Huge Smoked Pork Shoulder
Prep
30m
Cook
720m
Total
750m
Bigly says
Listen to me. Pork shoulder. We're doing pork shoulder. The biggest, the most tremendous, the HUGEST pork shoulder you have ever pulled apart with two forks like a barbarian in a parking lot at midnight. I've eaten this in every state. Twice. I've eaten it standing next to pitmasters in Texas with calloused hands and sad eyes who look at me, nod once, and say, 'You get it.' I get it. I have always gotten it. I was BORN getting it.
Now the so-called experts — and I'm not going to name them, they know who they are, they're already crying into their lukewarm pulled pork — they'll tell you to smoke this thing for four hours. FOUR HOURS. That's not barbecue, that's a SAD AFTERNOON. That's a man who gave up. Real barbecue takes twelve hours. Fourteen. Sometimes sixteen if the wind is wrong and the bark is being moody. You don't rush a pork shoulder. The pork shoulder rushes YOU. Many people don't know this. Many people.
And the bark — oh, the bark — the bark on this thing is going to be CRIMINAL. Black. Glossy. Crackling. I had a guy with a PhD explain bark chemistry to me once. Took him 90 minutes. Worth it. The Maillard reaction, the rendered fat, the rub crystallizing into a shell — it's a masterclass in physics, and we're doing it in a backyard with a thermometer and a cold drink. At a cookout last summer a grown man with a beard saw my bark and said, 'I have wasted my life,' and walked into a lake. True story. Or close enough. The point is: this is THE pork shoulder. End of discussion.
Ingredients
- 8-10 lbbone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt)(bone-in, not boneless, the bone is the flavor)
- 1/4 cupyellow mustard(binder only, you will not taste it)
- 1/2 cupbrown sugar
- 1/4 cupkosher salt
- 3 tbspsmoked paprika
- 2 tbspblack pepper, coarse ground
- 2 tbspgarlic powder
- 1 tbsponion powder
- 1 tbspground cumin
- 1 tspcayenne pepper
- 1 cupapple juice (for spritz)
- 1/2 cupapple cider vinegar (for spritz)
- as neededhickory or apple wood chunks
Steps
- 1
Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels. Trim the fat cap down to about 1/4 inch — leave some, you want it, but a half-inch slab won't render in time.
- 2
Slather the entire shoulder with yellow mustard. This is just a binder for the rub — you will not taste it in the finished pork.
- 3
Mix brown sugar, salt, paprika, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and cayenne in a bowl. Press the rub firmly onto every surface of the shoulder, including the bottom and sides.
- 4
Let the rubbed shoulder rest uncovered in the fridge at least 2 hours, ideally overnight. The salt needs time to do its work.
- 5
Set up your smoker for 225 degrees F with hickory or apple wood. If using a kettle grill, set up a two-zone fire and add wood chunks to the coals.
- 6
Place the shoulder fat-side up on the grate. Close the lid and walk away. Resist opening it.
- 7
After 3 hours, begin spritzing the shoulder every hour with the apple juice and vinegar mixture. This keeps the bark moist and helps with color.
- 8
Smoke until the internal temperature hits 165 degrees F (about 6-7 hours). The bark should be deep mahogany-black and firm to the touch.
- 9
Wrap the shoulder tightly in pink butcher paper (or two layers of foil). Return to the smoker and cook until internal temp hits 203 degrees F and a probe slides in like warm butter — usually another 4-5 hours.
- 10
Rest the wrapped shoulder in a dry cooler for at least 1 hour, up to 4. Do not skip this. The rest is when it becomes magic.
- 11
Unwrap, pull out the bone (it should slide clean), and shred the meat with two forks or claws. Mix the bark back through. Serve on buns with slaw, or on a plate with pickles, or with a fork standing over the cutting board pretending nobody's watching.
One more thing
Twelve hours. Twelve full hours, and worth every single minute of it. While the so-called shortcut chefs are pushing thirty-minute Instant Pot pulled pork — a CRIME, an absolute crime, a disgrace to pork shoulder everywhere — you are out in the yard with a cold drink and a thermometer becoming the kind of person neighbors talk about. Quietly. Reverently. 'Did you see what Bigly did with that shoulder.' Yes. They saw. They will not forget. Save me a piece.
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