picnic shoulder

David&#039;s 10 steps to succulent smoked BBQ pork picnic shoulder. By following these steps, you will have perfectly cooked meat that&#039;s tender, moist and juicy.

Smoked BBQ Pork Picnic Shoulder

pork picnic shoulder ((about 5-9 pounds))

brown sugar

paprika

black pepper

Kosher salt

garlic powder

onion powder

cayenne pepper

BBQ Sauce of your choice

Pork shoulder is a hunk of meat that is laced with flavorful fat and connective tissue. Start with a pork shoulder in the 5 pound range, which is just the right size to fit on any smoker or grill. Trim the pork shoulder so as to leave at least a ¼-inch cap of fat. (Any less and the pork will dry out; any more, and the fat will prevent the rub from seasoning the meat.)

Rinse the meat under cold running water and blot dry with paper towels. Combine all the ingredients for the rub in a small bowl (make sure to work out any clumps from the brown sugar for even distribution) and stir to mix. Rub onto the picnic shoulder on all sides. If you have time, wrap the picnic shoulder in plastic wrap and let it cure in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight. Smoking the picnic shoulder right away is ok, but sitting in the refrigerator for several hours allows the rub to penetrate the meat.

#1 Prep the pork

Smoking is a form of indirect cooking and usually takes place over a period of hours over low temperatures. Set up your smoker for what is called the burn-down method. To do this, fill the charcoal bed with unlit coals and add only a few lit coals to the very top. The coals on top slowly light the ones underneath and burn down slowly over time. If using a charcoal grill, set it up for an indirect heat technique with a drip pan with water directly underneath the meat to stabilize the temperature.

Soak a few handfuls hickory wood chunks for about 30 minutes in warm water before placing atop the coals.

Preheat the grill from 225 to 250 degrees F. To maintain this low temperature, use only half as much charcoal as usual. (A half chimney-full.)

#2 Prep the Smoker or Grill

When the smoker or grill is the ideal temperature range, you are ready to smoke, place the picnic shoulder on the hot grate over the drip pan, fat side up, toss a hand full of the soaked wood chunks and some dry wood chunks onto the coals and cover the grill.

David likes to use a combination of dry and wet wood chunks, alternating between the two. The dry gives a quick intense smoke and brings the heat up. The wet wood chunks provide a lower, slower smoke and brings the heat down. Heat adjustments can be made using this technique.

Bring the temperature up to 225 degrees F, using the vents to regulate the temperature. Knowing the temp in your grill is crucial, so if your grill doesn’t have a temperature gauge, purchase a probe or instant-read thermometer.

You will need to add fresh coals and more wood chunks to each side of the grill every hour for at least the first 4 hours.

#3 Smoking the pork

Check the temperature of the grill every hour, staying as close to 225 degrees F as possible. Resist the temptation to open the lid. Only open the charcoal door or the lid if you need to add more charcoal or soaked wood chips to maintain temperature and smoke. After at least 4 hours, check the temperature of the meat to see where it is and get an idea of how much more time it will need to smoke.

#4 Low and slow

Smoke the picnic shoulder until a dark “bark” (outside crust) forms and the internal temperature of the meat is about 190 degrees F, about 6 to 10 hours, depending on weight; use a meat thermometer to test for doneness.

#5 Test for doneness

When the pork's internal temperature reaches about 165 degrees F, the surface evaporation causes the meat’s internal temperature to plateau. Pit Masters call this “the stall.” Don’t panic. It will pass. Just wait out the stall. The ideal temperature of a properly smoked pork shoulder is 190 to 195 degrees F. The internal temperature of the pork can increase by 10 degrees even after it’s been removed from the grill, so keep that in mind. If the internal temperature is 190 degrees F when you take it off the grill, it may rise to an optimal 200 degrees F, perfect! Any hotter than that and could overcook your pork, which results in dry, chewy meat, no thank you!

#6 Never mind the stall

Start basting the meat with a sauce using a brush or mop for the last 1 ½ hours.  Then mop it every 30 minutes after that.  It's okay to be messy with it. Just slather it down and cover it back up.

#7 Saucing the pork

David prefers injecting his meat with sauce during the last hour of smoking. Rubs and sauce sit on the meat’s surface and penetrate only a few millimeters into the meat. Injecting gets the flavor to the center of the food in seconds with the push of a plunger. Basically, injectors look like oversize hypodermic needles. Don't waste your time with plastic injectors they don't last. Instead, find a stainless steel injector. They typically comes with a 2 to 4-ounce capacity—which is enough for most anything you slap on your smoker or grill.

To inject the meat, you may need to pour your sauce into a narrow container so you can suck the sauce up inside the needle. Once the injector is full of sauce, that is where all the fun begins! Insert the needle and go all the way to the center. Press the plunger slowly and ease the needle out. Insert the needle again about every 1 ½-inches apart and leave behind about 1-ounce of sauce per pound. Some sauce will almost always follow the needle out of the hole, but if it comes spurting out like it hit an artery, use less pressure. You want to avoid pockets of liquid and have the sauce evenly distributed inside the meat. He usually injects it when he sauces the outside, but only once or twice.

#8 Injecting the pork with sauce

After the pork is literally about to fall apart and it is dripping with sauce, remove the picnic shoulder from the smoker or grill and allow it to rest as you would with grilled or roasted meats. Allowing the pork to rest before chopping or serving it lets the meat fibers relax, moisture that was driven out is redistributed and reabsorbed by some of the dissolved proteins. Rested meat holds on to more of its natural juices. This also keeps your cutting board from flooding with meat juices when you slice it into the pork. A good 15 to 20 minutes rest should do under loosely tented foil.

#9 Resting the smoked BBQ pork picnic shoulder

While holding the picnic shoulder firmly with the carving fork, repeat the diagonal downward cut (using wide, sweeping strokes) to create thick slices, leaving them attached at the bottom.

Perfectly cooked meat should be moist and juicy. If you wish, drizzle some sauce and serve slices of flat fanned out like a deck of cards surrounded by chunks of burnt ends from the point. You can serve it simply sliced on a plate or you could pull it to serve on a pulled pork sandwich.

#10 Slicing and Serving the smoked BBQ pork picnic shoulder

For the best Smoked Boston Butt start with a high-quality piece of meat. Then, fire up your electric smoker, season the meat with a savory dry rub, and let it cook low and slow until it is melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Smoked Boston Butt (Electric Smoker BBQ Pulled Pork)

salt

smoked paprika

granulated garlic or garlic powder

granulated onion or onion powder

chili powder

cumin

dry mustard powder

coriander

- 10 pound Boston butt (or picnic shoulder roast)

mustard

apple juice

water

apple or cherry smoking wood chips

Add the salt,  brown sugar, paprika, granulated garlic and onion, chili powder, pepper, cumin, mustard powder, and coriander to a small bowl and mix until well combined.

Unpackage and rinse the pork butt under cool running water. If necessary, trim off the fat cap so that it is no more than 1/4 inch thick. Pat the pork dry with paper towels.

Slather yellow mustard all over the surface of the meat, then apply a generous amount of the dry rub mixture. Massage the rub into the meat so it sticks well. Let the seasoned pork rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

In the meantime, fill the smoker&#39;s water pan with a mixture of half apple juice and half water. Then, preheat it to 250 degrees F.  Once preheated, add apple or cherry wood chips (or a mixture of the two) to the smoker box.

Place the pork butt directly on the smoker rack and insert a digital probe meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat away from the bone. Close the smoker lid and adjust the cooking temperature to 225 degrees F. Try to avoid opening the lid too often as this will let out heat and smoke.

Allow the pork butt to smoke for several hours, checking on it periodically to make sure the temperature stays steady. Add more wood chips if necessary during the first couple hours of cooking to create smoke to fill the smoker chamber.

Cook the pork butt until it reaches an internal temperature of 205 degrees F, anywhere from 8 to 12 hours, depending on the size of the pork butt.

Once the pork butt is fully cooked, remove it from the smoker and wrap it tightly in pink butcher paper or aluminum foil. Place the wrapped meat in an insulated cooler or cold over and shut the door. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours, before shredding the meat with meat claws or your hands.

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Smoked BBQ Pork Picnic Shoulder

Smoked Boston Butt (Electric Smoker...

Top 2 picnic shoulder recipes from across the web

The most viewed picnic shoulder recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Smoked BBQ Pork Picnic Shoulder

Smoked Boston Butt (Electric Smoker...

The most viewed picnic shoulder recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine