Pork Picnic on the big easy Smoker roaster grill (BESRG)

[Daze823]

So, I have a 10 1/2 lb pork picnic that I froze 2 weeks ago, and put in the fridge on Thursday afternoon with plans on cooking it it my big easy srg on Monday.  As things tend to happen, my father in law calls and asks us to come up (1 1/2 hrs away) for lunch on Monday, which hampers my plan on cooking on Monday, so today (Sunday) is my only opportunity.  I pulled the pork picnic out of the fridge and put it in the sink (drain partially blocked) for 45 minutes with the cold water slowly poring over it.   Then I pull it out of the sink, rinse and dry it off, then inject and cover it with rub...  For the injection, I use mostly apple juice, a little apple cider, a little Worcester, and some but rub dry seasoning...  Mix it and inject it throughout the shoulder without taking the injector out of the original hole...  I find that if I remove the needle, the injected liquid squirts out, so I kee the needle in the hole for a few minutes before I remove it to reload the injector...

Then I cover the butt in regular mustard (not on the skin) and then put a heavy coating of butt rub.  I then put the but on a shelf at the top of the srg basket, and cook on high for 25 minutes with the top down with some pecan wood in the wood box..  Then I lowered the heat to low and cooked for another 30 minutes with lid down...   That's where the cook is right now, so I'll update after I pass that point of the cook, here are some pics of cook so far:



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[Daze823]

So I'm about 2 hours in to my cook, I've adjusted what I've done in the past, primarily because the pork shoulder was still frozen in the center (or at least still really cold due to one less day defrost than planned)...   To minimize extra cooking on the outside while the center heats up, I started spritzing with apple juice about 1 hr into the cook...  Then while surfing letstalkbbq, I saw a post about cooking a pork butt in ceramic cooker, he added a pan of water below the butt, so I just went out and added a pan of water.  This is what I'm looking like now, and it's at 120 f internal temp...  I'm also going to try wrapping it at 160 (which I've never done).

Still cooking on high with lid open

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[Daze823]

Ok, I just pulled the pork out at 160 IT, double wrapped it in aluminum foil (put a little bit of apple juice in the aluminum foil) and in the interest of making it as juicy as possible, I injected about 1/2 cup of apple juice into the pork.  I have it at 1/2 way to high with lid open..

I just want to note that when disturbing the pork (moving it to wrap) the skin kind of separated from the meat and a good amount of juices spilled out.  I am concerned because I am looking for some moist pork and I'm concerned that wrapping it may have caused more harm than good towards that goal.

[Daze823]

I just pulled the pork picnic from the SRG, and although it's wrapped, it sure felt about as tender as I could hope for (kind of like holding firm jello).  I wrapped it one more time in aluminum foil and a towel, and it's now sitting in a cooler for the next couple of hours.  I'll get some final pics when I pull it out. 

[TMB]

Let me get to a real computer Monday so I can see this thread.  I phone is to small for me to view

[Daze823]

Sry about the small pics, I need to get a photo account so I can link bigger pictures, but that will be another day...

I pulled the pork out and shredded it, it was very tender and juicy, maybe even a bit too juicy for my liking.  It seems that foiling the pork prevented some of the fat from cooking down and dripping away, it tastes really good, but I just prefer it a little leaner so it was more work to clean.  Also, there was very little bark, which I'm pretty sure was a by product of the foil and I really enjoy a good bark....  So all in all, it made some really tasty sandwiches, but I won't be foiling again.

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[Smokin Don]

Looks good Daze!!! Foiling does make for a soft bark. I prefer not foiling for more bark but usually I don't want to take the extra time. You just have to see how you like it best. Don

[TMB]

Looks really good from hear.  Infrared does not dry meat like a reg oven or grill/smoker so juicy is normal.

Reason I cook butts not shoulders is the pulling time and less waste.  I tried a shoulders one time and it was good but took forever to pull the meat and the waste  of weight was to much for what i paid for

[muebe]

Your picnic looks like it turned out real good! Nothing wrong with that. Now here are my two cents...

The best bark formation comes with much longer cooks. Low and slow. A butt or shoulder done at 225F for 12 hours is going to have a great bark. The SRG cooks at higher temps and infrared penetrates the meat to increase the speed of cooking. The outside does not get a chance to form a thick bark.

The pan of water is not needed for the SRG. The steam will also inhibit bark formation. Water pans are used in smokers at sub 300F to catch grease, create humidity, and even out temps. The SRG is not designed to use one and is not needed.

The shoulders have more concentrations of fat and tend to have a pronounced grain to them. This makes pulling a little difficult but they are still really good. Shoulders are better for slicing than pulling IMHO. And the skin makes for some great chicharrones.

[TMB]

Your picnic looks like it turned out real good! Nothing wrong with that. Now here are my two cents...

The best bark formation comes with much longer cooks. Low and slow. A butt or shoulder done at 225F for 12 hours is going to have a great bark. The SRG cooks at higher temps and infrared penetrates the meat to increase the speed of cooking. The outside does not get a chance to form a thick bark.

The pan of water is not needed for the SRG. The steam will also inhibit bark formation. Water pans are used in smokers at sub 300F to catch grease, create humidity, and even out temps. The SRG is not designed to use one and is not needed.

The shoulders have more concentrations of fat and tend to have a pronounced grain to them. This makes pulling a little difficult but they are still really good. Shoulders are better for slicing than pulling IMHO. And the skin makes for some great chicharrones.

I agree with muebe on everything but one point.   My butts that are cooked in the SRG have some of the best bark I have had bar none.  The water pan idea is good if you want to steam something.  I did a beer steamed chicken a few years back that was fantastic but the skin was not very good compared to a regular SRG bird.  Your shoulder looked real good like I said, but this is not smoking so there will be differences in the way a smoked butt/shoulder turns out vs. a infrared butt/shoulder.

[Daze823]

Thanks for the input, I appreciate any info I can get...  I likely won't be using the water pan again, but wanted to try it...  Anyway, the pork did come out good the day of the cook, but the reheats were outstanding, it was too moist for my liking the day of the cook, but it reheated perfectly which is great because I have a lot more to reheat.....

[akruckus]

Pork looked good to me.  Thanks for the details.  Like anything trial and error.. usually in most cases, the errors still put out good Q.  Looking forward to seeing more cooks.