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Does anyone have any tips for cooking a pork shoulder(picnic) on a Traeger? I tried it last weekend, smoked it for 5 hours and then turned it up to medium high and cooked it for a hour. It tasted great it just did not pull apart at all, I had to chop it up. any ideas? should I smoke it longer? I am new to using a Traeger.
i've never cooked on a Traeger, but it sounds like you rushed it
the nice thing about pulled pork is that it's very, very forgiving ... the downside is that it takes forever
I use a water regulated charcoal smoker (weber smokey mountain) and a double pork shoulder found in one of the costco cyropacks usually takes over a day to cook .... i usually peg my smoker to 220-230
looks like they have success getting it up to initial temp at medium, adding smoke and then finishing over medium
i don't think pork can really absorb smoke at much over 130 degrees internal, so you'd probably be safe to kick it up after that
the reason why the pork falls apart is because all the connective tissues are broken down while being cooked "low and slow"
the low temparatures provide a good environment and as the fat and connective tissue breaks down it bastes the meat - so everything stays moist
if you are worried about moisture then prepare a mop or injection
if you need to cheat some time off a foil wrap towards the end can help get temps up a little faster (although you'll also cheat some of the process and maybe need to pick out some fat)
i'm guessing with a single picnic, trimmed a little bit you're looking at about a 6-7 lb cut of meat and close to 8-10 hrs on the smoker at your heat
that's a guess though
if you haven't already invest in a good probe thermometer - try to get the pork to 190 .... you'll notice that it gets stuck around 160-170, that's the magic area where all the fat is rendering
i've never cooked on a Traeger, but it sounds like you rushed it
the nice thing about pulled pork is that it's very, very forgiving ... the downside is that it takes forever
I use a water regulated charcoal smoker (weber smokey mountain) and a double pork shoulder found in one of the costco cyropacks usually takes over a day to cook .... i usually peg my smoker to 220-230
looks like they have success getting it up to initial temp at medium, adding smoke and then finishing over medium
i don't think pork can really absorb smoke at much over 130 degrees internal, so you'd probably be safe to kick it up after that
the reason why the pork falls apart is because all the connective tissues are broken down while being cooked "low and slow"
the low temparatures provide a good environment and as the fat and connective tissue breaks down it bastes the meat - so everything stays moist
if you are worried about moisture then prepare a mop or injection
if you need to cheat some time off a foil wrap towards the end can help get temps up a little faster (although you'll also cheat some of the process and maybe need to pick out some fat)
i'm guessing with a single picnic, trimmed a little bit you're looking at about a 6-7 lb cut of meat and close to 8-10 hrs on the smoker at your heat
that's a guess though
if you haven't already invest in a good probe thermometer - try to get the pork to 190 .... you'll notice that it gets stuck around 160-170, that's the magic area where all the fat is rendering
no problem - i'm still fairly new at the BBQ game myself and have scoured for all the resources I can find
i've never used (or tasted meat from) the traeger, but i've heard good things and i'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with your new toy
i had all the inlaws in town this past thanksgiving and was able to prepare lots of really good tasting BBQ - even have some pulled pork left over in the freezer
the main thing with bbq is patience
there are those who have a lot of success with high heat cooks on some cuts, but I tend to just keep it low .... also really like mixing up rubs, mops, etc
i need some work on my sauce making though .... the meats turn out great, sauces average at best
I am thinking about getting up at 4:30 am to start it so it can be ready by dinner time. I love the Treager, everything tast so good off of it. I am gonna rub the shoulder in seasonings and then yellow mustard, should be real good.
Does anyone have any tips for cooking a pork shoulder(picnic) on a Traeger? I tried it last weekend, smoked it for 5 hours and then turned it up to medium high and cooked it for a hour. It tasted great it just did not pull apart at all, I had to chop it up. any ideas? should I smoke it longer? I am new to using a Traeger.
In time you'll catch on to using that new Treager. I have one of the larger Treager's and I love it. I record time & temp on everything I cook at 15 minute intervals. You got in a hurry and took the pork out too soon. One thing you might do is get a thermometer with the remote probe on it so you can watch the temp from outside your cooker. I always start my cooker on high and let it get up to around 500 before I put the meat in, then I adjust the temp up and down and use the smoke setting depending on what meat and pellets I'm using. These grill do roasts and big meat better than anything else I've ever used. They are not all that good for steaks or anything that cooks in just a few minutes. A smoked Turkey on a Treager is great too.
I strongly recommend you join a bbq forum as many members actively compete in compeitions. Some of the things I'm going to say people may dispute, but most likely they've never had direct experience with the methods.
Like so many thing, everyone has methods...Lots of pro's use MOST of the the methods I'm about to preach...
I'll offer a "best odds" method...Inject the pork butt with 50/50 apple cider (or juice) and worcester sauce the night before. Put on a rub.
Put the cold butt into a cold smoker...This is because as the temps rise, the meat is progressively "accepting" less smoke...Lower the temps the more smoke it'll accept. Smoke until internal temp 165, remove butt to wrap in foil and place back on smoker until internal is 200f. Remove foiled butt, open the top of the foil (at least a 6" opening) and put the whole thing in the cooler for at least 3 hours. Pull and enjoy...
As far as actually temps go, pro's have won comps going "hot and fast" or smoking at 325f with an internal above 215f. The "rest" in the cooler will assist in rendering the fat and is effort free vs tending your fire. I do 275f from start to finish.
As far as baste/mop, old rule of thumb. Science has shown it does not magically "get absorbed" into the meat and keep it moist. What it does do is flavor the top 1/4" of the meat and slightly hinder the tempature of the meat. A treager has some thick steel, constant mopping will slow down the cooking process. There's a say that if you're looking you're not cooking.
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Pulled pork on a Treager
