Pork Shoulder Blade Roast

squezz

Was looking to make pulled pork this past weekend, but only for 3, so didn't want the huge Boston Butt from Sams.  I ended up with a pork shoulder blade roast from Cub Foods, 3 lbs.  It was the cut that had the netting around it.  I cooked it at 260-270 dome and expected it to take 5-6 hours, to 200 degrees.  Instead, it ended up taking almost 9 hours!  Was this because it was a cheap cut?  It also didn't pull nearly as well as I would have expected at that temp.  Any ideas what might have gone wrong?  Still tasted great, just not the results I was expecting.

Budgeezer

You may want to recheck the calibration on your dome thermometer.  I'm guessing it may be reading higher than actual temp which would explain why it took so long to cook.

Every roast is different sometimes you might have to go higher that 200 to get the consistency that you're looking for.

Blade roast, boston butt and pork shoulder are all the same cut.

fishlessman

the 2 hour rule only works for 7 to 8 pounders

squezz

Is there a rule of thumb for those smaller cuts then?

fishlessman

your 9 hours seems to be about right, i stopped cooking the little ones unless braising which gets the times down to 3to 4 hours. it doesnt seem to be a matter of weight and time, more a time to break down the conective tissue and with the little ones its a race between breaking the connective tissue and drying it out for me. its best to get a bigger cut and freeze whats left for abt's for me

squezz

Do you usually pull and then freeze?  Vacuum seal?  What is the best way to freeze shoulder/butt?

fishlessman

fishlessman said:

your 9 hours seems to be about right, i stopped cooking the little ones unless braising which gets the times down to 3to 4 hours. it doesnt seem to be a matter of weight and time, more a time to break down the conective tissue and with the little ones its a race between breaking the connective tissue and drying it out for me. its best to get a bigger cut and freeze whats left for abt's for me

vacuum seal

SGH

Just my opinion and others may disagree but here it is. When you drop sub-7 pounds the question that starts coming into play is why is it sub-7 pounds? What does this mean? Let's take a closer look if you will at the factors that can determine weight.
Size of swine. (Hot carcass weight).
Quality of separation of the primal into its final subprimal form. Was the cut ragged or intrusive into to anterior deltoid head?
Was there remedial meat that had to be removed to meet USDA guidelines?
Lastly and most influential what was the age and breed of the particular swine that the subprimal was extracted from.
As you can see from the short list that there are various and numerous factors that can and will come into play. That being said it's almost impossible to assign a set "time" if you will on the small subprimals. Why? There is no way for the consumer to determine the above factors when looking at a wrapped subprimal in the meat case at the grocery store. Only a very trained and astute eye could pick out the reasoning for the small weight. In the end though they all are enjoyable to cook as well as eat. I hope this helps a little my friend.