Pork Shoulder?

[indianwells]

I have a 4lb pork shoulder(bone in). I put a basic rub on it and refrigerated it for about 15 hours. I plan to cook it at 350 for 1 hour then at 210 for another 5-6 hours. As most on here are barbeque savvy my question is this; Am I going to have something worth eating at the end?

[indianwells]

Anyone?? I put it in the oven 2 hours ago. It smells nice in the kitchen, I just want to know if it's going to taste nice, and not dry out or be tough!

[shroomgirl]

is the skin on your shoulder, is it a fatty-marbled heirloom breed shoulder or a "other white meat" chunk o meat, is it bone in.....?????
4# is fairly small....the pigs I get in are approx 300# shoulders are skin on, bone in and weigh at least 30#.

[KYHeirloomer]

Sorry I wasn't here earlier.

Are you using a mopping sauce with it? That always helps with pulled pork.

Personally, I would have skipped the initial higher heat. But you should be OK. I agree with "shroomgirl, though. Four pounds is a small shoulder.

In the U.S., btw, the "shoulder" is either the actual shoulder or the entire joint What would be the shoulder and arm on a person. Below the elbow is a shank. The "arm" joint, alone, is called a butt.

Why is a cut from the front leg called a butt? Beats me.

Hey! I don't make this stuff up.

Most of the people who opt for a smaller cut go for the butt (sometimes called a Boston butt). But even for that, four pounds is on the small side.

[diego]

Don't think the hour at high temperature was necessary but shouldn't hurt. Think six hours at 210 perfect for pulled pork. Will be tender and tasty. I would use a thin, vinegar based dip on it the last couple of hours and then mix more in after pulling.

[allie]

I don't usually cook them in the oven because we use the smoker. I don't think the higher temp will hurt but probably would have just cooked it the whole time at 210. Are you cooking it on a rack? If not, you might want to mix in some of the drippings when you pull it. Depends on whether it's a bit dry or not. You can also mix in some sauce if you're serving it with any. We usually get our pork up to 200 internal temp and then foil it in a cooler for several hours. When we pull it, we put the drippings from the foil in with the meat.

[Grumio]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

Why is a cut from the front leg called a butt? Beats me.

Pork butt is so called in order to confuse adults and make children giggle. This practice was instituted by the Roosevelt administration in the early 1930's in order to distract the populace, which needed a laugh at the time.

Until recently, it was theorized that since pork shoulders were commonly salted and packed in barrels known as butts, the term butt pork (pork from a butt) eventually got turned around to pork butt.

Hah. As if.

Your meat will probably be fine. If you've got too much, it makes great enchiladas.

[freeflo1]

I agree, the first hour is not really necessary. I've cooked shoulder in the smoker, oven and slow cooker and as long as it's low and slow it should come out fine. A good rub before and a good sauce after and you'll be in hog heaven.

[teamfat]

Pork shoulders, either the shank or butt end, or a whole one including both, are possibly the most forgiving, tolerant, easy and tastiest chunks of meat on the planet. At the time I write this I'm assuming you've already eaten your fill, hope it turned out well.

You are on the right track with the low and slow cooking. It can takes hours to get a butt through the phase where it breaks down the fat and connective tissue into juicy goodness. On a smoker with heat in the 225 - 250 range a butt can get to an internal temp of 160 - 180 and stay there for what seems like a week or two. Once the internal transformation is complete, the temps will quickly rise up to the 190 - 200+ range , the point that provides good, falling off the bone pulling consistency.

Than again, one can also get great results from upping the heat and doing it more quickly. Gee, there's a helpful, informative comment! As I said, though, they can be a pretty forgiving cut. If you do it at 210 for an hour and a half or at 350 for 5 - 6 hours you probably won't be happy with the results. Make sure your cooking time matches your cooking temperature. You can always cook it some more, I have not yet seen any ovens, grills, microwaves or whatever that can uncook overdone food!

mjb.

[indianwells]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Well I ended up cooking it for 9 hours before the internal temp came up to 190 but boy, the result was worth it! I cooked it on a rack and then drained off the fat underneath which left me with some great gooey black stuff which I deglazed with a cup of cider. This I added to my barbeque sauce for a fantastic experience! As some have suggested it was a small joint but that was because if I messed up it wouldn't have cost me too much. Next time i'll go bigger, now I know how good it can be!