I just received a 20 pound Bone-In Berkshire pork shoulder that I plan to cook for the Mrs. for Mother’s Day. Pulled pork is her favorite. I have lots of experience with butts up to 10 pounds but have never cooked one this big. Per the product description: “This includes the Boston butt, picnic shoulder, fore shank and pork collar.” Trying to figure out an estimated cook time on my Big Green Egg @225 with/without crutch. The objective is to have it ready for dinner time on Sunday. I’m thinking about starting it at 4:00 pm on Saturday, assuming a ~24 hour crutch-less cook time. Then if by ~10:00 on Sunday if it is still stalled I can wrap it. Any thoughts? Are there flaws in this plan? Thanks all and enjoy your weekend!
Gonna follow this. Would you consider breaking this monster down into its components and spreading the cooks out? I have no experience with one of these. In any case this will be an epic cook. Looking forward to expert input.
Texas Larry thanks for chiming in. Good point. I was wondering about breaking it down. I guess I would just have to pinpoint the joint. I’d hate to hack it to pieces in search of it. History shows I’m really bad at it. Would be nice to get a little more bark out of this beast. Although I must admit, my weakness here is that I am tempted by the challenge!
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Cut it in half? I don’t know where the bones are, but if you can do that then it would fit into everything you already know. I’d call up SRF and ask them about where to cut.
BEAUTIFUL piece of meat, by the way. I can taste it through the screen.
I cooked one which was right at the same size. It took about 16hrs @250 and wrapping after approximately 8hrs. We started in an XL lasagna pan to capture all the juice and wrapping it inside the pan. The challenge for us was the shank bone sticking out past the edge of the pan, so if you can I would recommend cutting the bone back.
If you don’t have a bone saw I would recommend getting a fresh hacksaw blade and removing the shank. This video is straight forward and will help you identify where to cut if that is a route you decide to try. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJy7nGS11VY
Since you are going pulled pork, if you hack it up a little bit as you're breaking it down into component parts, you can trim up the "imperfect" cuts a bit and save the trim for something else (i.e., grind into sausage or mix into a chili or whatever). Actually, this is the perfect time to experiment breaking down a shoulder. The net result will be you will have slightly less pulled pork, but unless you're feeding an army, probably plenty.
I have cooked several of those and they turned out great. I treat it just like a regular butt. It will take a bit longer. I cook at 225F and do not wrap.
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Landmann Smoke Master Series Heavy Duty Barrel Smoker (COS) - With mods including 2 level rack system with pull-out grates
Masterbuilt ThermoTemp XL 40" Vertical Propane Smoker
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BBQPro (cheap big box store model) Stainless steel 4 burnerswith aftermarket rotisserie.
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Pork - especially the darker meat. I love spare ribs and anything made from shoulder/butt meat
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Thanks all, especially Dewesq55. That Malcolm Reed video is spot on. He does exactly what I want to do! Great detailed instructions from start to finish. So that’s what I’ve decided to try for this one - leaving it intact, wrap (in a pan) after a good bark has formed, estimating a ~16-18 hour cook. I might need to trim that bone to fit in my BGE. This is a great forum and I thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I wish I could feed you all the finished product!!! I will update this post on cook day. BTW…that injector Malcolm Reed used In his video is incredible! I am scouring the internet looking for one.
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