Slow-Cooking a Pork Shoulder - Moist Heat

[bucktown_boffo]

I recently slow-cooked a 4 lb pork shoulder overnight, first dry rubbing the meat and adding four teaspoons of liquid smoke to the crockpot. The next morning, after about 8 hours cooking time on the low setting, there was so much liquid in the crockpot that the meat was mostly submerged. (the crockpot was barely bigger than the shoulder so very little room around it).

Is this normal, or could it mean I got a piece of meat that was artificially pumped with liquid by the purveyer to plump up the selling weight? It was dirt cheap meat - $1.50 per pound at Jewel.

After pouring out the liquid, the pork seemed fine, bone fell off efortlessly and meat shredded easily. It made a ton of pulled pork sandwiches and tacos for like the next two weeks. Some (maybe much?) of the liquid was fat, as the remnants in the crockpot solidified afterwards. I'm just curious if all that liquid is normal.

[Chris Amirault]

Unless you had a massive fat cap and the fat/liquid ratio was 10:1, my money's on that pork being pumped full of liquid.

[nibor]

This is why I quit buying pork in the US.

[weinoo]

I dunno - why pump up a piece of meat that's selling for under $2 a pound?

I roasted a 6.5 pound pork shoulder (pernil that cost under $7) yesterday after marinating it in 1/2 bottle of Goya mojo marinade () overnight. Started 9 AM at 300, cranked to 400 (so i could bake some foccacia) for the last 15 minutes or so (total cooking time 4.5 hours) and it was great.

I think you should lay off the liquid smoke and let it taste like pork.

[Emily_R]

I don't think there is any reason to assume it was pumped full of liquid. The poster mentioned that the shoulder just barely fit in the crock pot to begin with, meaning that it wouldn't take all that much liquid to look nearly submerged. The poster doesn't say how much liquid he wound up with, but it seems to me that a 4 pound pork shoulder could easily release 1.5 to 2 cups of fat and natural juices when cooking for that long...

[bucktown_boffo]

Hey, thanks for all the feedback!

I didn't measure how much liquid was produced, but remember being a little freaked out by the amount.

Just to be safe. is there any way to dry out a piece of pork for next time? Would salting it in advance and letting it sit for a few hours get out most of the moisture?

Or, maybe next time I should just go to a better place to buy my meat. Chicago has many options better than Jewel.

[MarkinHouston]

boffo, I think there is a requirement to list added liquids. If the packaging says "up to 12% added liquid" or similar, find another merchant. You can brine it yourself if that is your intent.

[bucktown_boffo]

I don't want to brine it. I want to get rid of liquid, not add more.

But as I indicated in my first post, the final product tasted fine and behaved like it was supposed to, so I guess this isn't a very big deal.

[snowangel]

I think you should lay off the liquid smoke and let it taste like pork.

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I'm just wondering what's in liquid smoke?

[lancastermike]

I think you should lay off the liquid smoke and let it taste like pork.

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I'm just wondering what's in liquid smoke?

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I believe here are two different process used. One is to send smoke through a vessel full of water thus causing smoky water. The other way they make it is to smolder wood at high temperature and than condense out the smoky liquid and filter it.

Neither of these beat the Susan F. method of producing REAL smoked meat.

[Qwerty]

I don't understand the idea behind wanting to get rid of liquid...why would you do that? certainly a quick cure would get rid of some of the liquid, but not really enough to do anything beyond make it seasoned.

I've never heard of anyone wanting to make their meat less juicy. It's probably normal what happened to your pork.

If you don't want it sitting in liquid your best bet would be to use a dry heat method of cooking rather than a moist one. You can't really get rid of liquid if you do it in a crockpot can you?

Dry dry roasting it. There are several good posts and topics on the board about cooking pork shoulder any variety of ways.

Good luck.

[Chris Amirault]

I've never heard of anyone wanting to make their meat less juicy.

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Lots of liquid that has been expelled by the muscle fibers is an indication that the meat is likely to be less, not more, juicy.

[Qwerty]

Thank you Captain Obvious

He said in his earlier post that he wanted to "dry" out the meat and "get rid of moisture" in order to have less liquid in the crockpot. I was trying to say I don't think thats a good idea.

[Magictofu]

You want less liquid? Do not use a lid. This requires a bit more oversight than the usual crockpot method however.

[ChefCrash]

Magictofu got it right. If you don't want the roast to braise, you'd have to cook it uncovered. I don't think you can do that in crockpot. Roast it uncovered in a low oven (225 to 250*F).

[localherbavore]

I recently slow-cooked a 4 lb pork shoulder overnight, first dry rubbing the meat and adding four teaspoons of liquid smoke to the crockpot.  The next morning, after about 8 hours cooking time on the low setting, there was so much liquid in the crockpot that the meat was mostly submerged. (the crockpot was barely bigger than the shoulder so very little room around it).

Is this normal, or could it mean I got a piece of meat that was artificially pumped with liquid by the purveyer to plump up the selling weight?  It was dirt cheap meat - $1.50 per pound at Jewel.

After pouring out the liquid, the pork seemed fine, bone fell off efortlessly and meat shredded easily.  It made a ton of pulled pork sandwiches and tacos for like the next two weeks.  Some (maybe much?) of the liquid was fat, as the remnants in the crockpot solidified afterwards.  I'm just curious if all that liquid is normal.

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I hope this doen't come across as insulting, but this is why I always ask "Where was this raised?" "What did it's diet consist of?" "How much space did it have to live/ was he/she happy?" "How was it buchered (also indicates either Italian, spanish, or american/english butchery)?" - If the pimply-faced kid shugs his shoulders and says next in line, you probibally got factory farmed genetically altered, corn fed pork, it won't taste as good, and it was raised like a chicken (the fat/muscle ratio sucks). I know times are tough, money is tight but local, happy pigs are always best. If you live in Chicago, there is a pletheria of amazing, caring, small farms. I won't gross you out by telling you where the "liquid" comes from they add to most factory farmed pork, but let me tell you it's not something you would choose to put in your mouth. Get to know your butcher, he/she can and will reccomend cooking techiques for the cuts they have for you. P.S. Next time carmelize the entire outside after your rub in whole butter on high heat to make a "crust" then attempt a crock-pot braze with aromatics and stock.

[Jujubee]

It seems plausible to me that it is just fat and juices from the pork. I took apart a hunk of pork shoulder today and rendered the fat low and slow in the oven and there was definitely several cups of fat at the end. If the crock pot was very snug around the pork, it really wouldn't take much liquid to submerge it.

[LindaK]

I tried a braise of a pork shoulder recently, and it gave up a lot of liquid too. And mine was an organic cut from Whole Paycheck. So I wouldn't blame your piece of pork.

I wasn't terribly happy with the braise technique for the shoulder. Next time I think I'll listen to folks here and roast it uncovered.

[weinoo]

When braising pork shoulder, I actually like to bone it out and cut it into cubes about 2" square. Then I use a hybrid technique - browning the meat very well and then red-cooking it in a minimum amount of dark soy, sherry, star anise, rock sugar, etc. and enough water to come about 1/2 way up the meat. Covered and cooked in a slow oven - comes out great every time.

[SnorkelVik]

I read this hoping it would be the recipe from The Splendid Table for ultimate cheater pulled pork (made in slow cooker with liquid smoke). I really, really want to try that recipe except my man doesn't go for pulled pork and it's too much for me. I'm waiting for our Super Bowl party to make it. Upon rereading the recipe, I see that it says to cut the shoulder into 2-3 inch pieces. Has anyone tried it?

Splendid Table: Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork

[LindaK]

I read this hoping it would be the recipe from The Splendid Table for ultimate cheater pulled pork (made in slow cooker with liquid smoke).  I really, really want to try that recipe except my man doesn't go for pulled pork and it's too much for me.  I'm waiting for our Super Bowl party to make it.  Upon rereading the recipe, I see that it says to cut the shoulder into 2-3 inch pieces.  Has anyone tried it?

Splendid Table:  Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork

I listen to The Splendid Table podcast and heard that recipe too. Unfortunately, my bad experience with braised shoulder also came from a Splendid Table recipe, Close-Roasted Pork with Ancho Chili. The recipe actually comes from a cookbook that I own, The Improvisational Cook, by Sally Schneider. It was the podcast that got me to try it. It sounded delicious and foolproof. Unfortunately, it was terrible. Tough, tough, tough, even after 6 hours of cooking (of a slightly larger roast than called for in the recipe).

Weinoo's recipe also calls for braising the meat in cubes, as does yours. Maybe that makes a difference. Mine was a whole boneless shoulder.

Despite my recipe failure, I was lucky. My plan had been to use the pork as the basis of a casual buffet dinner for friends and their kids who were coming over to help decorate my Christmas tree. It may be the only time I've even been grateful for a blizzard. As the wind whipped and the snow fell--with more than a foot projected--we cancelled the party. The pork shoulder was already in the oven. At least, I thought, I'd have great leftovers. Not.

Well, if nothing else the experience reminded to be careful about planning dinner parties around new recipes (or at least new techniques) before testing them first.

[ztutz]

Anyone interested in braising cubed shoulder should read the large carnitas thread. It is a good thing...

[Michael B]

I dunno - why pump up a piece of meat that's selling for under $2 a pound?

I roasted a 6.5 pound pork shoulder (pernil that cost under $7) yesterday after marinating it in 1/2 bottle of Goya mojo marinade () overnight.  Started 9 AM at 300, cranked to 400 (so i could bake some foccacia) for the last 15 minutes or so (total cooking time 4.5 hours) and it was great.

I think you should lay off the liquid smoke and let it taste like pork.

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I cooked a similar size shoulder last night.

I soaked it skin side down in about 2" of brine overnight then washed it before cooking.

4 hours at ~ 75 C (about 170F) in the house oven then into the BBQ oven on moderately hot (about 180-190C) for an hour. I added a small branch off a pecan tree to the burner for some hickory smoke.

Exquisitely tender yet I could carve it quite thin. The crackling was great too.

As good as I have ever eaten.

[paulraphael]

This is why I quit buying pork in the US.

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You can get some of the best pork in the world in the US if you're willing to shop around, and pay more than $2/lb.

[Twohearted]

I read this hoping it would be the recipe from The Splendid Table for ultimate cheater pulled pork (made in slow cooker with liquid smoke).  I really, really want to try that recipe except my man doesn't go for pulled pork and it's too much for me.  I'm waiting for our Super Bowl party to make it.  Upon rereading the recipe, I see that it says to cut the shoulder into 2-3 inch pieces.  Has anyone tried it?

Splendid Table:  Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork

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I'm not really seeing how that's much easier than smoking a pork shoulder on a grill. If you have a charcoal grill of suitable size (large Weber), it's very easy to produce incredibly good pulled pork. Plus, I don't see how you can get some charring of the outer layer of the meat going, which adds some great texture variation to the pulled pork. I also avoid using liquid smoke in anything other than barbecue sauces.