Pork Shoulder, wet marinade question

[rufio]

Hey,

Planning to have my first go at doing a pork shoulder for pulled pork.

Will be cooking on a kettle.

I found a zesty marinade that I quite like the look of, but it came from a recipe where the Pork shoulder is cooked in an oven, is there any reason why this wont translate to a low n' slow BBQ cook?

Thanks

[Titch]

Providing your Zest wont go bitter, no reason at all

[rufio]

Unfortunately, pork shoulder was unavailable so after a recommendation I got 2kg+ of boneless pork neck. Will give it a whirl and report back when done.

[NickTheGreat]

Pork neck? Post us some pictures along the way!

[wormy]

:pop2:

[rufio]

Pork neck? Post us some pictures along the way!

Will do, I am Irish, so potentially we just call it something different over here!

It came in at €5.99 per kg, to put it in perspective, pork belly was selling at €6.99 per kg.

Images are here: http://imgur.com/vgD4yFR - I couldn't workout how to resize them in order to embed them!

As you can see there's plenty of fat here, and the butcher said it's how he does shredded pork and it's delicious. We'll see how it goes anyway and will take plenty of pics.

[IamMadMan]

Keep us posted on your pulled pork cook....

[THoey1963]

Not sure, but kinda looks like a Pork Butt. From what I have learned, anything you can do in an oven, you should be able to do in a smoker. Go for it!

[rufio]

Kettle currently getting up to temp, meat ready to go having marinaded for about 7 hours.

I took a few photos so will upload to a imgur gallary when done.

[rufio]

Having issues getting the kettle up to temp. I am using a new brand of charcoal briquettes for the first time.

I have 6 lumps in a charcoal starter now so hopefully once added that will do thr trick and I can finally get the meat on.

[Melissaredhead]

I looked at that picture of the pork neck (shoulder) and a cat paw jumped out on a screen coaxing me to swipe to the right. So of course I did.
So dude getting his back waxed or something?!? I didn't watch it I turned away! My eyes! Lololol

Start with more charcoal in the the chimney. You don't have to add it all if you don't want.As long as you have a place to put it. Good luck on the cook!

[rufio]

Hah that is imgur for you. I am happy to upload them elsewhere if it allows me to resize the pictures and embed them in posts here.

Anyway we are up to temp. Running at 275 at the mo so have put vent on lid to halfway and will be keeping an eye on it.

[LYU370]

I use photobucket for pictures.

[LYU370]

So dude getting his back waxed or something?!? I didn't watch it I turned away! My eyes! Lololol

Hahaha, go back and watch it, he's not getting waxed.... Too funny...

[rufio]

Doing alright here. Three hours in and gave it the first basting. decided to stick with the marinade used last night (lemon, lime, garlic, mint and corriander).

Internal temp currently 144f and pit temperature been holding steady 255 prior to me having a peek.

[LYU370]

If the neck is anything like the shoulder, be prepared for the stall. The internal temperature will stop rising, it may even fall a bit. It will stay that way for quite a while. Nothing to be concerned about, all the connective tissue is breaking down. Once it's out of the stall, temp will rise again, quicker than before the stall.

[rufio]

Five and a half hours in and we are up to 181f. Pit temp has stated fairly constant, highs of 280 but never really falling below 250.

Will baste again at the six hour mark and see how the charcoal is getting on.

[rufio]

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_015232_zpssme2o3xy.jpg (http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Luketeeling/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_015232_zpssme2o3xy.jpg.html)

[rufio]

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_023447_zps4yawyqmh.jpg (http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Luketeeling/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_023447_zps4yawyqmh.jpg.html)

[rufio]

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_091101_zpsyyxuyumn.jpg (http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Luketeeling/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_091101_zpsyyxuyumn.jpg.html)

[rufio]

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_090004_zpsfrtglvr0.jpg[/URL[URL=http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Luketeeling/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_120339_zpslmfpicdm.jpg.html]http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_120339_zpslmfpicdm.jpg (http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Luketeeling/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_090004_zpsfrtglvr0.jpg.html)
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_172911_zpswpguiewg.jpg (http://s1055.photobucket.com/user/Luketeeling/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160417_172911_zpswpguiewg.jpg.html)

[rufio]

I left it too late adding a few more coals and unfortunately temps have dropped to 185f.

Have a few more coals in the chimney though so should be back up and running shortly.

As noted, food temp has dropped also, back down to 172f.

Learning lots from this cook, Should defintely be a lot smoother running next time.

[rufio]

10 and a half hours later and the meat has hit the magic 200f mark.

Unfortunately for me, it is almost bed time, it has been cooling (wrapped in tonfoil and a towel) for the past 30 mins, but ideally would have it rest for another couple of houra before shredding and putting in thr fridge for tomorrow.

As I said earlier, it was a fun cook in which a lot if mistakes were made and a lot was learned.

Lets just hope that the effort has resulted in some tasty Q.

[rufio]

So went into the local butchers on Friday looking for some bone in shoulder of pork - living in Ireland boston butts are not something that you can really pick up walking into a butchers or supermarket (and even when you do ask for them, you generally need a big explainer as to what exactly you are looking for.)
Anyway, there was no pork shoulder available, and having asked what it was I was planning to use it for, he recommended what he termed "pork neck", saying that it's what he used to do shredded pork, there's plenty of fat within the meat so it wont get dried out and what not.
Grand job, I picked it up then and there, was about 2.2kg - costing €5.99 per kilo (For comparison, pork belly costs €6.99 per kg)

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160415_162736_zpsmyb59bmn.jpg[/URL]

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160415_162730_zpsuv3jqj8z.jpg

With rain due on Saturday, I decided that I'd do this cook on Sunday.

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160416_160444_zpsxlzlxf1w.jpg

Also on Saturday I took delivery of 200kg of namibian charcoal briquettes, should keep me going for a while!

Here they are nicely stacked in my shed! Let's hope nobody puts a match to it or it will burn for days!
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Mobile%20Uploads/20160416_161231_zpshkbnuy1o.jpg

Saturday came and went, and after a night on the sauce (beer), it was time to make the marinade for the beef. I went with a recipe which I found on an Irish website (lovindublin). One thing to note is that, it was cumin, not coriander to be used, I caught the mistake before mixing up the marinade, but forgot to take another picture.
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_015241_zpsuteqhnnr.jpg[/URL]

2 Limes
1 Bunch of Mint
1 Bunch of Coriander
8 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tsp Cumin

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_022405_zpscds0h8op.jpg

I took the meat out, and cut away a bit of the fat (was 2.30am and I was fairly well on, didn't quite no what I was doing but just looked to get rid of any large chunks of fat (such as the bottom of the below picture) - was this a mistake?
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_023445_zpshn80tlsx.jpg


http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_023421_zpsu5duz5tr.jpg

Here's one of the pork all marinaded up, just before it took a rest for the night in the fridge.
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_023603_zpsxxbmjbiu.jpg

Sunday morning

Five hours later and with the dog wanting her breakfast, I got up to prepare the bbq, I had grilled some steaks on it Saturday, so spent about 30 mins, giving it a clean, emptying ash etc, before setting up the snake method as per the below.
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_090004_zpsfrtglvr0.jpg

I was using Apple and Hickory chips, which I got off the same guy that supplied me with the charcoal briquettes. Any Irish out there, I highly recommend them - https://woodfuel.ie/

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_090023_zpsa5hvxwc2.jpg
Went with the water pan to catch the drippings also.
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_092440_zpsbhjgllkk.jpg

I undershot the amount of coals I needed to start the cook. Below is the initial amount lit.
http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_090608_zpsg916lrqd.jpg[/URL]
So losing about an hour between all the messing around (adding lit charcoal etc), finally we got the meat on the grill at about 11.20am.

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_091101_zpsyyxuyumn.jpg

Once we got up and running the pit temp held fairly consistent, was aiming for 250f but happy at anywhere between 225 and 275f.

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_120339_zpslmfpicdm.jpg

After three hours I did a mop of the marinade over the top of the pork.

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_141506_zpspspjabvo.jpg

After 6 hours, I took another look and did another mop, everything seemed to be going swimmingly, internal temp rising all the time. My mistake here was not adding to the charcoal, and I would regret it later.
Next time I will be making the charcoal snake a bit longer at the start of the cook!
The dog was looking longingly at the meat, in fact she sat out beside the bbq for most of the afternoon.

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_172911_zpswpguiewg.jpg

After about 7.5 hrs, temperature started dropping, both pit temp and meat temp. I added a bit more coal here, but took a while to get going.

It was about 9.30 (ten hours into the cook) before temps got to 200f. I forget to take a picture at this stage!

About 90 minutes later, internal temp was still around 180f (I shouldn't have wrapped it in the towel!) But given the time, I decided to do the pulling now, as I needed my beauty sleep.

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_230423_zpsfsdkar0j.jpg

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_230425_zpsjwl0o27u.jpg

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160417_231048_zpspfozpxau.jpg

There was only ever going to be one thing for lunch today!

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160418_073505_zpsk2zidzlu.jpg

The sauce in the bottle is some Roxy's SC mustard sauce which I whipped up yesterday - using Irish as opposed to English mustard of course!
Roxy's S.C. mustard sauce recipe (http://www.macsbbq.com/roxys-mustard-sauce)

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/Luketeeling/Pork%20Neck%20cook%2017th%20April%202016/20160418_074111_zpsqjlm9uzn.jpg


Plenty learned from this one, should certainly run smoother the next outing.

In terms of taste, It was nice and smokey, still tender (even though it's the next day) in all honesty though I didn't really taste the marinade coming through in it, perhaps I didn't mop it enough during the cook... it works excellently with the mustard sauce.

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed it!

[Titch]

great post, what was the taste like?

[rufio]

great post, what was the taste like?

I felt like I missed something from the post!

It was nice and smokey, still tender (even though it's the next day) in all honesty though I didn't really taste the marinade coming through in it, perhaps I didn't mop it enough during the cook... it works excellently with the mustard sauce.

Have brought the tub into work so will see later what others opinions are - my workmates are brutally honest!

[defib]

looks good to me, how did it taste? I had to make a copy of the sauce recipe. I will be trying it soon.

[rufio]

Final update here, I now have no pulled pork left as my workmates devoured it all!

[LYU370]

Looks pretty good from here. Surprised it took so long. For only a 2Kg. piece, I thought it would take much less time.

It was nice and smokey, still tender (even though it's the next day) in all honesty though I didn't really taste the marinade coming through in it, perhaps I didn't mop it enough during the cook...

Marinades won't really penetrate much, it's mostly surface flavor. Next time try a BBQ rub on the outside and after you pull it add a little more rub and mix it in.