Hi Guys, Hope somebody can help. I've got an 8lb boneless pork shoulder. The recipe I'm using called for cooking in the oven for 18 hours at 225'. I put it in last night around 11:00PM and got up twice during the night to pour some beer over it. I got up this morning and the internal temp was reading 204'. Perfect for pulling but not so good when it's 9:00AM and I've got 10 people coming over tonight at 6:30PM. Right now I've got it sitting in the oven with the cooking temp turned down to 100' but I'm sure the pork won't take 8 more hours of that. Is there anything I can do to save this pork so that it isn't history by dinner time? Thanks.
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Wrapping and put in a cooler will get you a few hours, anything more than that and mine have ended up hammy. Only based off of doing it wrong in the past, I would cool it off asap and a few hours before serving bring it up to 165.
You can try to faux cambro it that long, but I think it will be mush after 8 hours. -
Thanks, John. If I try to bring it slowly back up to 165' will it still pull well? It feels pretty darn soft already and I'd hate for it to simply turn to mush. I've thought about pulling it now and then attempting to reheat it with some liquid (maybe apple juice). I've still got 7 hours until I serve it.Comment
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Hi,
I hope that John's idea will help, but here's a thought, provided your intention was BBQ pulled pork for sandwiches, etc.
I'd go ahead and pull the pork, mix up the BBQ sauce with the pork in the slow-cooker, and let it go on low ( or warm if your slow-cooker will do that ) for a few hours. If you don't have a slow-cooker, put it in a Dutch Oven, cover, and throw it in the oven at the lowest temp the oven will go - 100 is pretty dang good! Just stir frequently and maybe add a little water here and there if needed.
I think the key is to go ahead and pull the meat when it's ready rather than trying to keep it intact for 7-8 hours.
I wish I could speak from experience; I'm just going on my gut here.
I'm interested in this recipe, because I can't imagine cooking an 8lb piece of meat for 18 hrs even at 225.
HTH & Good Luck!
--EdComment
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Thanks, Medusa. I just went ahead and pulled it. Too bad everybody isn't here now -- it's pretty wonderful. I'll keep it in a slow cooker on "Keep Warm" and see how that goes. I've added a bit of liquid and will monitor that.
You can find the recipe by going to dub dub dub. food52 dot com and searching on Matilda, Maple and Garlic Pork Shoulder with crispy skin. Part of my problem is that I wound up with a boneless shoulder but that wouldn't account for a 8-9 hour difference in cooking time.
I'll post back here tonight or tomorrow to report on how the salvage operation went.
MichaelComment
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Thanks, Kathryn. Good point well worth noting.
MichaelComment
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If you are gonna pull in advance then Medusa and fzx are spot on, just pull it, add sauce and put it in a crock pot. Mine taste hammy if I pull early, we like our meat nekkid for the most part so I wouldn't normally do that myself.Comment
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I've just stirred the pork in the slow cooker. There's a fair amount of liquid in there and I'm afraid that I'm starting to stew or poach the pork. The consistency is already a bit mushy for my taste. I figured there was a good chance that would happen. What would you folks think of my putting it into a hot oven for 30 minutes before serving to try to firm it back up some and cook off any remaining liquid?Comment
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I have held briskets and butts for a very long time, and pork butts intact at that. They pull that much easier. You can go back n forth between a 170 degree oven and the cambro to keep the meat 150-160*. Cambroing it will not keep cooking it too much, but it will hold it allowing it to lose heat slowly and soften into a delicacy. If you want to dry it up a bit for fear it's too juicy you could broil it or put it back in your smoker and infuse more smoke flavor. I have done all manners of pulled pork prep, including smoking already-pulled crock pot pork. It's hard to mess it up.Comment
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Hi Michael,
WOW! I've just looked at the recipe and glanced through most of the comments. Seems there is a little bit of changing oven temps and / or taking the pork out of the oven during the entire cook. Still, most folks seem very, very, happy with the final product.
Below is a quote from 1 of the comments...
"Time is less important than internal temp, but you can figure on 1-1.5 hours per pound."
So, with an 8 lb butt, at 1.5 hours it would take about 12 hours to cook. ( I always go with the higher number for planning purposes )
Anyhoo, I think the key is to monitor the internal temp with a good thermometer and adjust oven / cook time accordingly.
Good for you for trying this recipe and try it again!
Pretty cool site - thanks! --EdComment
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Hi Ed,
My wife and I are in a cooking club. We get together at someone's house once every few months and the host gets to choose a "theme" or a key ingredient. Then we all cook things with that theme or ingredient. This time around the ingredient is maple syrup. I looked over quite a few foodie websites before deciding to try this one. I'm much more used to a typical dry rub (Memphis Dust is a favorite) and doing a long smoke. Doing this in the oven was new to me and clearly the cooking time was over-stated in the recipe. What's tough is that I'd thought that doing this in the oven was going to make for a much easier, less stressful experience than a long cook in a Weber with a Smokinator. Live and learn.
The recipe is really nice. I think next time I'll try it on the Weber. Thanks again for the comments.
Michael -
The cooking club sounds like a really fun thing to do - WOW!
Yeah, I'll stay with the Weber.
I think trying this recipe in the Weber with the Smokenator would be pretty cool.
The other option would be to build a fuse 2 briqs wide by 2 briqs high around the kettle. With a little experimentation, you should be able to maintain 225 long enough to cook it.
I ran a fuse over 1/2 the kettle and it was still burning after 3 hr 42 min. Ran a little hot in the 230's, so I'm still experimenting.
I use a Vortex, and I'm sure I could get 8 hours. Someone, somewhere claimed an 11 hour run.Last edited by Medusa; November 16, 2014, 01:47 PM.
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Figured I'd give you guys the update. The meat survived the hours in the slow cooker. After the first couple of hours I drained a bunch of liquid from the bottom of the cooker. There still was enough to keep the pork moist and tender. Then, shortly before serving, I took it out of the cooker, transferred it to a low, clay serving platter and put it under the broiler for a few minutes. That turned out to be a mistake. It came out from under the broiler dry and a bit tough. All that took was a few minutes. So the lesson learned is that pulled pork can -- IF ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY --survive time in the slow cooker but keep it away from the broiler. Better still, get your timing right and just don't wind up in that situation.
Thanks to all the help and suggestions.
MichaelComment
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Oh MY! I hope that dinner still worked out. Yes, the broiler can be ruthless.
I tossed a whole batch of hot dog chili ( after I spent over an hour preparing - like starting at 7AM
) because #1 and I felt that we would not like it in the end. ( and, after consulting with the P-nut gallery at work they said "you added what??!?!? for spices" )
Lessons learned... and I learned a new technique about cooking everything in a Cast Iron skillet. 2nd batch of chili was completely devastated over 2 meals.
Best,
--EdComment
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Hindsight you probably should have just gone to the store and grabbed another and been done just in time
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