Pork shoulder on the Weber Summit Charcoal

[ruralcooking]

I have just been to the butcher in the local village to pick up this shoulder of pork.



It's between 6 1/2 and 7 pounds in weight, about 3 inches thick in the middle and slightly less than that the edges. I have dry brined it with 3 tablespoons of kosher salt and it is in the fridge waiting for tomorrow morning. I plan to use the Slow 'n Sear in the Weber Summit Charcoal to cook it at 225F for as long as it takes it to get to 203F. I presume that will be about 8 hours, but it could be longer, according to Meathead's guidance in his book.

What is worrying me slightly is whether the shoulder will take as long as a US-style pork butt. On the one hand, I'm pretty sure most pigs are the same, whatever the continent happened to live on. On the other hand, it may be that butchers in the UK cut a pork shoulder little bit differently, so that this is not in fact the toughest part of the shoulder (although the butcher did recommend slow cooking) and may not need so long. Opinions?

I also cut off a large flap of skin/fat, which can be seen to the top left of the above photo. I'm wondering if there's any way I can use this?

Incidentally, with the game season well under way, the pheasants and partridges (?) were hanging in the window of the butchers...

[fzxdoc]

Well, ruralcooking , sounds like you've got a fun day planned with that hunk of pork. Sounds as though you've got things well planned. The cook time is more dependent on thickness than weight, so if your piece is 3 inches thick maximum, it should get done in the 8 hours or so that you have planned.

Is there a reason why you want to stay at 225°F with the SnS instead of goosing the temp up a bit to 250° or so? I almost never smoke anything at 225°F; when I've compared my own cooks done at that temp vs. at higher temps, I can't see the advantage to cooking at the lower temperature. But in BBQ as with much in life, to each his/her own.

What rub are you using? Meathead's Memphis Dust is awesome on pork butt.

I'll be curious to read your experience with smoking with the SnS on the WSCG. Have a great time.

Kathryn

[RonB]

Your plan sounds good, but 203* may not be the right temp. It could be a little lower or a little higher for done. It should be probe tender - a probe inserted in the meat should have almost no resistance.

The fat you removed can be rendered for lard, and the skin can be made into pork rinds. Or you can make Cracklins.

Some here have had some success in befriending a local butcher by taking them some smoked meat. Then, hopefully, they will be more interested in getting you the cuts of meat you want.

[LA Pork Butt]

It does appear different than the Boston Butts (upper Pork shoulder) I get in the USA. Thickness wise it looks more like the chuck roasts I get, so I think fzxdoc is right on suggesting 8 hours at 225. But, if time is a factor you could safely bump the temp up to 250 or 275 and if necessary wrap it when it hits the stall. Have fun.

[HouseHomey]

Those above speak truth. You can crank it up without issue and probe tender is the word. What are you having going with it?

i like the way they are hanging the dead fowl over the fresh fruit. Not many villages around here.

we would love to see how that cut turns out. pics please...

[ruralcooking]

Is there a reason why you want to stay at 225°F with the SnS instead of goosing the temp up a bit to 250° or so?

Kathryn, is "slavish adherence to the recipe" an acceptable response? Meathead urges us to follow his instructions exactly when first using one of his recipes, and as he seems to be a decent chap, and fairly competent with it, I think it's only right that I give him a chance. But if it's anywhere between 225 and 250 I will be happy. As you know better than I, once it hits its sweet spot, the Summit seems to just lock in and hold. On a cook last week I got the WSC to 232 and it then sat there for more than 2 hours, occasionally dropping to 231, or rising to 233, but no further in either direction. Solid.

Anyway, the cook has begun, at 10:10 am GMT...

Thanks also to RonB, LA Pork Butt and HouseHomey for your advice. The game birds are not quite over the fruit and veg, but admittedly not far off either. Let's keep quiet and hope the health and safety cabal don't notice. They have venison, rabbit and wild boar as well. Not sure what we will have with the pork shoulder, but I have applied some Memphis BBQ Pig Rub from Firefly to part of the shoulder to see how that goes. I will use the probe as well as the temperature to check done-ness as suggested, and go higher than 225 or 250 if it seems needed.

[ruralcooking]

Although the Weber Summit Charcoal seems very well insulated against colder weather, I'm concerned that rainy conditions - and let's face it, in the UK in the autumn that is not unusual - could affect the result for low and slow cooks. I that found a galvanised chimney cowl with a diameter of 8 inches/20 cm fits perfectly over the top vent of the WSC. It allows the rent to be opened and closed, and I don't think it has any adverse effect on airflow. So, if you cook in a location where water drops from the sky at frequent intervals (I'm looking at you, Seattle), you might want to consider something similar!

[Powersmoke_80]

Sure genius!

[RonB]

Great idea!

[Mr. Bones]

May yer day be filled with porcine goodness, an' thin, blue smoke!
Right here with ya', albeit 6 time zones away...
Cheers, Mate!

[fzxdoc]

Nice idea with the vent, ruralcooking . My WSCGC is on a covered deck with a ceiling fan that hopefully whisks away any carbon monoxide produced from the burning charcoal. So you have your vent and I have my ceiling fan. It's all about the setting.

Hope the cook went fine! Let us hear about it when you get the chance. There are few things I love better than tender smoked pork butt whose bark has turned into delectable pig candy.

Kathryn

[ruralcooking]

So far, so good. No sign of the stall, but if it comes I guess it will be around 150?




You can see from the chart that about 30 minutes into the cook the grill temperature started to fall. In past cooks, one problem has been that I have let the temperature get away from me and rise to 250 or 264 getting under control. So, in addition to not opening the vents so widely in the first place, after half an hour I closed the top vent down to a crack, maybe quarter of an inch. You can probably imagine what happened.

I believe the technical term for precipitate action taken to implement a reduced-combustion oxygen environment that inadvertently results in negative temperature delta is "dumb."

Still, mistakes are fine, provided that we learn from them. As you can see, I have been sampling temperatures at 10 minute intervals using a timer to record the readings from the ThermoPro TP20. After 20 minutes it was clear that I had overdone it, and closed it down too much, but I didn't want to go to find the other direction.

I cracked open a bit, waited 10 minutes cracked open a bit more, and so on. Eventually, the temperature stopped falling - I think it got down to 197 at one point - and eventually, after one final adjustment, headed up again. Back in business!

The rain has been coming and going, which may explain the volatility in the grill temperature...

[ruralcooking]

Huh. Well as of 2:10 pm, exactly four hours into the cook, the grill temperature is 239 and the pork is at 160. It just powered through with no signs of a stall. I'm beginning to think this is indeed a different cut of meat to a pork butt. At this rate the pork should at 200 F at about 4 pm. Time to start thinking about preparing a faux cambro I guess.

[ruralcooking]

My first look at the meat, after more than four and a half hours in the cooker. Looks okay so far, not much bark. Note the SnS in the top left corner and see how few of the briquettes have been consumed. Only a quarter burned, maybe only a fifth, after close to five hours on a chilly and rainy day?! That's ridiculous.

[ruralcooking]

It seems as if the meat temperature is beginning to plateau. It has been 174 for the past 20 minutes. Not to worry - we have several hours to go before dinner is served, and I can always raise the grill temperature...

[EdF]

Looking good!

[fzxdoc]

I often get stalls in the 160s and low 170s

[fzxdoc]

...and even a second stall in the 190s sometimes. Go figure.

K.

[Mr. Bones]

Lookin' Good, ruralcooking !
Meant to thank ya', earlier, fer settin' this all to °F, fer those of us on this side of Th' Pond!

[ruralcooking]

Mr. Bones, cooking on a BBQ is just one of those situations where it's easier to standardize on Fahrenheit, otherwise my brain hurts trying to flip back-and-forth between that and Celsius!

Meanwhile, the cook progresses. Apparently I spoke too soon about stalls, because the temperature continues to inch up, a degree every 10 minutes. Interestingly, the temperature declined from 246 all the way down to 229, and is now back up to 243. I didn't do anything, it just moved of its own accord. I'm guessing that's due to fluctuations in the external temperature, or perhaps a new briquette or two igniting in the Slow 'n Sear.

If I extrapolate the current trend in the meat temperature, it should be in the region of 200°F by 7 pm. Dangerous things, extrapolations.

[Mr. Bones]

Also, one of those situations where I'm glad that BSW (Whitworth) is not included

[ruralcooking]

Yeah, because having two completely incompatible measuring systems isn't confusing enough... I think my Land Rover has some Whitworth fasteners on it somewhere...