Cooking a pork shoulder picnic roast

[Antonovich]

I'll be coming one today if the weather doesn't get too bad. It looks like roast is butterflied. I picked up two of them amd one has a fat cap on the top amd looks like a regular roast. The other is split with thick fat around the sides. So I have a couple questions...

Should I cut off the fat and skin?

How long does it usually take to cook per pound? The roast I'm doing is about 6lbs.

I don't have an injector. I don't really know about rubs and don't have too many spices in the cupboard. Paprika, cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper, red chilli flakes, and some herbs and Indian spices. What would be good to use as a rub?

Being in Atlantic Canada, I've never seen a premade rub in the grocery store.

[TMB]

I'll be coming one today if the weather doesn't get too bad. It looks like roast is butterflied. I picked up two of them amd one has a fat cap on the top amd looks like a regular roast. The other is split with thick fat around the sides. So I have a couple questions...

Should I cut off the fat and skin?

How long does it usually take to cook per pound? The roast I'm doing is about 6lbs.

I don't have an injector. I don't really know about rubs and don't have too many spices in the cupboard. Paprika, cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper, red chilli flakes, and some herbs and Indian spices. What would be good to use as a rub?

Being in Atlantic Canada, I've never seen a premade rub in the grocery store.

Well there are many ways to do this.   

First let talk about the butt.  I trim the fat cap to 1/4 in then score it like a ham cross ways so it will melt faster.   I would rub with mustard salt and pepper maybe add some pepper flakes or what you have that might work.  Just don't add sugar if you can help it sugar burns real fast in infrared,   so be careful.   I would go with 50/50 salt pepper then add what you want to spice it up.

Set temp to high to get you smoke rolling then add the butt  keep it on high setting for 15 mins more than turn to med low and let it ride till IT of 200 to 205 then pull out of basket foil then set in cooler for 2 hrs then your ready to pull apart

Now for the shoulder, I normally will not do shoulders because there is so much bone and skin that to me is a waste and butts give me more meat per $$$$$  than a shoulder

But here is how I did a shoulder.  I trim the fat and skin that I can score the skin and rub with mustard and rub cook the same way as a butt   

If you can post pictures of the meat it would help.

[Pam Gould]

I'm a simple cook..CYM (cheap yellow mustard) salt, pepper and lots of garlick. Cook the way Tommy says..you can't go wrong cooking to temp.   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[Antonovich]

I got some pics of the roast. It's still attached in the middle. I gotta run out so I'm gonna look for a rub or might pick up a couple extra spices.

I forgot to say I only have the regular big easy, not the SRG. Since I can't adjust the temperature, do you guys think it might be better to cook it slower in the oven? I'm a bit of a noob at this lol.

[TMB]

I got some pics of the roast. It's still attached in the middle. I gotta run out so I'm gonna look for a rub or might pick up a couple extra spices.

I forgot to say I only have the regular big easy, not the SRG. Since I can't adjust the temperature, do you guys think it might be better to cook it slower in the oven? I'm a bit of a noob at this lol.

That's a game changer for sure.    Shoulder I would not do in the Big Easy, but you can cheat the butt in the Big Easy.

 Here is how....        Treat the butt the same way as i mentioned before, but this time place the butt in the chamber then light it.  Since there is no wood chips you wont have smoke to worry about unless you have a 9 in cake ring (called the Tommy Ring here) if you get one place wood chips around the outside of the ring and start the unit 15 mins before placing the but in, this will get some smoke going.

Once that is done then place the basket with the butt in the chamber and let it go till there is a good bark starting to form YOU must watch or it can burn.  In about an hour or so with a bark started remove the butt,  foil it in two sheets (be careful not to tear the foil)  and place back in till IT of 195 or so remove and keep in foil and a cooler for 2 hrs  before pulling apart.

OR, you can cook in the Big Easy for the first part then finish in the oven.  This way you will have some good bark yet low and slow for the rest.    Hope I have not confused you, if so let me know where I messed up

I have done so much with these cookers I forget other are new and not sure what I'm talking about half the time      It's that or OLD  AGE 

[Antonovich]

I got some pics of the roast. It's still attached in the middle. I gotta run out so I'm gonna look for a rub or might pick up a couple extra spices.

I forgot to say I only have the regular big easy, not the SRG. Since I can't adjust the temperature, do you guys think it might be better to cook it slower in the oven? I'm a bit of a noob at this lol.

That's a game changer for sure.    Shoulder I would not do in the Big Easy, but you can cheat the butt in the Big Easy.

 Here is how....        Treat the butt the same way as i mentioned before, but this time place the butt in the chamber then light it.  Since there is no wood chips you wont have smoke to worry about unless you have a 9 in cake ring (called the Tommy Ring here) if you get one place wood chips around the outside of the ring and start the unit 15 mins before placing the but in, this will get some smoke going.

Once that is done then place the basket with the butt in the chamber and let it go till there is a good bark starting to form YOU must watch or it can burn.  In about an hour or so with a bark started remove the butt,  foil it in two sheets (be careful not to tear the foil)  and place back in till IT of 195 or so remove and keep in foil and a cooler for 2 hrs  before pulling apart.

OR, you can cook in the Big Easy for the first part then finish in the oven.  This way you will have some good bark yet low and slow for the rest.    Hope I have not confused you, if so let me know where I messed up

I have done so much with these cookers I forget other are new and not sure what I'm talking about half the time      It's that or OLD  AGE 

Thanks for the advice!

I won't have time to cook it in the oven now so I might go pick up some roasting chickens. if I did the shoulder in the big easy do you have an idea of what I should expect for the finished product?

If i end up doing chickens, I see some people do one on the bottom and one on the middle rack, and some stood up on top of eachother, but I'm not sure how that's done. Is there a best way to cook to chickens in TBE?

[TMB]

Thanks for the advice!

I won't have time to cook it in the oven now so I might go pick up some roasting chickens. if I did the shoulder in the big easy do you have an idea of what I should expect for the finished product?

If i end up doing chickens, I see some people do one on the bottom and one on the middle rack, and some stood up on top of eachother, but I'm not sure how that's done. Is there a best way to cook to chickens in TBE?
[/quote]Shoulder not sure because of the skin

As for chickens, if you want to do two of them I suggest you get the half racks so you can place one on the bottom and one on the half rack about half way or so.  The bird on top will finish before the lower one but there should be only 20 mins + difference in time.  If you get a Tommy Ring (as mentioned above in my last post) you will have a better finish time on both since it will raise the basket up out of the dead zone that these cookers have.   

[TentHunteR]

I don't want this to seem like I'm contradicting Tommy.  He is DEFINITELY our resident expert on Big Easy/SRG's.  I just want to clarify and add some info on a Boston Butt versus a Picnic Cut (a.k.a. picnic shoulder, or Picnic Ham).

Antonovich, if what you pictured is what you're calling the "regular roast," then that is a Picnic cut , not a Butt.  Much of the shank was cut off making it a little harder to tell.

However, don't worry about that!  Butts & Picnics are BOTH part of the whole shoulder (front leg).
The butt is simply the upper half and the picnic is the lower (shank) half.


I cook them side by side often with equally good results.  Just trim the skin off and follow Tommy's instructions for cooking a butt, and you will be fine!

[Antonovich]

So i ended up doing the shoulder in the big easy a few nights later. took about 3 hours. the meat thermometer that came with TBE goes up to 175 so I pulled it at what looked like 195, then wrapped it in foil for maybe an hour. It turned out well...not tender enough for pulled pork, but more like a regular pork roast. was really flavourful. just rubbed it with salt, pepper, and paprika. I cut it in half so it would fit better.

I have one more in the freezer and and found a guide to cook it in the oven for 10 hours so I might try that next time or maybe smoke it on my kettle grill, but i'm not sure if i have the skills for that yet lol. Not sure what to compare it to since i've never cooked this type of cut, but the two ladies that were over said it was really good. Kept the lid on the whole time cause it was around 2C (36F) outside.