Stampede Memorial Day Cook Advice

[BBQ-Pitz]

Just picked up my 590 yesterday and put it all together. Everything went as planned and I did the initial burn in as directed. No issues at all thanks to the help of this forum. Ran out of time to do my first cook last night so tonight we'll be enjoying chicken thighs.

Thinking ahead to the weekend, we've got about 10 friends coming over for a cookout. the menu consists of:

Pulled Pork

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Smoked Mac and Cheese

Home made corn bread plus whatever everyone else brings.

Picked up a Pork shoulder from Costco yesterday thinking it was a two pack but now I think its just one large hunk of pork at 13.5 lbs. My initial plan was to eat around 5 ish on Saturday depending on how the cook goes. Wanted to pull the pork off around noonish, wrap and hold in cooler for about 4 hours. When I was thinking these were two pieces, I had planned to start them at 10:00 on Friday night but heck, now I have no idea. The Pork belly burnt ends should take about 4 hours so those would go on right after i pulled the shoulder off, not overly concerned about this cook time.

Not a complete newb to smoking and totally realize we cook to temp, not time but this one has me questioning my timing. On the WSM, I would probably be within about an hour of my time frames but not having cooked this long on the Rec Teq, I'm a bit skeered!

Your expertise is needed here friends...share away!

 

[ndfan6464]

With 13 lbs I would still start at 10pm heck even 9pm on Friday. I've had butts that size take well past 24hrs and into 27,28 hrs. Then hour to rest...
I don't shred until it's time to eat.. I know some shred and go..
Even if you have to reheat it a bit, pork is forgiving and easy to reheat. Your guest will never know...

 

[jfrosty27]

If it is in fact one big piece, cut it in half or even thirds. No reason you can't. Plus it will cook faster and there will be more surface area for bark formation. I do it all the time.

 

[BBQ-Pitz]

If it is in fact one big piece, cut it in half or even thirds. No reason you can't. Plus it will cook faster and there will be more surface area for bark formation. I do it all the time.

Good call. Was thinking about cutting in half but I like the thirds idea better for more bark. How much do you think that would cut down on the cook time?

 

[orangebiker]

I'd start it at 5 or 6. It wont hurt to store in a cooler when done, and will greatly reduce your stress as it gets closer to serving time.
I picked up a Costco shoulder too. Its 15.2#! I'm planning on serving at 3 Sunday, and will put it on the smoker before heading to my kid's rugby match at 10 Saturday morning. I expect it to be ready by noon, but I have no problem letting it Cadillac in a cooler for a couple hours before serving. The 6 racks of ribs will all be Sunday morning cooks.

 

[opus]

Good call. Was thinking about cutting in half but I like the thirds idea better for more bark. How much do you think that would cut down on the cook time?

Have you confirmed it is 1 piece? Our Costco only has the name brand packs and they are always 2 and boneless ( I prefer bone in). I've only seen pork butts once that was in actual Costco packaging.

I'm headed to Costco tomorrow morning to see what they have. I rarely plan what I'm cooking, I go and see what they have and that usually dictates what I cook. I may go with a wagyu brisket if the prices are still good on them. I did see our Tom Thumb advertising brisket for $1.67/lb. May get one to just try at that price. I was hoping for the 99 cents/lb pork butts but they didn't put them on sale.