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Pork shoulder failure

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    Pork shoulder failure

    Somehow, I screwed up a pork shoulder. I have been smoking meats for 25 years. One thing I always counted on was pork shoulder, that always turned out great for me. This time, it turned out dry and tough. WTH? After say 50 cooks? Shoulder was the one thing I hadn't screwed up yet. This was probably the first time boneless. Doubt that was it though. I tend to blame the user.

    Well, most of my past cooks were on a BGE. The BGE was great for long cooks. I no longer have a BGE because of another screw up. This was on a PBC. I have had trouble with long cooks with that. I added a lit charcoal basket to the PBC (for the first time ever) after about 4 hours and I think the temp went too high, blowing too fast through the temps that break down collagen. My guess. If I was certain, I wouldn't be posting.

    I am actually considering a pellet grill for longer cooks.


    #2
    I don't have any PBC experience, so nothing to offer there. Sometimes you get a tough piece of meat and your method won't do anything to fix it. I'll always have a pellet cooker because I just enjoy the simplicity of the cook. I'll smoke on my kettle every once in awhile for a change of scenery but that's as adventurous as it gets for me.

    Comment


    • smokin fool
      smokin fool commented
      Editing a comment
      +1 on the tough meat theory, I've had the same thing happen to me.
      Sometimes you get Petunia's soft shoulders and sometimes you get Porkies tough old arse.
      I don't think it was yours or the PBC's fault.

    • bbqLuv
      bbqLuv commented
      Editing a comment
      It was the PBC

    #3
    The PBC does run hot but pork butt is incredibly forgiving. Probably a bad cut of meat.

    Comment


    • bbqLuv
      bbqLuv commented
      Editing a comment
      It was the PBC

    #4
    I'd havedta agree; with a great track record like that, it was probly jus an ornery, obstinate ol poke butt, that was wantin to have th last word...
    Last edited by Mr. Bones; January 27, 2022, 10:05 PM. Reason: t

    Comment


    • bbqLuv
      bbqLuv commented
      Editing a comment
      It was the PBC

    #5
    If you've done butts on the PBC before, I have to blame it on this particular hunk of pork. I've smoked probably 500-600 butts in the past 30 years, and I've probably had a dozen of the ones that were for myself that were just tough pork and that I wasn't happy with, even though the process was the same.

    Now, the times I've looked at the PBC folk's butt recipe video, I recall them wrapping the pork after the stall and putting it on the cooking grate. That may be a way to speed up the cook and get it done on a single load of charcoal on the PBC, and also keep it more moist. I did a butt on my SNS Kamado a while back, and ran the cook at 300F and wrapped at 170F, and got the cook done in about 6 hours - a record for me, since they usually take me 12-14 hours at 225 and without the wrap. Bark suffered, but pork was good and moist.

    I am afraid to ask what happened to your BGE.... I have fears of ever moving my SNS kamado from the 12 x 30 concrete area it has been on since I unpacked it from the shipping crate. I can just see it tipping over and hitting the ground and breaking...
    Last edited by jfmorris; January 27, 2022, 09:31 PM.

    Comment


      #6
      Do you have a thermometer? I ask because you said you think you had the temps go too high. But yeah, until they went really high, I'd figure this was just a bad hunk o'pig.

      Comment


        #7
        I have a bad shoulder, bad butt, bad knee, bad foot, and CRS. I can sleep well without being poached and smoked. Your pork shoulder wasn’t so lucky!
        Last edited by smokenoob; January 27, 2022, 10:10 PM.

        Comment


        • Mr. Bones
          Mr. Bones commented
          Editing a comment
          It got off greasy!

        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          Throw in a bad back and you described me to a tee

        #8
        I love the PBC but for long cooks with a 72hr week job I needed a pellet to cook whilst I worketh and/or slumbereth.

        Bad butt, which is rare, but not impossible. They may cut that bone out to make it look like a "market shoulder" that really came off some 500 pound sow.

        Comment


        • bbqLuv
          bbqLuv commented
          Editing a comment
          Agree, Pellet grill

        • Papa Bob
          Papa Bob commented
          Editing a comment
          what the heck do you do that you work that many hrs.😎 😎 😎

        #9
        I'm with the bad cut of meat theorists. I have never cooked a boneless so I cannot speak to that being the specific issue.

        Comment


          #10
          Did you monitor your PBC temps? Do you know how high they went? Just curious.

          I've done a ton of PBs on the PBC. I don't wrap them; just let them go, unwrapped, until probe tender. I've used temps ranging anywhere from 230° to 300° in that barrel and have yet to have a tough or dry pork butt.

          A tough piggie, I'm thinking.

          Kathryn

          Comment


          • bbqLuv
            bbqLuv commented
            Editing a comment
            I monitor and can adjust my Traeger with my phone, 165-500*F, and a keep warm mode too.

          #11
          Mark V Let's talk about this deal with adding a lit basket of charcoal to the PBC after 4 hours? Was the temp dropping due to conditions or something? And also, if adding charcoal, I would think, since the PBC burns in kind of a "minion" fashion, that you would add more unlit charcoal to the basket, along with a few lit coals to get it going, not a chimney of lit coals. I.e. I am thinking of how I manage the fire on a kettle, offset, or other cooker - I just add more unlit charcoal to the already lit fire, I don't pour in a blazing chimney of lit charcoal, as that would for sure spike the temps way up and the cook would probably be out of control at that point.

          fzxdoc Kathryn, do you ever have to refuel the PBC or does it finish a butt on a single load of fuel? What is the refueling procedure? Wondering if that is where this cook went south...
          Last edited by jfmorris; January 28, 2022, 07:25 AM.

          Comment


            #12
            Originally posted by jfmorris View Post
            [USER="35652"]

            fzxdoc Kathryn, do you ever have to refuel the PBC or does it finish a butt on a single load of fuel? What is the refueling procedure? Wondering if that is where this cook went south...
            jfmorris , I almost never have to refuel my PBC. Butts get done in 8 to 10 hours or less.

            My PBC will run 8 to 10 hours at 250° and 7 hours or more at 275° without having to refuel. I overfill the basket for long cooks. So when the temps start to drop, it's usually time to wrap anyway, if wrapping is in order. Then I often finish it in the oven. Once wrapped, the meat doesn't care where the heat comes from.

            If the plan is to go unwrapped to probe tender and PBC temps are dropping, then I remove the meat and add a lit chimney full, added when there are some barely lit briquettes in the top 1/3 or so. That way I don't get that yucky charcoal briquette smell that KBB has when it first lights up, as sometimes happens when adding unlit briquettes.

            Removing the meat prior to refueling prevents it from getting covered with swirling ash as a result of adding briquettes. Letting that ash settle before re-introducing the meat to the barrel is always a good idea, for me at least.

            Kathryn
            Last edited by fzxdoc; January 28, 2022, 08:35 AM.

            Comment


              #13
              Sorry this happened to you but thanks for sharing. I cook in a barrel too and we all learn from these experiences. Two things that I thought about: 1) brand/ type of charcoal and 2) were the vents opened... ie rebar in place. If it wasn't the meat it sounds like it was burning hot.

              Comment


                #14
                I cook on a Big Green Egg and have cooked Butts on other cookers, too. I can’t say I have ruined one, but I have haD few not measure up to my standard. They were a little drier than usuAl. I don’t think being boneless had any thing to do with it. Like most indicated above it was probably the piece of meat that was accentuated by the PBC running hotter than usual.

                Comment


                  #15
                  Did you hang it? My guess is if a boneless was hung it was stretched a bit thin and was easier to dry out with the higher PBC temps.

                  Comment

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