A step-by-step guide to making sous vide barbecue pork shoulder, finished in an oven or smoker, complete with a smoky flavor and flavorful bark. I like a good slow-smoked, true barbecue pork shoulder just as much as the next guy, even with all of the babysitting read: beer-drinking that smoking one the traditional way requires.
In fact, I probably like the process way more than the next guy. Still, there are times when we want things a little more streamlined, a little more hands-off, a little more reliable. Whether it's because we're getting ready for a big party and don't want to risk screwing up that pork, or because we're busy weekday workers who still want to be able to come home and pull off a batch of pulled pork before bedtime, sous vide is a great option.
Using a sous vide cooker allows you to achieve textures you can't get with traditional cooking methods. Who knowsβwe may even want to cook sous vide pulled pork just because we have sous vide cookers and we must play with them. I know the feeling. The appeal of sous vide cooking seems obvious for achieving tender results with fast-cooking foods like steak and chicken breasts. But why would you want to use sous vide cooking for meats like pork shoulder or ribs, which require less precise temperatures and are far more forgiving of accidental overcooking?
There are a few reasons. First, it's convenient. Whether you're slow-roasting pork in the oven or on the grill, babysitting a hunk of meat for half a day is a commitment. I'm willing to make that commitment a few times a year so long as I've got beer and friends on hand, but it's not ideal for a weeknight meal.
Sous vide, on the other hand, is a set-it-and-forget-it affair for the bulk of the cooking. I go about my day or two days, as the case may be with the circulator quietly heating away in the corner of the kitchen, slowly tenderizing that tough cut of meat until it's ready to be finished and served. Second, sous vide allows you to get textures that are impossible to achieve using traditional cooking methods.
