Pork Shoulder...

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navyjeremy

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jun 27, 2008
216
10
Goose Creek, SC
Ok I am stationed in Italy and all we get at the Commissary are Pork shoulder with hock tennis. I have no idea with this means and I was wondering if somebody could help me out with this. I think that the smallest one that I have seen is around 14# with bone in.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jeremy
 
I believe that this is the pork shoulder picnic. Other more experienced folks will be able to clarify however.


A fellow traveler I see...
 
See the previous "sticky" link:


http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=56482

Roll down on the first page of the thread and you will see a diagram of "pork cuts". My guess is your shoulder is the combined butt and picnic. One of those would weigh about 14 pounds. The butt being higher on the hog and a better cut. But do them together on something like a UDS (assuming you can get charcoal) and it will likely come out fine. In fact, I'd think you would find friends over there you never knew you had!

Or bone em out and make sausage.
 
Well I plan on doing 1 for all the guys that I work with but I was thinking that it is going to take like 20-22 hours.

The one thing that I have leaned here is not to worry about time just go with temp, and with the GOSM I am pretty sure that I don't want to go through that much Propane.

I am pretty sure that I will be finishing it off in the oven (since the gas in the oven is free, gotta love livin on base).

Does anybody have any idea approx how long it will take to get to the 165 to put in the oven?

Thanks for all the help.

Jeremy
 
If it's the full shoulder, you could have your meat cutter split em into the butt and picnic, which would speed things up a little. Even if they couldn't, perhaps you could? If not, if you can fit the piece on the rack, I would think you could get it smoked and up to a temp ready to foil in the oven in only 6 to 8 hours. If you can regulate the temp down, I doubt you will use as much fuel as you think.

It may not be exactly like some would prefer to see it done, but my guess is it will be fit to eat and you won't get complaints.

Do you have wood or chips to smoke it with? Are you going to have to scrounge around locally? Oak or fruitwoods like apple, pear, cherry? I hear even grape vines work, but I've not tried those myself.
 
Hog we don't have a meat person here as it all comes from Germany and I have no problem with wood as I just ordered some from a guy on Ebay and I got like six different kinds of wood.

How would I go about cutting it down myself? I have no clue as I have never done this before.

I am actually doing a small (2#) one right now to try some things out and I am using apricot and apple and I am going to see how it turns out.

I was thinking about trying some grape vines when I can find some.

Any extra help would be greatly appreciated.
Jeremy
 
I don't think you want to cut your own wood, as green wood doesn't burn well in general, and it's bad for smoking in particular.

This is more of a question than a recommendation -- perhaps someone else here knows if it's a good idea -- but I bet you can get your hands on some olive tree wood in italy?

Good luck with it. No doubt you'll be a hero. No doubt you already are.

Thank you for your service.
 
I'm guessing you mean how to cut down the whole pork shoulder? A meat cutter is likely going to use a meat saw. I assume you don't have one of those, so if I were in your situation, I'd be tempted to bone the whole thing out.

Assuming you have a nice sharp knife, start at the hock or small end (is there a round bone?), then simply follow the leg bone up the shoulder. You may get to a joint, which will tie into a blade bone which exists at the top. It will look like a real mess. BUTT (pun intended), when you have the bones out, pull it all back together and tie it in a bundle with some cotton twine (not nylon or some synthetic, but cotton). You can then leave that entire piece whole, or block it into two pieces. Won't be the same as the pretty stuff you see on the forum, but you have a handicap we don't.
 
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