First Smoke - Pork Shoulder

JumboShrimp

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Location
MO, USA
Grill
SmokeFire EX4
Did my first smoke this past Sunday on the new SmokeFire. Honestly, it was pretty much my first one ever. SmokeFire made it pretty easy and I just ran the Cook Program on the app. Didn't quite get the full rest time in the end due to hungry family but it was pretty tender. Let me just stay, the "Stall" is real and somewhat anxiety-inducing... I didn't really read about it until yesterday when everything slowed to a crawl around 150ish. Once I got to 160 I did the butcher paper wrap which started to speed things up again and let it go to 200.

Very happy so far! Got my eye on some Beef Short Ribs for next weekend.
 

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Recommend wrapping at the beginning of the stall. That’s what I do. I also use foil. I haven’t used butcher paper yet. I think the butcher paper allows the bark to stay more firm and foil not so much. I like the drip pan under your meat,
 
Looks great! Pulled pork is a great product for starting out. It’s relatively inexpensive (at least it used to be) and very forgiving. As mentioned above, foil will help speed things up more than paper and will retain moisture better than the paper. That said, there is no right or wrong. Both methods are widely utilized. My go to is to place the butt in a foil half pan and wrap with foil on top. This captures the rendered fat and seasoned juices. I then strain through a fat separator and reintroduce the juices to the final product. Game changing results IMO. Enjoy the ride. The adventures are half the fun. Cheers! 🥃
 
Looks good, how did it taste?
It was good. There was one part that was definitely not as shreddable as the rest. Not sure if that was due to the lack of rest time or just the cut of meat.
 
Looks great! Pulled pork is a great product for starting out. It’s relatively inexpensive (at least it used to be) and very forgiving. As mentioned above, foil will help speed things up more than paper and will retain moisture better than the paper. That said, there is no right or wrong. Both methods are widely utilized. My go to is to place the butt in a foil half pan and wrap with foil on top. This captures the rendered fat and seasoned juices. I then strain through a fat separator and reintroduce the juices to the final product. Game changing results IMO. Enjoy the ride. The adventures are half the fun. Cheers! 🥃
I like the idea of the pan and wrapped with foil to keep the juices. I did have one below with some water to help with moisture loss. From what I read, the paper will preserve the bark and foil can soften it. To combat that problem, people will put it back on for another 30 minutes unwrapped to bring the bark back. I'll just keep trying different things.
 
Did my first smoke this past Sunday on the new SmokeFire. Honestly, it was pretty much my first one ever. SmokeFire made it pretty easy and I just ran the Cook Program on the app. Didn't quite get the full rest time in the end due to hungry family but it was pretty tender. Let me just stay, the "Stall" is real and somewhat anxiety-inducing... I didn't really read about it until yesterday when everything slowed to a crawl around 150ish. Once I got to 160 I did the butcher paper wrap which started to speed things up again and let it go to 200.

Very happy so far! Got my eye on some Beef Short Ribs for next weekend.
Does look really good!!
May try that soon.
 
What's the stall? I am inferring this is when the internal temp of a cook stalls and no longer increases? Or slows considerably?
 
What's the stall? I am inferring this is when the internal temp of a cook stalls and no longer increases? Or slows considerably?
You have inferred correctly, typically between the 150-165 range, seems as though it will never get past that temp as it sits for hours there.
 

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