Hey fellas. So I've done two pork shoulders on my RecTec pellet smoker. The first one was approx 5.4 lbs and I smoked it right around 225 (based on a ET-732 with probe placed center grate). At 11 hours, guests started showing up and I was only at 180- so I wrapped it in foil and the meat was at 203F at about 13 hours. Pulled it and shredded it right away. Bark was pretty good, but meat was a little dry.
Second attempt- I read the thermodynamics page on this site and realized that I'm at about 7,000 feet and needed to attempt a longer cook at lower temp. This time I had a butt right at 5lbs. Meathead recommends 216F- I was at about 200F for the first 8-9 hours, thinking the smoker temp would creep up on me like the first time, but I finally increased heat around hour 9- and was at 217ish for the remainder of the cook. Meat hit 196 at 16.5 hours and the "stick a fork in it" test proved the meat was ready to remove. Meat was then double wrapped in foil and went into the oven at 170 for about 2.5 hours until we were ready to eat. So here's my issue: meat was moist and tender, bark had a wonderful flavor- BUT the bark was super tough... like JERKY tough... so what gives? Was it because I was at 200 instead of 216 for the first half of the cook?
A few more details: in both instances- I followed Meathead's Perfect Pulled Pork recipe and dry brined about 24hrs before.
Second attempt- I read the thermodynamics page on this site and realized that I'm at about 7,000 feet and needed to attempt a longer cook at lower temp. This time I had a butt right at 5lbs. Meathead recommends 216F- I was at about 200F for the first 8-9 hours, thinking the smoker temp would creep up on me like the first time, but I finally increased heat around hour 9- and was at 217ish for the remainder of the cook. Meat hit 196 at 16.5 hours and the "stick a fork in it" test proved the meat was ready to remove. Meat was then double wrapped in foil and went into the oven at 170 for about 2.5 hours until we were ready to eat. So here's my issue: meat was moist and tender, bark had a wonderful flavor- BUT the bark was super tough... like JERKY tough... so what gives? Was it because I was at 200 instead of 216 for the first half of the cook?
A few more details: in both instances- I followed Meathead's Perfect Pulled Pork recipe and dry brined about 24hrs before.
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