"Quick" cooking a fresh picnic half

egret

I picked up a 7.14 # fresh picnic half and put in freezer 'till I got brave enough to cook it. I don't have a Guru "yet" and don't want to be up half the night babysitting the egg either. I haven't tried a lo 'n slo yet because of this and some of the horror stories I've read. Has anyone ever done one of these at a higher temp. such that it will cook in 12 hours, or so?

oriley

egret,
I have cooked a 7.1 pounder in approximately 9 hours. Placed the butt in an aluminum foil pan with about 1/4 inch of beer in the bottom. Smoked the butt for seven hours at 235 degrees. At seven hours I covered the aluminum pan with heavy duty foil, raised the temperature to 275 and let it cook for another 2 hours. At 9 hours the temperature of the meat was 200 and I took it off the smoker and let it sit for 30 -45 minutes covered. It was fall apart and pulled beautifully.

JSlot

If pulled pork is your objective, there are a few short cuts you might try (foil, increase temp), but the product won't be quite as good as cooking lo 'n' slo. That being said, you definitely don't have to cook it that long if you don't want to. You just won't end up with pulled pork. If you cook it to an internal temp of 170°-185° (I'm guessing 6-8 hours at 250°-300° dome temp), you will end up with a sliceable pork roast that is very tasty. You can cook it at a higher temp like a roast, too, but watch closely so it doesn't dry out. I cook picnic like this every now and then for a nice change of pace. The longer you cook it, the more fat that renders out and the more the collagen breaks down (ultimately resulting in pulled pork, if you cook long enough). Good luck.[p]Frosty Ones,
Jim

fishlessman

egret,
over night cooks are easier than you might think. i set the egg up at 7;30, stabilize and put the meat on at 9:00.in bed by 10:00. set my alarm for 1:30, get up and shake the lower grate with the coat hanger. set the alarm for 5:00, when it goes off i check my wireless therm and if its still above 200 i go back to sleep. with this method you rarely have to get up and check things more than once thru the night. i dont have a guru either

egret

Thank you all for your comments. I took that puppy out of the freezer and will have a go at it.