Curing and smoking a pork shoulder

Hill_Country_BGE

Searched a bit on this subject and didn't find anything...

Friend of mine told me that he is giving me a fresh wild pig ham that I was planning to wet cure, then smoke.  Turns out he's giving me a wild pig shoulder instead.  I'm familiar with the curing and smoking process for a ham - is it the same for a shoulder?  Particularly, what I'm concerned about is that I would typically smoke a ham until it reached internal of about 150F.  But if I was smoking an uncured shoulder (or butt), I would be aiming for internal of about 195F or so.

So the question is should I still be aiming for that higher internal in smoking a cured shoulder?  Or should I forget about curing this shoulder altogether and just smoke it normally?  I don't see a lot of info out there about curing a shoulder...seems to be all about curing a ham or belly.

theyolksonyou

Hey Hiil, checkout playingwithsmokeandfire.com he has some curing info on shoulder and loin. Would post link but sucks to try on phone.

fishlessman

have never seen a pork shoulder cured and smoked for pull. i see it frequently cured and smoked and then cooked as a boiled dinner. another option is hi mountain buckboard bacon sold as a kit from cabellas, alot of people here used to use the hi mountain kit

Canugghead

Some of us have cured shoulder for bacon, here's link to my post.  I also have two loins that have been curing since last Thursday, plan to go 8 to 10 days.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1171501/shoulder-bacon-inspired-by-cookinbob-and-shtgunal3

The Cen-Tex Smoker

You would cook it to the 150-160 just like a ham unless you want pulled ham...which seems weird. You don't cook shoulder to 195 unless you want it to pull. There are many applications that call for cooking shoulder to 150-160 to be sliced. 

BigWader

I tried pulled pork from Costco that was cured.  It was pink like ham throughout.  It tastes like pulled pork ham.  Good and smoky but not what I consider classic pulled pork.

Hill_Country_BGE

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

You would cook it to the 150-160 just like a ham unless you want pulled ham...which seems weird. You don't cook shoulder to 195 unless you want it to pull. There are many applications that call for cooking shoulder to 150-160 to be sliced. 

Thanks for pointing that out - for some reason each time I typed "shoulder" I should have typed "butt."  So it sounds like I could cook it just like I've seen a ham done (wet cured then smoked to 150 or so) and I'll be ok.

This is a T-giving thing in addition to a turkey so I'll be playing with house money on it - fortunately none of my guests will be relying on the shoulder as primary sustenance if it doesn't go well.  And it was free!

Thanks for all the info everyone!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Butt/Shoulder- same thing to me so no worries

I would be way more worried about cooking any part of a wild pig and expecting it to turn out. Especially for a holiday when people are counting on it. You have no idea what that thing ate, how old it was etc. Wild pig can vary wildly in texture and taste depending on it's diet. Was it on a deer lease eating corn (good)? Was it in the wild scavenging dead animals and garbage (bad)? It makes a huge difference...and they will eat anything. Also, they are normally very lean too so the texture can be funky- even in the good ones. I would probably go store bought if you are cooking for a holiday and save the wild pig cook for something less formal.

It could be a home run and I hope it is. The problem I have is that it's not in your control whether it is or not. You could cook if perfectly and have a nasty mess on your hands.

Hill_Country_BGE

Yeah, that concerns me as well - I've had good and bad wild pig.  We may be dumping what I cook and just eating the turkey...

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Hill_Country_BGE said:

Yeah, that concerns me as well - I've had good and bad wild pig.  We may be dumping what I cook and just eating the turkey...

I've had the same experience. Let us know how it turns out.

Little Steven

They sell something here called cottage roll which is cured smoked shoulder but it's meant to be heated and sliced. Pretty hammy but great when you come in from fishing.