Smoked pork neck issue

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lovelife

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jan 4, 2016
135
12
Holland
I smoked a 3.3 lbs pork neck a couple weeks ago on my reverse flow smoker. I kept the temp around 250F. Pulled it at around 200-205F. Let it rest for plenty of time and started to pull it. The top part was super juicy and just fell apart. But for some reason when I got to the bottom part it was more stringy and dry.

Then a couple days ago I did a 6 lbs pork neck and the same thing happened. Top part was some amazing pulled pork, bottom part stringy and dry.


I think it's pretty obvious something is going on here. The stainless steel plate in the bottom of the smoker is reflecting heat upwards which might be the reason why the piece of meat is different on the bottom? I guess I should experiment by flipping the meat over maybe every 2 hours? Or should I go with a lower temperature in general?

I'm just really interested in WHY this happens. 250F at grate level, should be 205F at grate level no matter if the stainless steel plate is reflecting heat or not.

I also want to say that I love this forum and appreciate each and everyone who takes the time to share information that makes all of us better at what we love to do.
 
I don't know much about neck meat and how the muscles in the neck look, but could it be because the top section has plenty of fat in it and the other section doesn't have much for intramuscular fat?  (Like comparing pork butt vs pork loin.)
 
Thank you for your response.

I've talked to a meat supplier in Europe today and he said neck has a lot more fat and flavor than a shoulder. That's the reason bbq guys here tend to prefer neck over shoulder.

Obviously there must be a good reasons why THE bbq country in the world chooses shoulder over neck.

I agree, it could be the way the neck muscle is, even though I doubt it because other people should have the same issue then.
 
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