Sorry for the misleading title, but what follows is a short description of yesterday's shoulder cook, and a delicious, serendipitous discovery.
A few weeks ago, the local Kroger store had pork shoulders for 89 cents a pound; just having the standard freezer attached to the fridge, I only bought 3. Yesterday, I did a bit of experimenting with one, breaking rules with wild abandon.
Since I got a late start, I set the GMG to 240 degrees. I used Meathead's Memphis Rub, and also made some East Carolina Vinegar Mop, and spritzed the meat every half hour or so. Then, using Meathead's Texas crutch procedure, I tightly foiled the meat when it hit the stall--about 160 degrees internal, pouring "some" of the vinegar mop into the packet first. At 203 internal, I removed the foil, cranked the grill up to 300, and brought the meat back up to 203 internal (it quickly dropped to 175 when I unwrapped it). Pulled it, and served it with the vinegar-based sauce and some ketchup-based stuff on the side.
One discovery--I have a new favorite sauce for pulled pork. The tangy sweetness of the vinegar mop was very subtle, not overpowering the meat nor rub. Second: for the first time, I put the shoulder directly onto the Grill Grates; knowing how well they crisp chicken skin, I though I'd see what they did to bark. The bark from the bottom of the meat was cooked *crisp*. I mean to say, no way could I have incorporate it into the meat for sammiches. It was, umm, chewy. My son grabbed some off of the pile I was making off to the side as I pulled the pork, bit into it, and exclaimed, "Yumm! Pork jerky!" He was right. It was, in a word, fantastic; thick, chewy and exploding with porky deliciousness. I'm going to have to come up with another way to "ruin" bark in the future.
A few weeks ago, the local Kroger store had pork shoulders for 89 cents a pound; just having the standard freezer attached to the fridge, I only bought 3. Yesterday, I did a bit of experimenting with one, breaking rules with wild abandon.
Since I got a late start, I set the GMG to 240 degrees. I used Meathead's Memphis Rub, and also made some East Carolina Vinegar Mop, and spritzed the meat every half hour or so. Then, using Meathead's Texas crutch procedure, I tightly foiled the meat when it hit the stall--about 160 degrees internal, pouring "some" of the vinegar mop into the packet first. At 203 internal, I removed the foil, cranked the grill up to 300, and brought the meat back up to 203 internal (it quickly dropped to 175 when I unwrapped it). Pulled it, and served it with the vinegar-based sauce and some ketchup-based stuff on the side.
One discovery--I have a new favorite sauce for pulled pork. The tangy sweetness of the vinegar mop was very subtle, not overpowering the meat nor rub. Second: for the first time, I put the shoulder directly onto the Grill Grates; knowing how well they crisp chicken skin, I though I'd see what they did to bark. The bark from the bottom of the meat was cooked *crisp*. I mean to say, no way could I have incorporate it into the meat for sammiches. It was, umm, chewy. My son grabbed some off of the pile I was making off to the side as I pulled the pork, bit into it, and exclaimed, "Yumm! Pork jerky!" He was right. It was, in a word, fantastic; thick, chewy and exploding with porky deliciousness. I'm going to have to come up with another way to "ruin" bark in the future.
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