First attempt at pulled pork

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luce

Newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2016
22
21
I had a bone in 9 lb pork shoulder my wife brought home to attempt pulled pork.  It was a lot bigger then I wanted to smoke due to time restraints, so I read on here that you can just cut it in half and smoke them together as if they were one 4.5lber.

Anyway....I did that....cut thru the bone and left it in but it took nearly 14hrs to finish them.  That seems excessive, but it turned out great.  Just unfortunate that we had to eat at 9pm. ha. Did I do something wrong with the timing, or was it just a stubborn chunk of meat?

I cooked it at 225 on a MES30.  



 
looks good, some seem to cook quicker than others 14 hours does seem like a long time, are you sure your smoker is really at 225,but i guess patience =goodness
 
Ditto from Jim. I would check your therm and see if it's correct. I like to cook mine a little hotter, usually 250-275*. Did you wrap it through the stall? That will cut some time and add tenderness. What was your finished IT?

All that being said, it looks great. Thanks for the pics, Joe
 
IT was 205ish when I pulled it and the product was amazing, just took a long time.

There is a good chance that the temp was off in the smoker.  I haven't bought a therm yet (getting the Maverick dual probe tomorrow).  That's what I convinced my wife the problem was so that I didn't have to hear about spending $70 on one. ha....but was wondering if anything else seemed off.  Guess my initial guess was probably correct.

Oh....and I did not wrap through the stall.  For the first time doing it, I wanted it done 100% correct.
 
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I've had a 4 pounder take around that time. No foiling will add to your time tremendously...but I still don't do it.

Try quartering it next time. More bark, more smoke and should cut down your smoke time quite a bit more.
 
Each piece of meat is different. Check your smoker temp, I try to do mine at about 245-250. Another thing you can do if on a time crunch is take off of the smoker at 160 wrap in foil and finish in a 300 oven.
 
Well I'm glad it turned out well for you. Like the others said foiling will get it done quicker, but it also softens the bark. Unfortunately every piece of meat is different & will have different cooking times.

Al
 
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