BigT wrote:I am making my second foray into meat smoking (first was a successful slab of bacon) this weekend as I'm planning on smoking a pork shoulder to make pulled pork for the Michigan-Iowa game Saturday night. I am trying to get a handle on exactly how long I need to cook the meat for. I was planning on using the recipe/procedure here (<http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/09/barbecue-bbq-pulled-pork-recipe.html>), which calls for a smoking time of 14-16 hours at 225. Alton Brown's pulled pork recipe calls for 10-12 hours at 210. A few posts, G Wiv smoked his for 6.5 hours. I am thoroughly confused. I have an probe thermometer so I can check the temperature, but I don't know when to start smoking the shoulder and have it be done Saturday evening. Initially, I was planning on throwing it on the smoker around 1am Saturday morning given the 14-16 hour smoke time the recipe calls for, but now I'm reading stuff that says it won't need to go for that long. My nightmare is that I throw the shoulder on the smoker Friday night when I go to bed (~1am) and I wake up and my shoulder is completely torched. Help!

its easier to hold the shoulder for a period of time vs trying to time it so its done by dinner..by that I mean start it as early as possible as once its done you can hold it a good 4-5 hour in a cooler. you can wrap them in foil when they are done then place in cooler with plenty of towels. Its always good to let them rest a bit anyway before you start pulling
How big is the shoulder? and what are you cooking it on and at what temp?
unless you are cooking it at extremely high temps putting it on at 1 will not result in a torched butt

its easier to hold the shoulder for a period of time vs trying to time it so its done by dinner..by that I mean start it as early as possible as once its done you can hold it a good 4-5 hour in a cooler. I take mine off and wrap in foil then place in cooler with plenty of towels.
How big is the shoulder? and what are you cooking it on?

Thanks, that is helpful, I will start cooking it the night before and start monitoring the temp when I get up. I have a cheap electric smoker that I got off craigslist for $20. I know that is weak and have read the recommendations on this thread and elsewhere for a big green egg or WSM and I will get one eventually.

BigT wrote:

its easier to hold the shoulder for a period of time vs trying to time it so its done by dinner..by that I mean start it as early as possible as once its done you can hold it a good 4-5 hour in a cooler. I take mine off and wrap in foil then place in cooler with plenty of towels.
How big is the shoulder? and what are you cooking it on?

Thanks, that is helpful, I will start cooking it the night before and start monitoring the temp when I get up. I have a cheap electric smoker that I got off craigslist for $20. I know that is weak and have read the recommendations on this thread and elsewhere for a big green egg or WSM and I will get one eventually.

I have no experience with electric smokers but the basics I would think apply to most any cooker
in theory the more poundage the longer the cook but as was discussed at an earlier point in this monstrous thread thats not always the case and one shouldnt really rely on that..
i normally cook in the 7-8 pound range at around 225-250 degrees and they have taken anywhere from 12 -16 hrs ..sometimes even more...there is no set time which is why I always say shoot for the longer time as its easier to hold them if they are done earlier rather than rush them to eat at a specific time

BTW -im sure you will do fine with the 20 buck smoker..being electric there really isnt any fire control issue so to speak which is usually the downfall on most cheap smokers..only other thing is the cold temps/winds we are having which can cause issues on the cheap ones since they tend to be thin walled..other than that have fun and be patient

BigT wrote:A few posts, G Wiv smoked his for 6.5 hours.

BigT,

That was a fresh 8-lb picnic, not the same thing as a shoulder. I was not going for pullable, simply sliceable, thus 6.5-hours on the smoker.

Regards,
Gary

I'm really shocked at the differences in the price of bone-in pork shoulder across stores:

Peoria Packing: $0.69/lb
Costco: Butcher department hasn't answered the phone, but I expect it to be in the $1-$2/lb range.
Zier's: $4.89/lb
Paulina: $5.25/lb

I know specialty butchers cost more. I know that Zier's and Paulina probably stock hormone-free meat. But I'm really shocked that there is a five- to seven-fold difference in price.

Head's Red BBQ wrote:...
i normally cook in the 7-8 pound range at around 225-250 degrees and they have taken anywhere from 12 -16 hrs ..sometimes even more...there is no set time which is why I always say shoot for the longer time as its easier to hold them if they are done earlier rather than rush them to eat at a specific time
...

Head's Red BBQ - so if you making pulled pork for dinner, do you usually start it before you go to bed the night before, or first thing in the morning?

i cant remember the last time i actually made pulled pork for myself.
for backyard parties at the house I usually throw them on about 11:00 PM - 12 AM then put them in my Cambro (or cooler) until until "dinner is served" that following late afternoon or evening

Darren72 wrote:I'm really shocked at the differences in the price of bone-in pork shoulder across stores:

Peoria Packing: $0.69/lb
Costco: Butcher department hasn't answered the phone, but I expect it to be in the $1-$2/lb range.
Zier's: $4.89/lb
Paulina: $5.25/lb

I know specialty butchers cost more. I know that Zier's and Paulina probably stock hormone-free meat. But I'm really shocked that there is a five- to seven-fold difference in price.

highest Ive spent is 6.99 a pound for Berkshire and just recently .88 cents a pound for Excel butts from restaurant depot .
I imagine Costco would be the same as Sams..averages around 1.29 a pound
Just because you are spending more at a butcher doesnt necesarily mean you are getting better meat than you would from Costco or Sams

Head's Red BBQ wrote:

Darren72 wrote:I'm really shocked at the differences in the price of bone-in pork shoulder across stores:

Peoria Packing: $0.69/lb
Costco: Butcher department hasn't answered the phone, but I expect it to be in the $1-$2/lb range.
Zier's: $4.89/lb
Paulina: $5.25/lb

I know specialty butchers cost more. I know that Zier's and Paulina probably stock hormone-free meat. But I'm really shocked that there is a five- to seven-fold difference in price.

highest Ive spent is 6.99 a pound for Berkshire and just recently .88 cents a pound for Excel butts from restaurant depot .
I imagine Costco would be the same as Sams..averages around 1.29 a pound
Just because you are spending more at a butcher doesnt necesarily mean you are getting better meat than you would from Costco or Sams

The issue with cost isn't just about the quality of meat. More than a few pork processors have been documented as using very shady business practices. Some of these companies are known to provide product with the lowest pricing on the market. But, when you pollute and treat your labor like cattle there's a higher cost to be paid. That may not show up at the register but we all pay it. I'm not saying that any of the places listed here are necessaily among these companies (or that I don't occasionally buy from them), I'm just saying that cost on the retail (or wholesale) shelf relates to a lot more than the quality of the meat your buying.

=R=

Ronnie - I hear you. This is why I always buy cheaper things (like chicken, smaller steaks) from places like Paulina, Whole Foods, Ziers, etc. But 15-20 pounds of pork at $0.69/lb versus $5/lb makes me focus more on price.

Darren72 wrote:Ronnie - I hear you. This is why I always buy cheaper things (like chicken, smaller steaks) from places like Paulina, Whole Foods, Ziers, etc. But 15-20 pounds of pork at $0.69/lb versus $5/lb makes me focus more on price.

Yeah, I certainly didn't intend to judge and I completely understand what you're saying. There have been plenty of times I've bought those 3-packs of baby backs from Costco. But when I'm only going to make one slab, I tend to take exactly the same approach you describe here.

=R=

Yeah, I still remember the first time I made baby backs for a group and realized that Dominicks sold them for about a fifth as much as Whole Foods. What seemed to be a really expensive party became a lot less so.

(I didn't think you were making any judgments.)

Darren72 wrote:I'm really shocked at the differences in the price of bone-in pork shoulder across stores:
Costco: Butcher department hasn't answered the phone, but I expect it to be in the $1-$2/lb range.

The pork shoulder at Costco, at least in the display case is boneless. Shop and Save (Niles, Des Plaines, Schaumburg and Bridgeview) always have Butt and Picnic roasts at a good price.

I recently smoked 6 from Sams Club in a standard WSM (about 50 pounds) with the first one slumping at the 11 hour mark and the last one around 14 hours.

I smoked a brisket yesterday, finally took everyone's advice and separated the point to do burnt ends once the flat was done. I think they turned out pretty good, unfortunately I only had a cell phone to take pics (though my in-laws are here and they got some pictures with a real digital camera, I'll have to try and get those from them)



Also I finally got around to making a smoked mac & cheese, I used some good cheese from Wisconsin (a mix of cave-aged cheddar, smoked goat-milk cheddar, and a little bit of 5-year-old cheddar) along with some plain old grocery store sharp cheddar, shredded and melted into a bechamel, mixed it with some slightly undercooked macaroni in a 9x13 pan, topped it with some bread crumbs and a little more shredded cheddar. It turned out really well.

looks great Jim

Lesson 3 of the Low and Slow method tonight. Forgot about the smoker for a while, and ended up pulling all the ribs off at once (about 3.5 hours total -- a little long, but understandable due to the temp outside), but they were of varying doneness due to varying thickness, so I don't feel like I lost the lesson. I have a pretty good feeling for the textures of the meat -- bendiness, pulling away fro the bones at the bottom -- that I want in my baby backs.

I have to say, they were probably in the top five batches of ribs I've ever eaten. Texture, flavor were fantastic. I see no reason to go back to grilling them like I used to, and barely any reason to go out for ribs (except it's FUN!). The only thing I'd change is a little lighter on the rub: The "Gary" rub from The Spice House ran a little hotter than I prefer.

Accompanying this were BuddyRoadHouse's recipe for Macque Choux (used veal stock instead of chicken because I had it around, and a little paprika to improve the color because of my last homegrown orange tomatoes), and Jewel's Dixie Slaw. Great meal.

I'm normally too busy to smoke meat everyday but I do tend to do it on Sundays, when I'm most often available to do so. Today was the second consecutive Sunday on which I was home, after a long streak of not being around. So, to celebrate, I smoked a 3-pack of babyback ribs from Costco (that we were recently discussing upthread). They turned out great . . .


Rubbed and ready to go at 1 pm



3 slabs over lump charcoal, a few Royal Oak foodservice briquettes and applewood
Thermometer is there for reference but honestly, I checked these twice -- once after an hour and once after 3 hours -- before taking them off after 4 hours.



It was probably today's colder weather (which Joel mentioned above), that caused these to take closer to 4 hours than the customary 3



First cut



On the plate with my favorite quinoa, from Rancho Gordo

=R=

havent been to Costco in awhile..the babybacks still Swifts? ..looks good

Head's Red BBQ wrote:havent been to Costco in awhile..the babybacks still Swifts? ..looks good

I think so but I didn't check. Wife picked them up and rinsed/dried them, so I never saw the packaging.

=R=

T Comp wrote:

Darren72 wrote:I'm really shocked at the differences in the price of bone-in pork shoulder across stores:
Costco: Butcher department hasn't answered the phone, but I expect it to be in the $1-$2/lb range.

The pork shoulder at Costco, at least in the display case is boneless. Shop and Save (Niles, Des Plaines, Schaumburg and Bridgeview) always have Butt and Picnic roasts at a good price.

Yes, I've only seen boneless in the display case also, but I hoped that if I called, I'd be pleasantly surprised by a bone-in shoulder. Unfortunately, they never answered the phone and the store operator told me that they rarely do.

Also, last time I checked (say 6 weeks ago), Costco carried Swift pork.

I ended up buying two shoulders at Peoria Packing and smoked them for 11 hours, along with some hot links. All of it was excellent.

Darren72-ive never seen bone in butts at costco..Sams carries bone in though..
so sounds like the butts came out ok for you..in time for dinner I hope?

Head's Red BBQ wrote:Darren72-ive never seen bone in butts at costco..Sams carries bone in though..
so sounds like the butts came out ok for you..in time for dinner I hope?

Yes - thankfully. I woke up at 6am, had the butts on the smoker at 7am, and pulled them at 6pm.

I intended to serve dinner around 7:30pm. At about 4pm I was beginning to worry that the butts wouldn't be done in time, but they were. And, as these things usually go, we didn't sit down until 8:30pm anyways.

I also smoked some whole cabbage laced with butter and a little BBQ rub. I tossed the cabbage with apple cider vinegar and a little vanilla extract right before serving. I liked it, but it would have been better to toss these together and let them sit for a few hours.

thats living on the edge with your cook times ...
at least you didnt end up having to order pizzas

Living out in the "boonies," with a hog facility down the road from me, I'd like to offer another insight to the cost of pork. The pork industry has been tanking over the last year. The H1N1 "Swine" flu has left (un-informed) consumers fearful of pork consumption. As a member of the DeKalb Farm Bureau, the latest issue of the Farm Bureau’s newspaper quoted one hog farmer saying that for every load of hogs he shipped off for processing, he lost $15,000. Pork is going to be cheap for a while. However, once hog producers start tapering off (who wants to lose $15,000 a load?) I would expect pork prices to rise. Just my take on the price of pork!

Interesting. Whole hog prices have indeed declined quite steadily for a while, then fell quickly in July 2009, and have been rising since then. It isn't obvious whether this longer trend reflects swine flu or something else. I would imagine that many hog producers use futures to insure against price fluctuations.

Ive read similar articles in the meat industry trade rags
on the other I hand out approx 8-10 pounds of pork a weekend at product demos and have not had anyone apprehensive about eating pork due to swine flu..not saying they are not out there but I think the whole scenario is exaggerated a bit..
Ive got more chances of catching the flu from the people im giving the samples to than they are eating the pork im handing them

Looks like BB ribs 3 weekends in a row...life is good.

Brookhaven has un-enhanced BB's on sale for $2.99/lb. THat and some ABT's on Saturday should make for some good football watchin' grub.

Also counting down the days til X-mas, and the arrival of my 18.5" WSM..

No ribs this weekend,

Ordered a bone in Butt from Sages to pick-up tomorrow $2.19/LB. Pulling the all-nighter on Friday, going to put the 6# butt on around 11:00 to be aready around 11:00 the next morning(also going to find a snack to eat while I am smoking, perhaps ABT's, shrimp, or some crab legs).

Also doing about 5 dozen buttermilk brined chicken wings, some in the gasser with hickory & lump in the chip box, and some on the Weber Kettle with lump and Hickory. Should be a fun b-day party for my daughter Saturday.

jimswside wrote:Also doing about 5 dozen buttermilk brined chicken wings, some in the gasser with hickory & lump in the chip box, and some on the Weber Kettle with lump and Hickory. Should be a fun b-day party for my daughter Saturday.

I'm right with you on this for Saturday; made the teryaki spin and a handful of ABT's, finishing off the last garden jalepeños, last night.

Happy Birthday to Ms. Helper Extraordinaire!

butt is injected, rubbed and in the fridge. ready to go on around 11:00(with a fresh coat of my secret rub). also got a little over a pound of snow crab for a cooks snack for sometime in the wee hours of Saturday.

Total of 7 dozen chicken wings cut up into drummies, and wings. Marinating in buttermilk, soy sauce, Tony C's, my rub, brown sugar, honey, black pepper, and garlic powder. Calling it a marinade vs a brine.

I will be smoking on the GOSM & the Weber Kettle. Using Lump, hickory, and apple.

its about nap time so the allnighter doesnt make me a zombie for the party.