Smoked Pork Shoulder

Ian Kloo | May 1, 2020, 3:21 p.m.

Not much to this one - low and slow smoke for a pork shoulder.

Ingredients

  • Pork shoulder (Boston butt or picnic roast works).  Get the best quality you can - this makes a big difference.  If you have a butcher who gets whole pigs, tell them what you're doing and they'll hook you up.
  • Course sea salt (a lot)
  • Group pepper (a lot)

Directions

  1. Get the shoulder out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature
  2. Cut the skin off if you're not going to eat it - this gives you more area for bark to form (which is the best part)
  3. Preheat your smoker (I use a GMG pellet smoker) to 225
  4. Coat the shoulder in salt and pepper.  Really coat it - more than you think.  Leave for ~10 minutes while the smoker heats up.
  5. Place the shoulder fat side up on the smoker 
  6. Smoke until the pork hits 200 internal temp.  It is "safe" at 145, but it won't shred at this temp.
    1. Pro tip: throw in a leave-in meat thermometer to keep track of things.  You can't really smoke by time alone since the environment is always different.
  7. Total time depends on the size of the shoulder.  Plan for anywhere between 12-20 hours!