SRF Berkshire Pork Shoulder Cook

That looks awesome Bill! I had one in the cart also but before I pressed the "order" button I went and checked the freezer and no capacity. :sad: Next time for sure. Great post. :thumb:
 
BillN said:
Out of the oven... 4 Hours smoke, 4 hours panned and covered in the oven...

The bark more or less dissolved during it's time in the oven plus there was so little external fat.
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The bones pulled with no effort just grabbed hold of them with tongs and they released.

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Pretty much filled a full size hotel/steam table pan.

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Once chilled I will vac seal in approximately 1 pound bags and put into the freezer for future meals. I am very pleased with the results, nice subtle smoke, incredibly tender and moist, and a really deep rich pork flavor and not in the least fatty. My wife said it was the best pulled pork she has ever eaten. That says a lot considering no rub just a little salt applied to the exterior about 15 min prior to going into the smoker. I am really happy I have another in the freezer and will definitely buy more of these from SRF.
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I will 100% agree. My mother isn't much for BBQ in general (brisket/ribs/pulled pork etc) but she couldn't resist this! I have never had pork be so tender/juicy as compared to this Berkshire shoulder.
 
The finished product looks really good, and I can't believe only 8 hours of cooking time. Mine would easily go 15 or 16 hours, then 3 or 4 for resting. I've had Berkshire ribs so I can only imagine the flavor of the shoulder.

Some of the darker colored muscles around the bones on the picnic really compliment the meat from the butt. It's a pleasure to cook something with that kind of mass.
 
Nicely done Bill!

I'm a fan of Berkshire pork, luckily for me there's a coop of farmers in the area that have a retail outlet in Ankeny that sells it. No confinement pigs either, they are raised in hoop barns and let out to roam in good weather.
 
thirdeye said:
The finished product looks really good, and I can't believe only 8 hours of cooking time. Mine would easily go 15 or 16 hours, then 3 or 4 for resting. I've had Berkshire ribs so I can only imagine the flavor of the shoulder.

Some of the darker colored muscles around the bones on the picnic really compliment the meat from the butt. It's a pleasure to cook something with that kind of mass.
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Yeah I would have expected a longer cook and due to a storm moving in shoulder was only on the smoker for 4 hours then panned and covered in the oven at 325 so that sped things up significantly.
 
Well based on what I vac sealed and ate for dinner last night got just under 13 pounds of meat. Very happy with the yield, I think it was due to SRF had trimmed it so close, the natural marbling of the Berkshire and finishing covered in the oven.
 
Smoking Piney said:
Bill,

I've never gone top shelf on butts before. Was there a noticeable flavor difference?
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From mine and my wife's perspective the meat has a richness without being fatty. I used to cook a lot of supermarket butts and while I enjoyed the end product the flavor IMO was more dependent on the rub, this particular shoulder and free range Duroc's I have smoked can and do stand on their own without a rub. The main reason we have gone to free range heritage pork is my wife gets sore joints from supermarket commodity/factory raised pork, she does not have that issue with the heritage pork that is raised free range and better feed stuffs. Now I don't know if that is due to the feed or the fact these heritage breeds meat has a higher Ph.
 
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