British BBQ Society Forums

Hi
As the title says I'm from London and have just got a 47cm wsm.
Had a little burn on it yesterday morning to see how it behaves and learnt a bit so tomorrow a whole 1.8kg chicken and a small 2lb pork shoulder, could anyone give me an idea on cooking times for these two bits, I was thinking around 4hrs at 225f
Thanks ,
ddc

Welcome to the forum, and sorry you haven't had a reply yet! You can go for 4 hours without lifting the lid, check the internal temp to see if its done, I tend to cook at 250 rather that 225. With this style of cooking I am afraid its a case of its done when its done.

Thanks Toby, in the end the chicken took 4 hours but the shoulder nearer 5 hours I managed to get the pork to an internal temperature of 190f and my wsm was running at 250f. Although the pork was nice it wouldn't pull what causes this to happen?

Pork needs to be cooked to an internal temp of about 200-205f for it to pull. I did the same on my first pork shoulder, I was impatient and didn't think 10f would make much of a difference, turns out it does! Patience! Welcome to the forum btw!!

Thanks mr Jaba, I thought it pulled at 190f so I will try again at 200-205.

If you cut a large joint in half it will cook quicker but do you pay a price for?

Welcome to the forum. Buy from your butchers a neck end pork shoulder with the rib bone taken off. That is what I normally cook. There is a blade bone inside and when you can cleanly pull that out easily, it's done. There are so many videos on BBQ on Utube. Here's one for pork shoulder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er59tnrZvWg
It's only 8 1/2 minutes long but the reason why I have chosen the pit boys for you to watch as they have over 200 recipes on utube.
If you are anywere near smithfields? You can get a good deal on one.

Enjoy

Eddie

Thanks Eddie, now that has confused me as mr jaba is saying an internal temperature of 200/205 but on that vid he said 165/170

ddc2013 wrote:Thanks Eddie, now that has confused me as mr jaba is saying an internal temperature of 200/205 but on that vid he said 165/170

What works for one might not work for anouther, there is no fix rule of what you do. I cook mine to 195F. Some like it to be a pull and others like it to be dropping off the bone as you pick it up. This is one of my fav vids of Pulled pork of when the BBBQS went to Oklahoma Joes in KC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBnmw7-YuTk don’t worry this is only 56 sec's

Happy watching

Eddie

From what I've read due to the way they breed & rear pork in the US the animals are bigger, and generally have more connective tissue which means easier pulling. I've always taken my smaller joints to 200-205 and used the wiggle test on the blade bone so it's moving, then remove, foil, rest then try Eddie's test, then pull the bone out, pull the pork, moisten/sauce then feast........
Good pulled pork (IMHO) should leave a deliciously unctuous feeling in the mouth slightly sticky but delicious, which is why it goes so well with a good slaw.

Welcome aboard.
I also cook mine to an internal of 200-205F. I am one of the "drop off the bone" group.
As to cutting a large joint in half, I have never had any issues, in fact you get more bark, which cant be a bad thing.
Derek..