16 pound pork shoulder

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obtuse

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I just picked up a 16 pound boneless pork shoulder. I havent smoked a piece of meat this big. how long should I cook it? what temp? I'm using a big green egg. I know I could look this up online, but I thought it would be more fun to post it here. pics when the spice rub is on.
 
I have no idea, but I will be happy to try any leftovers on Sunday ;)

Stefan
 
Are you sure it's not two boneless pork shoulders? I've never seen a 16 pound boneless pork shoulder. 16 pounds BONE IN? Yes. Boneless? No. That would have been quite a humongous pig!

If it really is 16 pounds, I figure you're in for at least 10 - 12 hours, depending on the thickness of the shoulder at its thickest point. Boneless pork shoulders are hard to gauge because they're cut up and the thickness varies; a thinner part may be done while a thicker part may need a lot more time. I recommend tying it up and then just check it with a thermometer or use a remote thermometer, preferably with two sensors in two distinct locations, i.e. one in a thick portion and another in a thinner portion, to monitor how it's cooking. (I personally hate cooking boneless pork shoulders.)

I like mine to get up to about 185-190, wrap it in foil, and let the residual heat finish the cooking. I save all the melted fat and juice, strain the fat out with a gravy separator, and mix the juice with sauce (if you use it) and baste the meat with this after it's been pulled or chopped or however you want to serve it.

Good luck!
 
Well, it's actually 15.54 lbs so I rounded up. It really is boneless! and it's actually the smallest one I could get at Costco. I would have gotten bone in if it were available. It may very well be two shoulders but I haven't taken it out of the vacuum pack to inspect it yet. If it's one piece I will cut it in two in order to speed cooking. I was thinking it might take about 15 hours at 225'F.
 
That's definitely 2 butts in one cryo...
 
Well I always say 2 butts are better than one when its that much weight.

But seriously, its done when its done. You can estimate it all you want, when that pig part stalls at 180 there is nothing you can do but light another cigar and refill your sweet tea glass. 195-205 is the endpoint but I let the probe tell me its time to pull.
 
A sixteen pound shoulder sounds beyond reedickulous... Especially if it's the smallest one you could find at Costco... Regardless- you should brine the sucker first. Weigh your protein, weigh your brining fluid, combine em'- use that total as your 100%, and do a 2% salt ratio, 1% sugar(more or less depending on your tastes), and and about 10-15 grams of spices to every kilogram of weight depending on the strength of the spice. If it actually is 16 pounds it's gonna take about 7-9 days to brine(unless you inject it, but that's a whole other story- which is worth telling cuz it reduces the brining by about a third...). If you do smoke it- I'd suggest staying under 200 hundred degrees, and putting a pan of water somewhere close to the heat source(I'm not familiar with the eggs so I don't know if this is feasible), the water will help regulate the ambient humidity in the smoker and curtail the 'stall'- which is when you're aiming for an internal temp and you come right to the edge of it but it takes many hours to actually reach those last few degrees. This is primarily due to the fact that the out side layers of protein have dried, and formed a shield that doesn't allow the heat to properly circulate via the natural juices in the protein. It essentially acts as a heat shield. But the higher humidity defers this effect to an appreciable degree. All it takes is a pan of water:) A nice dry rub compliments the brine rather well, and if you increase the heat towards the end of the smoke you'll get a nice crust/bark.
 
Well, it definately is two butts in a cryopak. Which makes my life a little easier :) I don't think I have enough time to brine this sucker but I'll plan to next time. I've heard about a pan of water or apple juice and a foil tent to curb the stall. I'm definetly going to have some left overs considering I'm cooking 15.54 lbs for about three people. Thanks for all the advice so far. I'm off to make the rub!
 
Well I always say 2 butts are better than one when its that much weight.

But seriously, its done when its done. You can estimate it all you want, when that pig part stalls at 180 there is nothing you can do but light another cigar and refill your sweet tea glass. 195-205 is the endpoint but I let the probe tell me its time to pull.

Finished before I saw your post Jim, hope it didn't come across as sounding dismissive.
 
I decided to make this interesting. I was thinking of some of my other favorite pork recipes, conchinita pibil and carne adobada, for inspiration. I used what I have on hand to make a spice paste with garlic, white onion, safflower oil, apple cider vinegar, annato, allspice, cinnamon, clove, guajillo, chile negro, and chiles de arbol. It smelled pretty good as I rubbed it all over the pork. I'm going to use a apple wood for the smoke and mop it with apple cider. Tomorrow I will prepare salsas and we'll have pulled pork tacos. I'm planning to start the egg around 1:30-2am, so I'll have updates and pics later.
 
That's been my usual tactic for pork shoulder as well...start the fire around 2-3am so it's ready in time for dinnner. Usually takes me 12-15 hours...I keep a probe thermometer in it with an alarm for my desired temp (accounting for carry-over).
 
I decided to make this interesting. I was thinking of some of my other favorite pork recipes, conchinita pibil and carne adobada, for inspiration. I used what I have on hand to make a spice paste with garlic, white onion, safflower oil, apple cider vinegar, annato, allspice, cinnamon, clove, guajillo, chile negro, and chiles de arbol. It smelled pretty good as I rubbed it all over the pork. I'm going to use a apple wood for the smoke and mop it with apple cider. Tomorrow I will prepare salsas and we'll have pulled pork tacos. I'm planning to start the egg around 1:30-2am, so I'll have updates and pics later.

Sounds wonderful, good luck.
 
I always put a drip pan under my butt! The foil hat comes later, tho......
 
still cooking, I put it on at 1:30am. the internal temperature was 150°F at around ten this morning. The temperature of the BGE has held steady around 200°F without me having to fuss with it.
 
it's 3:39pm a little after 14 hours since I've began. The pork is no where near done, the thickest park of one of the shoulders still reads 150, the other hovering around the low 160s. I've lowered the drip pan to increase airflow and turned them 180 degrees. I'm tempted to increase the temperature to 250. the outside is looking nice and crusty :)
 
When I smoke pork shoulders, I shoot for 225 to 250 degrees. I never thought about cooking at 200 degrees, but at that temperature I wonder if that will help make the meat juicier. Looking forward to seeing your results, I'm hungry.
 
Tent them with foil and raise the temp.
 
Has the pork here, hitten the fan... ?
 
Something I do with the butt after it's pulled (not sure how others will feel about this) is to put a little sauce on the meat, usually a sauce based on the spices used in the rub, to prevent any of the meat from drying out as it's exposed to air. When I say little, I do mean just a little, enough to coat the meat, but not affect the flavor of the bark or meat itself. Tends to hold up better this way, and you won't run into those dried out pieces of flesh that, to me, are a bit annoying.
 
I put a tent on and raised the temp to 300F about an hour ago. well see what happens... people are getting hungry
 
I drank too much and smoked one two many cigars to be able to post pics right now. I took pics and when I am sober in the morning I may have the energy to upload them. the pork was finally done after about 17 1/2 hours. it turned out very well. I'm amazed that the egg could cook that long on just one load of charcoal. it probably could have gone for another 20+ hours of slow cooking on one load.
 
Great! Congrats on a successful cook!
 
Glad it worked out!

I always cook around 250 in my Egg. There's really no magic at 200 or 225 you can go a little higher and be ok.
 
There is is after resting. It took on a nice blackened bark, delicious. I served it up with Mexican rice, made with goose fat. The taco on the left has shredded cabbage and a roasted bhut jolokia and tomato salsa. The taco on the right has apple cider vinegar pickled onions and a roasted serrano and tomatillo salsa.

As always this meal if brought to you by JKI and the new Gesshin Kagero line.
 
Well, I can confirm that the pork tasted excellent after Aaron brought me some to the shop today :) Something gave it a really interesting and complex note, and I had to go back to the spices Aaron listed - it was the cinnamon, thankfully in a very subtle amount, just enough to catch your attention. I have to see whether I can get Aaron to smoke up a few pounds for me the next time ;)

I also had a look at the Gesshin Kagero gyuto - very interesting knife. Really nice distal taper to an ultra-fine tip, should be easy to dice onions with that. Not quite as wide as I had thought but overall it looks like a great all-purpose gyuto. The handle is a bit on the slim side for someone like me with XL hands, but as it is, the balance is really nice. Didn't have a chance to cut with it, but I have no problems believing Aaron's positive first impression of it.

Stefan
 
Stefan, I'm glad you liked it. When I got home I fried up a few hunks and made some more tacos. Next time I'll bring you more, though it may be a more "traditional" style spice rub. I can't make the same thing twice in a row. actually... next time might be beef brisket.
 

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