In a recent email advertisement from Thermoworks Martin Earl presented an article about de-boning and butterflying a pork shoulder. He suggested he could turn a 12 hour cook into 4 -5 hour cook tender enough to shred into pulled pork. He also added the increased surface area created by this method increases smoke penetration as well a greater amount of bark. His complete article is available on the thermoworks.com website.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with or compensated by Thermoworks, PBC, Amazing Ribs or Martin Earl.
I tried this method yesterday on my PBC with a 6.2 lb shoulder and I reproduced his results. I removed the bone and butterflied the meat into 1 longer piece. I used the grill grate for the cook. My pit temperature was pretty steady at 260F. I seasoned with salt, pepper and AmazingRibs.com Memphis Dust rub. I used a combo of cherry wood and and a smaller hickory wood chunk. The thickest part of the port shoulder reached 160F in about 2 hours and I wrapped in foil with apple cider and the pork was at 203F in another 2 hours. I let it rest, still wrapped, in my oven @ 185F for a little over an hour. I started the cook @ 1:00 pm and we were sitting at the table @ 6:30 pm. It was a very good meal and we have (2) 1lb vacuum sealed portions in our freezer for another 2 dinners.
