8 1/2 pound pork shoulder/boston butt(call it what you want) - weighed
on a scale to be sure.

I cut some slits in the meat, and stuffed in soem slices of onion, and
poured in variosu spices... red pepper, black pepper, italiaan
seasoning....

I have an old style, large big green egg.The old style egg only go up
to around 300-350 - instead of way up to whatever the new ones go up
to.

I loaded up the egg with charcaol, got the fire going.

put the grill on.

I took a 10 inch cast iron skillet, and placed it on the grill. I
placed a small grill on top of the skillet. I placed the meat on top
of this grill. I filled the skillet with water.

Closed the egg and got the dome temp up to around 225 and kept it
between 225-240 all day.

So I cooked it from 8 am- 5:30pm - read 200 degrees. I like it to pull
apart nice and gooey.

Everything I have read, states that for a pork shoulder... cook it 1.5
hours per pound at 220 f dome temp

1.5 times 8.5 = 12.75

Mine was done at 9.5 hours. It was awesome.

I am wondering if it is the egg itself, or the combination of the egg
and the cast iron skillet used as a drip pan - added to the quicker
cooking time?

Just curious...

thanks.

this is the 3rd or 4th pork shoudler I have doen this way - and it
cooks a little quicker.

bye now,

-W

Woogeroo wrote:

Everything I have read, states that for a pork shoulder... cook it 1.5
hours per pound at 220 f dome temp

1.5 times 8.5 = 12.75

Mine was done at 9.5 hours. It was awesome.

I am wondering if it is the egg itself, or the combination of the egg
and the cast iron skillet used as a drip pan - added to the quicker
cooking time?

Meat is done when it is done. Such is the mystery and art of 'Q.

Good thing it finished "early". You'd have a bunch of really hungry
folks if they had to wait for dinner to finish at 9:30 - 10:00 pm.

--
Aloha,

Nathan Lau
San Jose, CA

#include std.disclaimer

Woogeroo wrote:
1.5 times 8.5 = 12.75

Mine was done at 9.5 hours. It was awesome.

I am wondering if it is the egg itself, or the combination of the egg
and the cast iron skillet used as a drip pan - added to the quicker
cooking time?

Just curious...

thanks.

this is the 3rd or 4th pork shoudler I have doen this way - and it
cooks a little quicker.

I'm definitely not an expert, but I would say that it might partly
be because of your egg, but I would guess most of the difference in
time is due to the meat.

I cooked 2 butts that were exactly the same weight and size (from
the same pack as well), and one took 23 hours and the other was done
at about 18 hours. Same cooker, same method, same temp, different meat.

I will be interested to read what the experts have to say.

Bil

In article , Steve Wertz
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 00:00:20 GMT, Woogeroo
wrote:
I am wondering if it is the egg itself, or the combination of the egg
and the cast iron skillet used as a drip pan - added to the quicker
cooking time?

For some reason a brisket or shoulder done in an oven at the same
temperature will always take about 1/2 the time as in any smoker.

My bet on 'why' is that ovens cycle on above and off below the target
temp. (Hysteresis!) Smokers are more likely to run on a more even keel.
An oven set for 300 will spend more time at 325-350 than a smoker set
for 300.

monroe(a ceramic will run at 300 like a rock)

Monroe, of course... wrote:
In article , Steve Wertz
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 00:00:20 GMT, Woogeroo
wrote:
I am wondering if it is the egg itself, or the combination of the
egg and the cast iron skillet used as a drip pan - added to the
quicker cooking time?

For some reason a brisket or shoulder done in an oven at the same
temperature will always take about 1/2 the time as in any smoker.

My bet on 'why' is that ovens cycle on above and off below the target
temp. (Hysteresis!) Smokers are more likely to run on a more even
keel. An oven set for 300 will spend more time at 325-350 than a
smoker set for 300.

monroe(a ceramic will run at 300 like a rock)

I stuck a probe in my oven out of curiosity after getting a Fluke
thermometer (props to Monroe) and I watched it tell me my oven cycled more
that 50 degrees above the set temp (350) several times. Dunno about
everybody else's ovens, but mine swings wildy and I agree that that's
probably why cooking times are shorter in an oven than in a well-regulated
pit like my Kamado.

Jack Curry

"Steve Wertz" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 02:02:13 GMT, "Monroe, of course..."
wrote:

In article , Steve Wertz
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 00:00:20 GMT, Woogeroo
wrote:
I am wondering if it is the egg itself, or the combination of the egg
and the cast iron skillet used as a drip pan - added to the quicker
cooking time?

For some reason a brisket or shoulder done in an oven at the same
temperature will always take about 1/2 the time as in any smoker.

My bet on 'why' is that ovens cycle on above and off below the target
temp. (Hysteresis!) Smokers are more likely to run on a more even keel.
An oven set for 300 will spend more time at 325-350 than a smoker set
for 300.

My oven fluctuates +/-15 degrees before it turns on/off. I don't
think a temperature difference like that could speed up cooking by
50%.

I'm no thermologist though.

To begin with, my oven thermostat is off 35 dF low. It's a digital so there's no
margin for error setting a manual knob. Taylor makes an oven thermo that either
sets on a rack or hangs from one. Highly recommended.

I keep a largish pizza stone on the bottom rack all the time. Covers most of the
rack. It has helped to even out temp. fluctuations immensely (ala a K).

_________
ht_redneck

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 15:33:18 GMT, "Tyler Hopper"
wrote:

To begin with, my oven thermostat is off 35 dF low. It's a digital so there's no
margin for error setting a manual knob.

Can't you calibrate the thermostat? My stove has digital controls,
too, but it can be calibrated.

--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho
"Anything, when cooked in large enough batches, will be vile."
--Dag Right-square-bracket-gren, in alt.religion.kibology

"Kevin S. Wilson" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 15:33:18 GMT, "Tyler Hopper"
wrote:

To begin with, my oven thermostat is off 35 dF low. It's a digital so there's
no
margin for error setting a manual knob.

Can't you calibrate the thermostat? My stove has digital controls,
too, but it can be calibrated.

Well, yes it can. Problem is that every power glitch we take blows it away and
it has to be done again. Just decided to check it with the Taylor every few
months and then set the thermostat to the differential.

_________
ht_redneck

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 15:33:18 GMT, "Tyler Hopper"
wrote:


"Steve Wertz" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 02:02:13 GMT, "Monroe, of course..."
wrote:

In article , Steve Wertz
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 00:00:20 GMT, Woogeroo
wrote:
I am wondering if it is the egg itself, or the combination of the egg
and the cast iron skillet used as a drip pan - added to the quicker
cooking time?

For some reason a brisket or shoulder done in an oven at the same
temperature will always take about 1/2 the time as in any smoker.

My bet on 'why' is that ovens cycle on above and off below the target
temp. (Hysteresis!) Smokers are more likely to run on a more even keel.
An oven set for 300 will spend more time at 325-350 than a smoker set
for 300.

My oven fluctuates +/-15 degrees before it turns on/off. I don't
think a temperature difference like that could speed up cooking by
50%.

I'm no thermologist though.

To begin with, my oven thermostat is off 35 dF low. It's a digital so there's no
margin for error setting a manual knob. Taylor makes an oven thermo that either
sets on a rack or hangs from one. Highly recommended.

I keep a largish pizza stone on the bottom rack all the time. Covers most of the
rack. It has helped to even out temp. fluctuations immensely (ala a K).

_________
ht_redneck

My KA convection oven is bang on. But the cooker allows the
thermostat to be reset over a 30F range from the existing setting.
The adjustment is done with the digital control panel and not inside
the guts of the stove.

Harry

Thanks for the replies folks.

-W