Dave Lineback's Pork Shoulder Tips

Okay, Bear, here is the magic formula for pulled pork barbecue according to none other than Smokey Pitts, Professor Of Barbecue. He told me he would have to shoot both of us if I told you where he got it. So, its probably best that I just say that he got it directly from the horse's mouth.

"The cooking temperature for a pork shoulder really needs to be 275-300F. As far as a good rubbing sauce, ... put a fine layer of salt on (the) shoulders prior to cooking to: a) help the shoulder to brown b) help to open the pours to allow the excess grease to properly drain.

You should also start the shoulder cooking on the "face" side ( opposite of the skin side ) for the first 2 hours, and then rotate every hour after that. The shoulder should be done in 10 hours. A good way to tell if the meat is done is to stick a meat-fork in the end of the shoulder and there should be no resistance when pulling the fork out."

I've had these folks barbecue many times, and believe me, the formula works! Seems to me that you should consider abandoning that 225F thing and get the temperature on up there where it should be for a proper pulled pork barbecue. I know of no barbecue joint worth its salt that cooks pork over wood coals for 16 hours. Indeed, there's one in Raleigh on my "Best of the Best" list (http://www.ipass.net/~lineback/jnts-a.htm) who gets whole hogs done in 5 to 6 hours.

The point of my posting was that the time varies according to cooking conditions. In addition to precipitation, the time is also affected by the ambient temperature, humidity, whether the smoke is rising or hugging the ground, the pork, the kind and condition of the wood, the cooker, location in the cooker, etc.