This weekend I smoked a 7 pound pork shoulder. This to me is just about the most perfect lazy daddy meal for the weekend barbeque. It was good, it was fairly easy, and best of all, we have left overs so I’ve got my lunch all set for the next couple of days.
The equipment:
The last piece of equipment that I highly recommend would be heavy duty tinfoil. This should be used after the meat has been smoked for about 6-8 hours. At that point, you’re pretty much going to get all the smokey flavor you want into the cooked meat and the tinfoil helps lock in the juices so your meat doesn’t dry out.
The meat:
The Boston butt has less bone than the picnic and both cuts will weigh about 6 to 8 pounds. If you can’t find a whole pork shoulder at your local store you can get either or both of these cuts and have just what you need. The picnic can come with or without the bone. When cooking, I’ve found that the meat nearest the bone is the sweetest because of the extra flavoring and so I generally try to find a cut with the bone in.
We go to an actual butcher shop called Hottinger Family Meats, they’ve got a great selection and the meats are relatively hormone free. I haven’t done the research on their meat source but my wife has and so it’s a pretty safe bet that there’s not a lot of chemicals involved in raising these pigs.
The rub:
You can apply a rub to add flavor.
- ¼ cup smoked paprika
- 3 tablespoons coarse salt
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 3 tablespoon light brown sugar
Remember that you are trying to flavor a large piece of meat. To apply, take the pork shoulder or section, trim unnecessary fat and skin, rinse with cool water and pat dry. Take the rub and work it into the meat. Make sure that every part is evenly covered. Pork shoulders can have a very uneven surface with lots of folds and indentations so work it over well. Once you’ve got the meat covered in the rub, you’ll want to wrap it back up in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours (I recommend preparing the meat the night before so it’s all ready to go in the morning as you stumble out of bed to get the smoker going).
The smoking:
Under normal conditions you should plan on smoking for about 1-1/2 hours per pound. Low and slow is good, but realize that a ten-pound pork shoulder can take 15 hours to finish, so you’ll want to plan your day out to figure out when you’ll be eating dinner the night before. We started smoking our 7 pounder around 6:30 AM and were ready to eat around 6:00 PM (10 hours cooking, 1 hour resting, and half an hour pulling it apart and getting everything else ready).
Remember though, leave the pork in the smoker for at least 6 hours if you want to get that good smokey flavor – and the lower and slower you cook your meat the more tender it will be when it reaches the dinner table.
Typically you can pull the meat easily once the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F, but you don’t want to go above this and the higher the temperature goes the greater the chance it will dry out.
Once the pork is cooked remove it from the smoker (or oven) and let it sit for about an hour. This will cool it down enough for pulling. As you pull the meat apart, place it in a pot on a low temperature to keep it warm. You want it to be loose in the bun and easy to eat. Now if the pork is smoked right it won’t be chewy in the least.
The finishing sauce:
The traditional sauce for pulled pork is what is commonly called a finishing sauce. We’ve served finishing sauces based on a vinegar recipe, but I’m tempted to go with a thicker tomato base next time just for a little contrast (Or maybe even whip out the teriyaki sauce that I’m such a huge fan of). I could recommend half a dozen different finishing sauces, but I’ll leave this up to you as people’s taste are so varied on the subject. I may post some links to some outstanding finishing sauces that I like later, but I honestly love the taste of the pork without the finishing sauce too. After spending 10-15 hours prepping and smoking this meat, why cover the flavors?
The sandwich:
I’ll generally use only a few condiments, including cheese (again, WinCo carries a great garlic Monterey jack cheese) the vinegar finishing sauce, cole slaw and sometimes mayonnaise.
Enjoy:
You’ve “worked hard” all day preparing this meal. Make sure to invite a few friends over, have them bring the kids and the adults can all hang out in the backyard with a beer or two while the kids play (We actually made espresso/mocha/lattes with our new portable espresso maker from REI, but that’s a post for another time).