As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Following David’s 10 steps to succulent smoked BBQ pork picnic shoulder will result in perfectly cooked meat that’s tender, moist, and juicy.
Today I am sharing David’s 10 steps to succulent smoked pork picnic shoulder. You will have perfectly cooked meat that’s tender, moist, and juicy by following these steps.
David loves to hunt, and David loves to fish, but he loves to grill more than any other hobby. And when I say he loves to grill, THE MAN LOVES TO GRILL! So it isn’t that he wants to grill; the man has to grill!
With his excellent cooking skills, top-notch charcoal grills, this grill master knows how to make your mouth water with his creations, but this man’s joy is in the process. It’s therapeutic for him to go outside and manage a grill all day. It doesn’t matter if it is 40 degrees or 90 degrees; he’s going to get out and grill.
From smoky ribs at home and whole roasted pigs at his family reunion to delicate homemade pizzas, this man at the grill takes a lot of pride in it all, and I think he deserved that new smoker he bought a few weeks ago.
BEHOLD: Introducing David’s brand NEW 18″ Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker!!
All week before he purchased his new smoker, I toyed around with ordering one for him. He kept talking about getting a new smoker, and I painfully watched him toy around with the display model of a cheap smoker. Finally, I told him he could not purchase some “crap smoker” and that he needed to wait for Christmas or his birthday to get a “good one.” It is all I have heard for months. I was on the verge of buying him one to shut him up when low and behold, good ole Wally-World put one on clearance.
Folks THAT NEVER HAPPENS with Weber Grilling products. Their prices are pretty much locked into the grid. Never on sale and always within a couple of dollars the same price. The day he bought this, the store had marked it down $100 OFF! DEAL!
He immediately went back to the front of the store to get a cart to put that bad boy in. If he hadn’t loaded it up, I would have! I’m so glad I didn’t order one.
WHAT A DEAL!!!
Before breaking in his new smoker, David had to have a place to put it. It won’t fit on our deck along with the Performer, and I refused to let him sit it in the dirt. I talked him into making a small pad for him to set it on, a pedestal… A THRONE!
Just as I would not let him sit this new smoker on the ground, he would not christen his new smoker with anything else but pork. So a pork picnic would adorn this new smoker.
Juicy pork with hours of slow smoke smoked pork picnic is a hell of a time investment but well worth the wait.
What is Pork Picnic Shoulder?
There are two large pork roasts within the shoulder of a pig.
- Boston Butt (Pork butt): The upper part of the shoulder, which is meatier with less bone.
- Picnic Shoulder: The lower part of the shoulder, which is the foreleg of the pig. Just above the hock. This portion has a large bone in the center with less meat.
Pork picnic is an inexpensive substitute for a ham, which comes from the back leg. It can be smoked or roasted in the oven. It is a relatively tough, fatty piece of meat, often sold bone-in, so it is best for long, low, and slow cooking methods. And when done properly, it will practically fall apart when you try to pull it from the smoker.
David’s 10 Steps to Succulent Smoked BBQ Pork Picnic Shoulder
What’s Needed:
- 1 pork picnic shoulder (about 5-9 a pound roast)
- Water Smoker or Charcoal Grill – Sorry folks, gas grills cannot produce a properly smoked picnic shoulder
- A bag of Hickory Wood Chunks, soaked in water
- Grilling gloves
- Charcoal
- Charcoal chimney
- Water
- Tongs
- Meat Thermometer
- Injector
- Heavy-Duty Aluminum Foil
Pork Rub:
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon each: paprika, fresh cracked black pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
BBQ Sauce of your choice – ours is kind of secret… made of butter, ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sugar, salt pepper, and chipotle peppers. We also have another recipe if you are interested. You can find it HERE.
#1 Prep the pork
Pork picnic is a hunk of meat that is laced with flavorful fat and connective tissue. Start with a picnic shoulder in the 5-pound range, which is just the right size to fit any smoker or grill. Next, trim the pork to leave at least a ¼-inch cap of fat. (Any less and the pork will dry out; any more, and the fat will prevent the rub from seasoning the meat.)
Rinse the meat under cold running water and blot dry with paper towels. Combine all the ingredients for the rub in a small bowl (make sure to work out any clumps from the brown sugar for even distribution) and stir to mix. Rub onto the meat on all sides.
If you have time, wrap the picnic shoulder in plastic wrap and let it cure in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight. Smoking the meat right away is ok, but sitting in the refrigerator for several hours allows the rub to penetrate the meat.
#2 Prep the Smoker or Grill
Smoking is a form of indirect cooking and usually takes place over a period of hours over low temperatures. Set up your smoker for what is called the burn-down method. To do this, fill the charcoal bed with unlit coals and add only a few lit coals to the very top. The coals on top slowly light the ones underneath and burn down slowly over time. If using a charcoal grill, set it up for an indirect heat technique with a drip pan with water directly underneath the meat to stabilize the temperature.
Soak a few handfuls of hickory wood chunks for about 30 minutes in warm water before placing them atop the coals.
Preheat the grill from 225 to 250 degrees F. To maintain this low temperature, use only half as much charcoal as usual. (A half chimney-full.)
#3 Smoking the pork
When the smoker or grill is the ideal temperature range, you are ready to smoke, place the picnic shoulder onto the hot grate over the drip pan, fat side up, toss a hand full of the soaked wood chunks and some dry wood chunks onto the coals and cover the grill.
David likes to use a combination of dry and wet wood chunks, alternating between the two. The dry gives a quick, intense smoke and brings the heat up. The wet wood chunks provide a lower, slower smoke and bring the heat down. Heat adjustments can be made using this technique.
Bring the temperature up to 225 degrees F, using the vents to regulate the temperature. Knowing the temp in your grill is crucial, so if your grill doesn’t have a temperature gauge, purchase a digital BBQ thermometer, such as Thermoworks’s Smoke™.
You will need to add fresh coals and more wood chunks to each side of the grill every hour for at least the first 4 hours.
#4 Low and slow
Check the temperature of the grill every hour, staying as close to 225 degrees F as possible. Resist the temptation to open the lid. Only open the charcoal door or the lid if you need to add more charcoal or soaked wood chips to maintain temperature and smoke. After at least 4 hours, check the temperature of the meat to see where it is and get an idea of how much more time it will need to smoke.
#5 Test for doneness
Smoke the picnic shoulder until a dark “bark” (outside crust) forms and the internal temperature is about 190 degrees F, about 5 hours; use a meat thermometer to test for doneness.
#6 Never mind the stall
When the pork’s internal temperature reaches about 165 degrees F, the surface evaporation causes the meat’s internal temperature to plateau. Pit Masters call this “the stall.” Don’t panic. It will pass. Just wait out the stall. The ideal temperature of a properly smoked pork shoulder is 190 to 195 degrees F.
The internal temperature of the pork can increase by 10 degrees even after it’s been removed from the grill, so keep that in mind. For example, if the internal temperature is 190 degrees F when you take it off the grill, it may rise to an optimal 200 degrees F, perfect!
Any hotter than that and could overcook your pork, which results in dry, chewy meat, no thank you!
#7 Saucing the pork
Start basting the meat with a sauce using a brush or mop for the last 1 ½ hours. Then mop it every 30 minutes after that. It’s okay to be messy with it. Just slather it down and cover it back up.
#8 Injecting the pork with sauce
David prefers injecting his meat with sauce during the last hour of smoking. Rubs and sauce sit on the meat’s surface and penetrate only a few millimeters into the meat. Injecting gets the flavor to the center of the food in seconds with the push of a plunger.
Basically, injectors look like oversize hypodermic needles. Don’t waste your time with plastic injectors. They don’t last. Instead, find a stainless steel injector. They typically come with a 2 to 4-ounce capacity—which is enough for most anything you slap on your smoker or grill.
To inject the meat, you may need to pour your sauce into a narrow container so you can suck the sauce up inside the needle. Once the injector is full of sauce, that is where all the fun begins!
How To Inject the Sauce:
- Insert the needle and go all the way to the center. Press the plunger slowly and ease the needle out.
- Insert the needle again about every 1 ½-inches apart and leave behind about 1-ounce of sauce per pound.
- Some sauce will almost always follow the needle out of the hole, but if it comes spurting out like it hit an artery, use less pressure.
- You want to avoid pockets of liquid and have the sauce evenly distributed inside the meat. He usually injects it when he puts sauce on the outside, but only once or twice.
#9 Resting the Pork
After the pork is literally about to fall apart and is dripping with sauce, remove the smoked BBQ picnic shoulder from the smoker or grill and rest as you would with grilled or roasted meats.
Allowing the pork to rest before chopping or serving it lets the meat fibers relax; moisture driven out of the meat is redistributed and reabsorbed by some of the dissolved proteins.
Rested meat holds on to more of its natural juices. This also keeps your cutting board from flooding with meat juices when you slice it into the pork. A good 15 to 20-minute rest should do under loosely tented foil.
#10 Slicing and Serving
While holding the meat firmly with the carving fork, use a sharp knife to repeat the diagonal downward cut (using wide, sweeping strokes) to create thick slices, leaving them attached at the bottom.
Perfectly cooked meat should be moist and juicy. If you wish, drizzle some sauce and serve slices of flat fanned out like a deck of cards surrounded by chunks of burnt ends from the point.
We served the pork with some Hash Brown Potato Casserole and grilled cabbage.
What to Do With Pork Picnic:
You can serve it sliced on a plate with barbecue sauce, or you could shred it to serve on pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw. You can also serve it in tacos, or burritos.
I’m vegetarian for the night unless David throws on a burger or something. I’m not too fond of smoked pork, and I am okay with that. As long as David’s happy, I’m happy. And that man is happy when he is grilling or smoking meat!
Follow David’s steps to succulent smoked BBQ pork picnic shoulder this Labor Day Weekend!
Smoked BBQ Pork Picnic Shoulder
Useful Equipment:
- charcoal
- Bag of Hickory Wood Chunks
- heavy-duty aluminum foil
Ingredients
What’s Needed:
- 1 pork picnic shoulder (about 5-9 pounds)
Pork Rub
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- BBQ Sauce of your choice
Instructions
#1 Prep the pork
- Pork shoulder is a hunk of meat that is laced with flavorful fat and connective tissue. Start with a pork shoulder in the 5 pound range, which is just the right size to fit on any smoker or grill. Trim the pork shoulder so as to leave at least a ¼-inch cap of fat. (Any less and the pork will dry out; any more, and the fat will prevent the rub from seasoning the meat.)
- Rinse the meat under cold running water and blot dry with paper towels. Combine all the ingredients for the rub in a small bowl (make sure to work out any clumps from the brown sugar for even distribution) and stir to mix. Rub onto the picnic shoulder on all sides. If you have time, wrap the picnic shoulder in plastic wrap and let it cure in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight. Smoking the picnic shoulder right away is ok, but sitting in the refrigerator for several hours allows the rub to penetrate the meat.
#2 Prep the Smoker or Grill
- Smoking is a form of indirect cooking and usually takes place over a period of hours over low temperatures. Set up your smoker for what is called the burn-down method. To do this, fill the charcoal bed with unlit coals and add only a few lit coals to the very top. The coals on top slowly light the ones underneath and burn down slowly over time. If using a charcoal grill, set it up for an indirect heat technique with a drip pan with water directly underneath the meat to stabilize the temperature.
- Soak a few handfuls hickory wood chunks for about 30 minutes in warm water before placing atop the coals.
- Preheat the grill from 225 to 250 degrees F. To maintain this low temperature, use only half as much charcoal as usual. (A half chimney-full.)
#3 Smoking the pork
- When the smoker or grill is the ideal temperature range, you are ready to smoke, place the picnic shoulder on the hot grate over the drip pan, fat side up, toss a hand full of the soaked wood chunks and some dry wood chunks onto the coals and cover the grill.
- David likes to use a combination of dry and wet wood chunks, alternating between the two. The dry gives a quick intense smoke and brings the heat up. The wet wood chunks provide a lower, slower smoke and brings the heat down. Heat adjustments can be made using this technique.
- Bring the temperature up to 225 degrees F, using the vents to regulate the temperature. Knowing the temp in your grill is crucial, so if your grill doesn’t have a temperature gauge, purchase a probe or instant-read thermometer.
- You will need to add fresh coals and more wood chunks to each side of the grill every hour for at least the first 4 hours.
#4 Low and slow
- Check the temperature of the grill every hour, staying as close to 225 degrees F as possible. Resist the temptation to open the lid. Only open the charcoal door or the lid if you need to add more charcoal or soaked wood chips to maintain temperature and smoke. After at least 4 hours, check the temperature of the meat to see where it is and get an idea of how much more time it will need to smoke.
#5 Test for doneness
- Smoke the picnic shoulder until a dark “bark” (outside crust) forms and the internal temperature of the meat is about 190 degrees F, about 6 to 10 hours, depending on weight; use a meat thermometer to test for doneness.
#6 Never mind the stall
- When the pork’s internal temperature reaches about 165 degrees F, the surface evaporation causes the meat’s internal temperature to plateau. Pit Masters call this “the stall.” Don’t panic. It will pass. Just wait out the stall. The ideal temperature of a properly smoked pork shoulder is 190 to 195 degrees F. The internal temperature of the pork can increase by 10 degrees even after it’s been removed from the grill, so keep that in mind. If the internal temperature is 190 degrees F when you take it off the grill, it may rise to an optimal 200 degrees F, perfect! Any hotter than that and could overcook your pork, which results in dry, chewy meat, no thank you!
#7 Saucing the pork
- Start basting the meat with a sauce using a brush or mop for the last 1 ½ hours. Then mop it every 30 minutes after that. It’s okay to be messy with it. Just slather it down and cover it back up.
#8 Injecting the pork with sauce
- David prefers injecting his meat with sauce during the last hour of smoking. Rubs and sauce sit on the meat’s surface and penetrate only a few millimeters into the meat. Injecting gets the flavor to the center of the food in seconds with the push of a plunger. Basically, injectors look like oversize hypodermic needles. Don’t waste your time with plastic injectors they don’t last. Instead, find a stainless steel injector. They typically comes with a 2 to 4-ounce capacity—which is enough for most anything you slap on your smoker or grill.
- To inject the meat, you may need to pour your sauce into a narrow container so you can suck the sauce up inside the needle. Once the injector is full of sauce, that is where all the fun begins! Insert the needle and go all the way to the center. Press the plunger slowly and ease the needle out. Insert the needle again about every 1 ½-inches apart and leave behind about 1-ounce of sauce per pound. Some sauce will almost always follow the needle out of the hole, but if it comes spurting out like it hit an artery, use less pressure. You want to avoid pockets of liquid and have the sauce evenly distributed inside the meat. He usually injects it when he sauces the outside, but only once or twice.
#9 Resting the smoked BBQ pork picnic shoulder
- After the pork is literally about to fall apart and it is dripping with sauce, remove the picnic shoulder from the smoker or grill and allow it to rest as you would with grilled or roasted meats. Allowing the pork to rest before chopping or serving it lets the meat fibers relax, moisture that was driven out is redistributed and reabsorbed by some of the dissolved proteins. Rested meat holds on to more of its natural juices. This also keeps your cutting board from flooding with meat juices when you slice it into the pork. A good 15 to 20 minutes rest should do under loosely tented foil.
#10 Slicing and Serving the smoked BBQ pork picnic shoulder
- While holding the picnic shoulder firmly with the carving fork, repeat the diagonal downward cut (using wide, sweeping strokes) to create thick slices, leaving them attached at the bottom.
- Perfectly cooked meat should be moist and juicy. If you wish, drizzle some sauce and serve slices of flat fanned out like a deck of cards surrounded by chunks of burnt ends from the point. You can serve it simply sliced on a plate or you could pull it to serve on a pulled pork sandwich.
Notes
Nutrition
The Mountain Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
The Mountain Kitchen is a participant in the ThermoWorks Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn commission by advertising and linking to ThermoWorks.com.
There is no extra cost to you for clicking! It just helps us afford to do what we do here at TheMountainKitchen.com. Thanks for your support!
Sarah says
I’m drooling! This sounds sooooooo good!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thanks, Sarah! I’ll gladly give you my portion. I have no idea why I don’t like it…
Max Gillaspie says
That sounds delicious. Ask David to make just one change. Try Stubbs, or Royal Oak charcoal. If He does he will never go back to Kingsford. Its to full of fillers and does not burn well on low and slow cooking. Love the blog and the website!
Max
The Mountain Kitchen says
Hi Max,
Thanks for taking time to comment. I will relay your message to David about the charcoal. I appreciate you taking time to stop by and say hello. Have a great weekend!
Debbie
Patrons of the Pit says
Well I’ll be! Look at that. How the heck did I miss this! Congrats to David, half a year belated!
The Mountain Kitchen says
His pride and joy! Only pork has adorned it. I’m waiting for more…
Ace says
I gotta say that technique does sound quite tasty but while reading I was having a hard time getting my mind past the fact that he has a woman that doesn’t want him to have a cheap smoker, was concerned about how he sat it up and even into it enough to write a short article on it for him. Sounds like David is one lucky man with a woman that wants to give him happiness. Jealous I am.
The Mountain Kitchen says
So nice of you to say, Ace. Hope you enjoy the pork! 🙂
Stu willey says
I’m trying this method …pork picnic been on grill almost 11 hrs..internal temp I only 137 degrees..I have a pork picnic little over five lbs…I have charcoal grill with smoker box….temp about 250 to 275….so why so long. If u do it in 5 hrs…
Stu willey says
BTW. It’s looking very yummy…BBQ glaze looking good…just taking long time
The Mountain Kitchen says
Hi Stu! What is your source of fuel if you are using the firebox? Also, are you using thermometers on the grill? There are lots of variables that come into play. Let us know. ~ David