You did not time that one well ;-)

Do you have a full shoulder - or a butt ?

Anyways, you are not likely to see that hunk of meat done in two hours

I would suggest that you cut the shoulder up into 4 or 5 pieces (try to get
them the same size), wrap in foil (leave enough space for fat and an air
pocket), and bump your temp up to 400 deg. Make sure that the packets are
away from the immediate front of the smoker by the firebox.

This will not give you the best pork in the world, but it should help save
the night.

Option #2
Cut the shoulder up into manageable pieces of approx. the same size.
Nuke them in the micro until the internal temp is 170
Wrap in foil and put back onto smoker (make sure to mop at this point as the
micro can/will dry out the roast)
bump temp up to 350 - and hope like hell you make the deadline

This also will not make the best pork - but hey, ya have a deadline.

John D
Building another smoker - the last one was too small ;-)






"Peter Aitken" wrote in message
. com...
I have a shoulder in the smoker and the internal temp is up to only 155. I
need to serve it in 2 hours and have a feeling that it will not reach 190
in
time. I cannot turn up the temp in the smoker. Are there any rescue
techniques I can use? I thought of wrapping it in foil and putting in a
325
oven for an hour or so.

Thanks

--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.

Jack,

I have tried doing some shoulder at those temps - and it comes out quite
well - but you need the mass and the fat of a full shoulder for this to work
dependably (sp?). You also can be only doing a few roasts.

I have tried bumping the temp up with straight buts, but find that anything
over 400 deg. causes major headaches. My big problem is volume and grease.

When doing 500 - 700 pounds of butts, the fat starts rendering out at about
170 deg. internal temp, and this can last up to 4 hours. If you get over 400
deg, the risk of a grease fire is pretty good. (obviously the grease issue
is something I am going to correct with the next smoker)

Some precautions are in order:
1) do not hesitate to spray down the interior chamber if it gets too hot
(450+). just do not spray the meat
2) do not worry about the roasts if you do have a grease fire, just open the
lid a bit (preferable someone else can help) and spray the bottom of the
chamber with water - do not open the lids fully - too much oxcegen and
potential for fire. The roasts will not disintegrate - but do not allow it
go on any longer than absolutely necessary.

3) For large cooks, I always spray down the chamber with water, and try to
flood the chamber by about an inch (with the cap on the grease valve). After
the unit is up to temp, and before I put the roasts on, take the cap off and
drain the water. The reason I do this is simple, If I didn't clean the
smoker fully. and left some congealed fat, the initial temps that I start
off with to get the 2600 pound smoker up to temp have this funny ability to
catch the remnants on fire (which really cleans the unit out well - and has
the added benefit of getting the unit up to temp very fast - but has no
style)

Now, granted most of us will not run into this problem - God knows that I
never thought it would be an issue when I first found this group, but it is
amazing how fast some people go from learning to Q, Quing, Excelling at Q
and (in defiantly a non-linear fashion) selling Q.

John D
Missing the anticipation of the Hounds comments to my bizarre ramblings :-{

"Jack Schidt®" wrote in message
m...

"Peter Aitken" wrote in message
. com...
I have a shoulder in the smoker and the internal temp is up to only 155.
I
need to serve it in 2 hours and have a feeling that it will not reach
190
in
time. I cannot turn up the temp in the smoker. Are there any rescue
techniques I can use? I thought of wrapping it in foil and putting in a
325
oven for an hour or so.

Thanks

--
Peter Aitken



You can crank it up further; shoulder is very forgiving. I believe it was
Big Jim who posted that he did a shoulder at 500º with good result.

Jack

I have a shoulder in the smoker and the internal temp is up to only 155. I
need to serve it in 2 hours and have a feeling that it will not reach 190 in
time. I cannot turn up the temp in the smoker. Are there any rescue
techniques I can use? I thought of wrapping it in foil and putting in a 325
oven for an hour or so.

Thanks

--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.

"Peter Aitken" wrote in message
. com...
I have a shoulder in the smoker and the internal temp is up to only 155. I
need to serve it in 2 hours and have a feeling that it will not reach 190
in
time. I cannot turn up the temp in the smoker. Are there any rescue
techniques I can use? I thought of wrapping it in foil and putting in a
325
oven for an hour or so.

Thanks

--
Peter Aitken



You can crank it up further; shoulder is very forgiving. I believe it was
Big Jim who posted that he did a shoulder at 500º with good result.

Jack

"Peter Aitken" wrote in message
. com...
I have a shoulder in the smoker and the internal temp is up to only
155. I
need to serve it in 2 hours and have a feeling that it will not
reach 190 in
time. I cannot turn up the temp in the smoker. Are there any rescue
techniques I can use? I thought of wrapping it in foil and putting
in a 325
oven for an hour or so.

Thanks


Don't panic. Don't foil. Heat the oven to 325° and shove the shoulder
in
there. It probably already has enough smoke, nobody will ever know the
difference. Two more hours ought to get the job done. The only meat I
have a problem with cooking too fast is brisket. That's one tough
piece
of meat if you don't cook it slow enough.

Brick (Masta Couch Bouncer)

"John D" wrote in message
...
Jack,

I have tried doing some shoulder at those temps - and it comes out quite
well - but you need the mass and the fat of a full shoulder for this to
work
dependably (sp?). You also can be only doing a few roasts.

I have tried bumping the temp up with straight buts, but find that
anything
over 400 deg. causes major headaches. My big problem is volume and
grease.

When doing 500 - 700 pounds of butts, the fat starts rendering out at
about
170 deg. internal temp, and this can last up to 4 hours. If you get over
400
deg, the risk of a grease fire is pretty good. (obviously the grease issue
is something I am going to correct with the next smoker)

Jay-sus, John, I feel like a piker with my one-butt-at-a-time tales.

Some precautions are in order:
1) do not hesitate to spray down the interior chamber if it gets too hot
(450+). just do not spray the meat
2) do not worry about the roasts if you do have a grease fire, just open
the
lid a bit (preferable someone else can help) and spray the bottom of the
chamber with water - do not open the lids fully - too much oxcegen and
potential for fire. The roasts will not disintegrate - but do not allow it
go on any longer than absolutely necessary.

3) For large cooks, I always spray down the chamber with water, and try to
flood the chamber by about an inch (with the cap on the grease valve).
After
the unit is up to temp, and before I put the roasts on, take the cap off
and
drain the water. The reason I do this is simple, If I didn't clean the
smoker fully. and left some congealed fat, the initial temps that I start
off with to get the 2600 pound smoker up to temp have this funny ability
to
catch the remnants on fire (which really cleans the unit out well - and
has
the added benefit of getting the unit up to temp very fast - but has no
style)

Now, granted most of us will not run into this problem - God knows that I
never thought it would be an issue when I first found this group, but it
is
amazing how fast some people go from learning to Q, Quing, Excelling at Q
and (in defiantly a non-linear fashion) selling Q.

John D
Missing the anticipation of the Hounds comments to my bizarre ramblings
:-{

He'd probably bust your slats and tell you that you're crying all the way to
the bank and top it off by calling you a bbq slut. How close was I?

Jack

"Brick" wrote in message
...

"Peter Aitken" wrote in message
. com...
I have a shoulder in the smoker and the internal temp is up to only
155. I
need to serve it in 2 hours and have a feeling that it will not
reach 190 in
time. I cannot turn up the temp in the smoker. Are there any rescue
techniques I can use? I thought of wrapping it in foil and putting
in a 325
oven for an hour or so.

Thanks


Don't panic. Don't foil. Heat the oven to 325° and shove the shoulder
in
there. It probably already has enough smoke, nobody will ever know the
difference. Two more hours ought to get the job done. The only meat I
have a problem with cooking too fast is brisket. That's one tough
piece
of meat if you don't cook it slow enough.

Brick (Masta Couch Bouncer)



Thanks for everyone's advice. I wrapped the shoulder (actually half a
shoulder) loosely in foil and put it in a 350 oven for about 90 minutes -
results were great!


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.

"Peter Aitken" wrote in message
. com...


Thanks for everyone's advice. I wrapped the shoulder (actually half a
shoulder) loosely in foil and put it in a 350 oven for about 90 minutes -
results were great!



Another heroic save by Q Squad!

Jack (Mad Cow Bull Dodga)

Peter Aitken wrote:
Thanks for everyone's advice. I wrapped the shoulder (actually half a
shoulder) loosely in foil and put it in a 350 oven for about 90
minutes - results were great!

Foil and the oven is fair; when ya mess up.

--
-frohe
Life is too short to be in a hurry