Pork Shoulder pulled prk

[Mongo]

2 bonless shoulder (butt) roasts. Dry rub. Overnight about 7 hours in about a 250f oven. No smoke but they came out pretty awesome. Tender and moist. Pull apart by hand.
Next time will be bone in and I'll start them at 225f.
The darker plate of pulled pork is one that I added back all the drippings to. So good.

[Gulf]

That is about what I do with the "stick burner". Two to three hours, the smoke ring is well developed, the meat has taken on about as much flavor as it is going to get, and I'm about lit . Then, while it is finishing in the oven, it is time for a nap .

[PDXTTT]

I like that idea. 3 hours first in the pellet pooper also allows time to mop or spray with apple juice a few times - something I missed this last go around.

[Gulf]

You may be right about not firing the oven long enough. That is an extremely fast cool down for a well insulated oven with sufficient thermal mass. Hopefully, your next "low and slow" will be started in the "pellet pooper" and finished in the oven .

[PDXTTT]

Hi Randy - the oven is nicely finished in stucco so Im not able to insulate furthure. I tend to think I did not charge it up long enough with enough heat for the job, or possibly I did not position the door snugly enough. The man we bought the house from installed the oven too. He was a long time bread bakers guild exec, passionate baker etc. I saw what he paid to install the oven and I also saw his drawings... net / net high odds this was my rookie error. Fortunatly the pork still turned out delicious after it came out of the traeger after smoking all day. Next time...!

[RandyJ]

I am a little surprised that you lost temperature so fast. If I heat up to pizza Temps in is more than 24 hours till I am near where you started with the door off. Can you add some more insulation? That would help with extended baking or roasting.

Randy

[PDXTTT]

Ah the learning curve!! I ran out of heat while trying to roast 2 x 8lb boneless pork shoulders in my Le Panyol 83 last night. I made a HOT fire at around 5p, cooked pizzas at around 7p after raking out coals - letting temp cool to 600. I let the oven cool to 280 before putting the roasts in at 9p, and shutting my insulated door. Outside temp stayed around 33 degrees all night. This morning at 7a oven cooled to 160, and roasts were only at 140. I'm now finishing the job in my Traeger at 225. This reminds me of all those batches of home brew I messed up while I was learning brew. Fingers crossed my pulled pork accidentally tastes excellent this time!!

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

Sounds like a winner!

With my smoker I used to wrap at the 160F plateau, but isn't it nice just to let it finish 'au natural' in the oven? Gives great bark.

Maybe a little more upfront work initially firing the oven, but you can't beat walking away while it finishes. Great job and thanks for the update.

John

[sclancy]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

All good! Oven had no problem holding temps of 225-300 all day. I continued to throw a few hardwood briquettes in through the day (smoking wood only for the first 2-3hrs) - I finally pulled the butts at 9:30pm (190degrees). The butts peaked at 160 and took a good 3-4 more hrs to get over the hump and hit 190. I didn't toss any charcoal in for the last stretch (I left and went out) and the oven temps were still easily over 200. I was thinking that next time I would pull the butts at 160 and finish in the oven but the WFO heat is free so I think I will do things the same next time. Sorry no pics of the final product but they had great bark, solid smoke flavor and moist as ever. A little more work than a charcoal smoker for sure (need to partially fire the oven) but not a big deal and we all know (at least on this board) that smoking in the WFO is way cooler than using an ugly metal smoker....

[sclancy]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

Let us know how this heating approach works out, please. I've only done it one way: wait until two days after a pizza party when the oven has dropped below 300F. I too only have a one-piece steel door (with no handle even), but with a heat break, the stays pretty hot for a long while.

I'd rather schedule a (pulled pork) burn on its own rather than on the heels of pizza each time...

well so far so good. I fired my oven this AM for about 35 mins with a very small fire. closed it up for 20 mins to extinguish and equalize. dome was 350+, floor was 175-200+. pulled the 2 pcs of partially burnt oak wood out, tossed in some natural lump charcoal and a few pcs of cherry and apple wood and the butts went in. 3 hrs in and no problem holding 250-300 in the oven just tossing in a few more lumps every hour or so.....

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

I think I will try a short 20-30 min firing of my oven, let it die down/equalize for 45-60mins

Let us know how this heating approach works out, please. I've only done it one way: wait until two days after a pizza party when the oven has dropped below 300F. I too only have a one-piece steel door (with no handle even), but with a heat break, the stays pretty hot for a long while.

I'd rather schedule a (pulled pork) burn on its own rather than on the heels of pizza each time...

[sclancy]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

thanks! Yes, I did a little more searching/reading and saw that a live fire is likely to cause taste issues. I think I will try a short 20-30 min firing of my oven, let it die down/equalize for 45-60mins and then supplement/maintain 200 degrees with the coals, hardwood charcoal (and some smoking woods on the charcoal).

My scenario is complicated by several factors - I do not yet have an insulated door so my oven cools too rapidly over night w/just a single pane steel door and I really want to fire and cook same day so that I can keep an eye on temps, smoking wood, etc.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

I tried this in my smoker and while the pork was properly cooked, there was a strong, undesirable, unburned-wood, creosote taste to it. You will notice that the professional pit-masters run separate fireboxes that although they insert unburned logs, the scale of their fire (and smoke chambers) accommodate a fully ignited burn.

The closest I have gotten to this with my WFO is to (1) let the oven cool down to about 260-280F. (2) Insert pork shoulder(s) and a charcoal basket with a small pile (that looks like a 4x4x12" log) of oak lump charcoal. I light the charcoal on one end and it slowly burns to the other end. With the door slightly ajar, I only need to replenish the charcoal once every three hours or so.

I have done dozens of burns in my offset smoker, and to save fuel, would routinely wrap my shoulders once they reached 170F and place in the house oven (230F) until the internal temp reached the magic 190F. With the WFO, once the meat reaches 170F it has absorbed all the smoke flavor its going to, and I just close the door. No need to wrap. Just make sure your shoulder sits over a rack in a pan with water (or favorite juices) in it. Otherwise the sugar/spices in the rub drip into the fat and carbonize on the bottom of the pan. I learned this the hard way and it was no fun to clean.

[sclancy]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

has anyone tried doing a partial fire of their oven and then keeping a small fire going to maintain a 200 deg temp for smoking? I m thinking of just tossing another log on every 1-2hrs during the day to smoke a few butts rather than doing a full firing and then waiting 12hrs for it to cool down enough....

[di11on]

Re: Pork Shoulder pulled prk

I do bake the buns in the conventional oven, I used to bake the buns the day before doing the pork, but (no pun intended) the rolls are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good when baked that day that I go for the regular oven being on for 25 minutes at 375.

Beautiful Burger Buns: King Arthur Flour

5) Bake the buns in a preheated 375?F oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden. Remove them from the oven, and brush with the remaining melted butter. This will give the buns a satiny, buttery crust.

Thanks so much for this - I completely missed the directions panel on the right hand side!!!

Thanks again,

Jody