Pork Shoulder Smoke and Temperature Questions

Unknown · January 2004

Smoked a 5.5 pound Shoulder Roast over Pecan wood on my large BGE from 9AM this morning until about 6 PM tonight. Most of the cooking was between 230 - 275 degrees, but I was never able to get the meat to a temperature above 189 degrees F. There was one hour where the remote gauge seemed stuck at 162 for the meat and 240 for the smoker. At the end (I was very hungry at this point), the dome temp was 211, and the lump was history. The shoulder was delicious, but I am wondering how much better it would have been had I been able to crack the 200 degree mark for meat temp. I live at altitude (6,000 ft.), the winds constantly gust, and it was about 30 degrees at cooking time.[p]Also, is it odd that the BGE factory dome thermometer reads routinely 30-40 degrees warmer than the grate level probe on my remote thermometer unit? Is that simply because heat rises? What gives. [p]Oh yeah, I just rubbed the shoulder down with French's mustard, and then applied at heavy dose of East Texas Rub. Your comments please..

Daddyo · January 2004

Smilinguy,
It is not unusual for meat to get "stuck" at some temp. It is called a "plateau." It has to do with collegen breaking down, which makes bbq tender. It's a good thing. Also, you could not have used enough lump or built your fire correctly or you'd have never run out of lump so fast. I cooked for 21 hours this weekend and have lump left over. Go to The Naked Whiz web site and click on the recipe section. Check out Elder Ward's recipe, which includes fire building instructions. They work. I can't answer your other questions. I don't have enough experience.

KennyG · January 2004

Smilinguy,[p]It's not unusual for the dome temp to be higher than the temp at the cooking level. 20° or so is resonable, but the 30-40 you state sounds excessive. I suspect that your BGE thermo is out of calibration. Have you checked it's reading in boiling water?[p]Also, your 9 hour cook is half the time most of us spend making pulled pork and shooting for that magic 200° internal temp that renders most of the fat for best flavor IMHO. I'm surprised that you were about hit almost 190. On your next try, load up the Egg with lump to at least the top of the firebox and you should be good to go for at least 24 hours. Your mustard and spice combination sounds good to me and you now have an understanding of the 162 degree "plateau".[p]K~G[p]

tach18k · January 2004

Smilinguy,
emeril just did a zucchini lasagna last week, you should beable to find it at foodtv.com

Pork Shoulder Smoke and Temperature Questions

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