Haven’t posted in a while, so I thought this would be a good occasion to add one.  While I was at Safeway last night, I noticed that they had Pork Shoulder on one of their “Extreme” sales.  We enjoy grilling and we can burn a good steak or burger.  We’ve wanted to try more traditional BBQing, but life complications and finances have just been more of a priority.  But we figure we can experiment cheaply with this and if it fails, we’ve got hamburger in the freezer.

Rubbed Pork Shoulder

The Meat:  4.56lb Pork Shoulder

We’ve watched enough Food Network and Cooking Channel shows to give us a false sense that we can actually pull this off.  I checked recipes online (Since I ALWAYS believe everything I see on the Internet) and found a couple of basic recipes for Lexington style BBQ.  I made up the rub this morning and covered the shoulder.  I let it sit for about 1 1/2 hours before putting it on the grill.  I also prepared the Dip for later.

It took a bit of fidgeting to dial in the temperature but we were able to get it to stay steady at 215 degrees.  Perfect.  At 215 degrees, it should take about 6 3/4 to 7 hours to cook.  We put it on just before Noon, so we’re looking at about 7:30 or so for dinner.  Knock on Wood.  I talked with Derek who is very experienced in cooking BBQ.  He said my temp and time estimate is about right.  He recommended only changing the Smoke packets about every hour instead of every half  hour and to put a water pan in the grill also.

2:45PM:
Here we are at the last Smoke Package change.  Only four more hours to go.

4:PM:

Mopped some Dip onto the Pork. It’s looking and smelling really good. I don’t think this BBQ Experiment will be a Fail. Knock on Wood.

5:30PM:

When Peggy went to mop and check the temperature, she found that I accidentally turned off the burner when I was out at 4:PM.  Dang!  She got it back up and going at temp again.  but we’re going to have to extend the time out to make up for the down time.  We’re looking at 8:PM-8:30PM now.

8:30PM:

Dang-Nub-It. Grill Thermometer is officially a “piece of crap.” Talking with Derek, our BBQ expert, ALL Grill Thermometers are a piece of crap. Not good for “low and slow.” It looks like we were probably at too low a temp most of the day. We’re finishing it off in the oven where we can control the temp a bit more acurately. Derek is going to come down Sunday with his thermometer and we’ll see how far the grill is off.