First Pulled Pork on UDS

[somapop]

Hi folks.
Trialled my UDS over the past couple of weeks and it's been working like a charm

I've picked up a pork shoulder last night (approx 2kg) and want to cook it for this evenings family meal.
I'm going to place the rub on shortly (homemade - hold back on the salt?) then fire the UDS up.
Just had a good rummage from lots of threads on here, but not sure whether I should cook at around 320f (rather than 225-250f) given time constraints.
Aiming to eat around 6-7pm tonight and will be out for most of the afternoon (the UDS has been really stable).

Given it's 2kg and cooking at 300-320f, is there a rough time per weight guide at this heat? Not too concerned about the bark on this first pork cook so perhaps I'll consider foiling it when we get back later this afternoon (in case the internal temp has stalled). Aiming for the 200f internal - tend to use Celsius on the thermapen so around 85f internal sound about right?
Rough guess at around 6-7 hours for 2kg at 300-320f?

Many thanks folks!!

...now off to start the rub...

[Tyrone1Wils]

Enjoy your cook today!

If you want the food to be ready for 6-7 then I would definitely cook at the higher temps mentioned and wrap when you get to around 165F/74C. then let it chug along to to 195-210F/90-98C. But don't rely on the final temp, the pork will be done when it probes like a hot knife through butter, you will know the feeling when you hit the sweet spot.

If it finished early you can rest it and wrap it in towels to keep it warm.

In regards to the timings I can't help as I never time my cooks just cook it till its done and eat it when its done.

Im cooking a 2.5KG pork shoulder today also. Great Minds.

Good luck!

[somapop]

Cheers.
I'm away from home this afternoon so it's flying solo for the first time, but was happily sat on 310f for a good 90 mins before I left.
What's it doing when I return in a couple of hours is in the lap of the BBQ gods!

Good luck with your cook

[Tyrone1Wils]

My shoulder is off an resting, UDS sat at 240F all day. Wasn't in a rush so left it slow.

Man I love these drums. I will put up a thread with pics later!

Hope your cook went well.

[somapop]

Got back around 7:00pm - UDS cranked up around 11:30 meat on at around 12:00pm (took around 30 mins to get to 320f).
Smoker had dropped to 250f (that's the grill thermo/my temps rather than a truthful temperature - I need to find out how much it's out by). So, 7 hours unaided and not dropping much (is it feasible the wood raises the temperature to begin with?) is pretty remarkable (I can trust this on it's own...such a moment )

Ended up with the meat's internal temp (using thermapen) around 94 (I foiled for the last hour as wanted to eat at the latest at 9.o'clock...family starting to tap watches!). Thermapen eased into meat very easily (fifty shades territory here...sorry folks) so considered it pretty done.
When I un foiled an hour later to pull, fork met with a bit of resistance (turning it 90 degrees) so not sure if I could take this a little further...hard to tell really, might've been the cut/quality of meat (Morrisons butchers section) or perhaps I wasn't cooking as high as I could (not sure how long it was cooking at 250f).

Still...turned out fantastic. First time really, so couple of amendment it will get better.

Made a sauce (paprika, brown sugar, salt, pepper, maple syrup, honey, ketchup and italian dressing) as I felt it the meal in general needed a bit of it (just had it with bread & salad...nothing too fancy).

Will post a pic

Cheers!

[YetiDave]

Congrats on your first pulled pork it does always need a finishing sauce. I'm a bit partial to a mix of reduced down cherry coke, ketchup, brown sugar and cider vinegar with a little S&P thrown in (or Simply Marvelous Cherry )

[somapop]

Congrats on your first pulled pork it does always need a finishing sauce. I'm a bit partial to a mix of reduced down cherry coke, ketchup, brown sugar and cider vinegar with a little S&P thrown in (or Simply Marvelous Cherry )

That makes me feel better...thought it should stand purely on it's own merit - it did somewhat but definitely required something with it. I'll try your recipe too.
In the past when I've had hog roasts, a dash of sage/apple/sausage (etc) stuffing always goes down a treat - tried that?
Something I'll do next time. Picked up some loins that were on offer the other day so will try that next (found a decent recipe on the amazing ribs site.

Everyone loved it though which is always a bonus

Cheers.

[somapop]

My shoulder is off an resting, UDS sat at 240F all day. Wasn't in a rush so left it slow.

Man I love these drums. I will put up a thread with pics later!

Hope your cook went well.

Looking forward to those pics!

[YetiDave]

Nah, that's why you can afford to be heavy handed with the rub - really you're only getting a small amount of seasoning on there when you consider the size of the cut, so it helps to have really flavourful bits of bark mixed in with the unseasoned bits in the middle. I'm sure the traditional fare of stuffing and apple sauce work work really well

I'd be tempted to cure the loin and smoke it up for sandwiches, but that's just me!

[somapop]

Nah, that's why you can afford to be heavy handed with the rub - really you're only getting a small amount of seasoning on there when you consider the size of the cut, so it helps to have really flavourful bits of bark mixed in with the unseasoned bits in the middle. I'm sure the traditional fare of stuffing and apple sauce work work really well

I'd be tempted to cure the loin and smoke it up for sandwiches, but that's just me!

Cure...as in? Like the sound of it so I'm all ears.
Was planning on rolling on an apple based stuffing then smoking for a couple of hours.

Wasn't sure whether the stuffing was frowned upon in the BBQ smoking world (like a bit of a cheat for poor pork)!
Cheers.