Having the new Publix open close to my house with a killer selection of meats has put the smoker box into high gear. I’ve not been able to find portions of pork shoulder locally that didn’t require the use of a hand truck to get out to the truck and take home. Publix keeps a stock of 3-4 pounders that are perfect and don’t take a day of smoker-watching to complete. This weekend I got lazy and didn’t want to deal with putting the rub together so I bought a pre-made jar of McCormick Grill Mates Pork Rub and basically chunked the shoulder into a gallon zipper bag, poured half the contents of the rub into the bag, shook it around to get a good covering then tossed the whole mess into the refrigerator for 24 hours. I was pretty much out of everything, even down to half a bag of cherry wood chips so I tried the pre-mixed rub and I have to say, it was great. When I figure out the name of the product I’ll let you know!.
I put the shoulder into the smoker at around 9:30am Sunday morning and ran the box a little hotter than I’ve done before – I tried to keep it at a level 250 degrees for the entire smoke. By noon I had 30 Atomic Buffalo Turds wrapped and tossed into the smoker for their redemption as well. The other significant change I made in this cook was not wrapping the butt in aluminum foil for the last couple of hours. The end result was a perfectly cooked chunk of meat with a great seasoning bark on all sides. My only complaint was it needing just a tad more of a bite – I’ll add a tad of chipotle powder to the rub the next time I try this. The ABTs were ready around 3:30pm, the shoulder was where it needed to be at about 5. I let the internal temperature of the shoulder get up to 210 degrees which worried be but it turned out better than ever regardless.
The pulled pork was great as soon as it was served – my wife and I were too hungry to let it sit and thing about what it did to get into this predicament so as soon it the thing cooled enough to touch, we mauled it. There was just enough left after we had our feel to share a little and get a lunch out of the deal. I pulled a few handfuls to carry to work the next day and decided as I was bagging it to pour some Pappy’s XXX White Lightenin’ sauce into the baggy to keep the pork company through the cold night in the fridge. What came out the next day was nothing short of fantastic! I have to admit the Pappy’s sauce when being used as a dipping sauce or just poured on something, is a tad spicy even for my tastes. Given the chance however to sit and think while being poured all over its intended recipient, the flavor turned out perfect. I recommend this to anyone!
