Not only did we embark on a pork-a-palooza of sorts, we did it with top-quality products. Our pork butt for March is from Pederson Farms, which is known for its fantastic pork products. For starters, if you are going to entertain your guests with pork, then a top-notch butt should always be on your radar.
Once finished, you can use the pulled pork for sandwiches, tacos, bowls, burritos, soups or even breakfast. And although it takes some time, cooking a pork shoulder is simple to do. Once you have opened your pork butt and drained off the excess juices, pat it dry with some paper towels. There has been much debate among BBQ communities about whether it is viable or necessary to inject your shoulder before cooking. I fall on team injection, as I feel it really makes for a moist and juicy final product.
For my injection, I use a combination of apple juice, water, white sugar, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Let the salt and sugar sit for a minute to begin to dissolve, and then whisk the solution until it is well mixed and the solids are incorporated.
Once the solution is complete, use a meat injector you can find these on Amazon to inject the brine into the shoulder. You will see some that will leach out during the process, but there is plenty that is staying put and will help the meat stay juicy as the shoulder smokes. On to seasoning. Just as there has been plenty of controversy on the injecting aspect of the shoulder cook, there is also a nice debate about using a binder. What is a binder, you might ask? Well, some pitmasters will use a condiment of some kind to wet the meat so the seasoning will adhere to build bark during the cook.
To be honest, I am kind of indifferent when it comes to using a binder, but for this cook I did use some good old trusty yellow mustard. For this cook, I used my Traeger Pro and set the temperature to degrees. At this temperature, the process took right at about nine hours. I chose oak pellets for the shoulder, as that is more traditional Texas flavor, but you could certainly use Apple or Cherry wood pellets, as well.
