BBQ Pork - Do i keep the fat on?

[Too Late]

Bought a large pork shoulder to bbq for 2-3 hours.
Do i keep the fat/cracking on or do i cut it off and cook it separately?

I have made my own rub and ready but not sure on what to do with the fat?

thanks
N

[HD Adam]

Cut the skin off and cook separately if you want.

The rub won't penetrate the skin.

As for the other fat, try to get it down to a thickness of about 1/4" and score through it to the meat.

[Rick101]

What are you planning on doing with the joint?

3 hrs is quite a short cook.

[Pferdestarke]

You'll need more like 8-10 hours to do it any justice

[LaurasOtherHalf]

I did shoulder week before last, slow cooked for around 5 hours at low temperature and it could still have done with longer.

I left the skin on but put it in skin side down with a tin under it with boiling water to catch the fat, thinking the skin might retain the moisture and it was lovely and tender. Just not pulled.

On the Weber the bottom vent was open a quarter and the top vent only an eighth, I build the briquettes into a shallow wall and lit them at one end to create the slow burn then just left it all afternoon





No pics of the result, we just got busy with eating it

[don4l]

Too Late said:

Bought a large pork shoulder to bbq for 2-3 hours.
Do i keep the fat/cracking on or do i cut it off and cook it separately?

I have made my own rub and ready but not sure on what to do with the fat?

thanks
N

Cook the skin separately.

Try to cook for 6-8 hours at 110C.

[rsbmw]

If it's a large shoulder as you say, at 110C it would be more like 12 hours

[Too Late]

Hi everyone. So started later than I would have liked but it had 4 hours


Yesterday






Today



I needed double the time time. Next weekend I have some ribs I am going to try. Eager to try a 10 porkshoulder again now.

Anyway it tasted good. I found it hard to keep a constant heat level.

Any tips?

[rsbmw]

It's a case of practice and knowing your kit really. Also get yourself a wireless Maverick thermometer.

For that size pork shoulder, 8hours should be about right.

[Richieboy3008]

If you want it really tender and moist, brine it over night in the fridge, then add a rub, then cook low and slow for at least 8-9 hours

[sidekickdmr]

I had a whole shoulder of pork I cooked last weekend, I put it in at about 10am and despite trying to serve it up at about 3.30 pm it wasnt ready, it was finally ready to "pull" at about 8pm.

So you really do have to go low and slow, no cheats way on these.

[maturin23]

Nah - you can cheat by doing most of the cooking in the oven and nobody will notice! Whilst I generally try and use the WSM for the whole cook sometimes I've only got four hours or so cooking time on Sunday.

Dry rub overnight.

After 2 hours or so smoking at 110C take it out of the BBQ, wrap it in foil with a splash of water or apple juice and stick it in a roasting pan in the oven at 150 for another 90 minutes (depending on size) or so until the internal temperature as pretty much 100C. Rest for as long as you can then pull it.

RE fat - trim and score the joint as suggested above but if I have a decent slab of fat I stick it in the smoker and in the oven too. I throw way any thing that hasn't rendered down - but having the rendered fat to mix in with the pulled pork really helps flavour and mouth-feel.

[Oakey]

my gf wants to do pulled pork this weekend but was going to do it in the oven for a few hours. I was just... "no no no".

I want to start it off in the BBQ (smokey joe) and then she can finish it off in the oven as the poster above suggests.

It's most likely not going to fit with the grill on so can I stick it in a tray amongst the coals?

[rsbmw]

You'll get far too much direct heat that way, not great for slow cooking.

If you have a slow cooker, pulled pork works pretty well in those.

[Oakey]

I'll have to see if it'll fit with the grill on, GIS suggests it just might

edit: I just went to look what she's got, it's a loin not a shouler and it's not as big as I thought so maybe just let her do her thing with it

Edited by Oakey on Monday 26th September 20:22

[rsbmw]

I'm not convinced slow cooking a loin is a great plan, they're pretty lean

[Oakey]

Yeah, I thought it was a shoulder

[PoleDriver]

rsbmw said:

You'll get far too much direct heat that way, not great for slow cooking.

If you have a slow cooker, pulled pork works pretty well in those.

Do you have any tips for this?

[rsbmw]

I've only done it a couple of times, but basically rub your shoulder (or even some pork shoulder) with your favourite rub and leave for a couple of hours. Fashion a rudimentary trivet out of garlic and onions in the slow cooker, to keep the pork away from the bottom of the pan. Whack in pork plus maybe a pint or so of chicken stock (I've heard apple juice works well too). Leave for 5-6 hours. Once cooker, remove from liquid, pull, add bbq sauce.

[scottri]

rsbmw said:

I've only done it a couple of times, but basically rub your shoulder (or even some pork shoulder) with your favourite rub and leave for a couple of hours. Fashion a rudimentary trivet out of garlic and onions in the slow cooker, to keep the pork away from the bottom of the pan. Whack in pork plus maybe a pint or so of chicken stock (I've heard apple juice works well too). Leave for 5-6 hours. Once cooker, remove from liquid, pull, add bbq sauce.

It doesn't really need the stock - loads of moisture comes out of the meat and veg anyway. Stick the BBQ sauce over it at the start.