heavy duty foil and stuffed it in a cooler with towels all around it.

Believe it or not 7 hours later



Here is the bottom because I smoked it fat cap down.



Here it is all shredded and mixed.



The bones



Here is 8 one pound each at best (from a 15 pound whole shoulder excessively trimmed) and all packaged up in foodsaver bags for safe keeping in the freezer. It seems like this cook yielded a little better than half it raw weight in fully cooked meat. I'm not sure what the ratio is but, maybe I wasn't as bad off as I first thought. :unsure: Thanks for looking.



I filled my egg full of (half with wicked good and the top half with royal oak and several chunks of hickory for flavor) lump to the top of the fire ring. Here is what is left after about 21 hours of heating the large egg at 250F dome. That's 30 min's to bring the egg to temp and 20 hours of cooking and 30 more min's to shut the egg down. I think there should be another 10 hours of cooking time at 250F dome if your lucky.

MusicMan78

Looks good! Did you notice any difference in moisture content of the pulled meat using such a large cut?

Misippi Egger

Great cook and good documentation, Tim!
You've got some mighty fine meals in your future :woohoo:

My usual yield from a Boston Butt (bone-in) is about 60%.

Mickey

You did real good Tim.

2Fategghead

Dave, Not so much a moisture thing but the combination of the different muscle groups coming from the picnic and the butt gives the shredded pork a better flavor in my opinion. :P

Smoke and eat a butt

Smoke and eat a picnic

Now smoke and eat a whole shoulder. I like it better.

Not that I have to only smoke whole shoulders because I can get a lot more butts on my egg than whole shoulders. I guess it's a treat. :P :laugh:

2Fategghead

Thanks Clark. I guess my yeild wasn't far off.

2Fategghead

Thanks Mickey. I started this cook around 7:00 am Saturday and it went to 3:am Sunday. I'm kinda frazzled. My last whole shoulder cook was 20 some pounds and only went 18.5 hours. I tell you each cook is unique. I thought I would be done yesterday at supper time. Yeah right. :laugh:

elzbth

Fine looking pork - that was a huge chunk of meat. No doubt you will enjoy for weeks to come - unless of course you share with friends/neighbors (and who wouldn't love to be on the receiving end of a gift like this)!!!!

thechief96

That is is pretty impressive Tim. You going to try it again with a bigger one?

Florida Grillin Girl

Thanks, Tim, for showing that to us. It's not often I get to see the whole piece of shoulder like that.

Beli

Hey Tim, those long hours cooks are worth the effort. Looking pretty good

Chief Chef

Tim - Another fine chronicle of a cook. I am beginning to think you enjoy that part as much as the actual cooking/eating.
Thawed some pulled pork I did back in December for lunch today - almost as good as the day it was smoked. You have a lot of great meals ahead of you.

2Fategghead

Thanks Elizabeth, If you were my neighbor I would let you and your hubby have some for sure.

2Fategghead

Thanks Dave.

Yes I will try a bigger one and I should be able to get one. Last Oct. I smoked a 20 pound whole shoulder that took less time. :blink: One other time I smoked a butt then after it was done I smoked a picnic for a total of 27 hours. Like Barney said to Andy about Ernest T Bass "He's a nut" He meaning me. :laugh:

cookn biker

Tim, Great pictorial. Looks tasty.

2Fategghead

Your very welcome Faith. I plan to get another whole untrimmed shoulder for Roy the butcher if it's possible. After all he is also, my belly connection. Hopefully he will accommodate me for a reasonable price. Thanks for everything Faith.

2Fategghead

Thanks Beli. At first I thought I was unknowingly doing a marathon cook so I double checked my temps and it turned out to be a normal cook that took a long time to go into it's plateau and an even longer time to get through it's plateau. :blink:

Have you smoked any whole pork shoulders?

2Fategghead

Thanks Steve. Like you say I do enjoy documenting my cooks as thoroughly as I can. It serves two purposes It helps others now and in the future and I can go back to it in the future when I go to do another cook like this. I save this and most all my other cooks in folders and sub folders in my fav's in explorer.

2Fategghead

Thanks Molly. maybe a little excessive but, hopefully helpful.

Crimsongator

You couldn't pay me to eat that garbage...It's missing the money muscle for crying out loud :silly:

2Fategghead

:laugh: Thanks Gene you were correct about the cook being just as good with out the money muscle.

Do you think butts coming from a "lean hog" or a "fat hog" go through the cook differently that is go thorough the plateau differently? Is that what makes each butt cook unique? :huh:

Crimsongator

Who knows why butts act differently. Probably the same reason the "butts" around here act differently

NC-CDN

Looks great. Good job. Love the idea of food saver bags. I think I may have to break down and invest in one of those types of systems.

2Fategghead

Thanks NC-CDN, I haven't had the foodsaver long but, love it. A little more work than Ziploc bags but over time I think the foodsaver will pay for itself plus food stored in a foodsaver bag and vacuum sealed should last longer and you can take food out of the bag and real vacuum and seal.

Rolling Egg

Ba-dum tish!!! Good one!

Rolling Egg

Nice looking shoulder Tim. I also cooked a whole shoulder one time, and I believe it had a better taste than the butts I had been producing. For some weird reason I haven't cooked another one since. All butts do act differently. I had 4 eight pounders on Friday night, three of them acted normal and one of them was stubborn as heck. Went like three hours longer and eventually had to wrap in foil and put in the oven to force to 200 internal.

2Fategghead

Rolling Egg, I had the feeling yesterday the the shoulder would never rise in temp over 155F-165F internal. It stayed there forever. I had the CyberQ purring along at 250F dome the whole time. I had the CyberQ food probe and both ET-73 probes in for the meat in three places and all agreed. At one point I opened the dome and checked with the thermapen. I thought I never had a shoulder cook go like this let alone a butt(my second whole shoulder cook). As you see it did get done but, My new source claims to have lean hogs and I couldn't help but, think that the hog was lean and so was the shoulder. Maybe that is why the collagen took so long to break down.

All is done that ends done. :laugh:

Crimsongator

I am glad somebody appreciated that comment :-)

2Fategghead

It was OK