Smoke Flavor for Pork Shoulder

[smokedaddy]

Good Morning Fellow Smokers. I am a rookie from Wisconsin. Recently having purchased a Smokin it 2. I have a question about the smoke flavor of my pork shoulder. I smoked a 6 lb. Pork shoulder this past weekend. I used 4 oz. Hickory and 2 oz cherry. I use a foil boat for the wood. I did a dry brine and then used a homemade rub. I smoked it for 12 hours until it was 195 degrees. It had a great bark and was super moist. The bark and the outer part had great smoke flavor (70 percent of the meat) When I was shredding the middle it tasted good but it was lacking any smoke flavor. Any suggestions? Do I need to use more wood?

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[SuperDave]

Did slice it or how did you differentiate "middle" of a pulled pork?  Regarding flavor penetration, many of us comment how some smoked food tastes better the next day because the smoke intensifies and has a chance to fully equalize throughout the meat.  If you dove right in right after the rest period, the smoke hasn't fully spread in the meat.  But I've never known anyone that could tell one shredded piece from another. 

[smokedaddy]

As I was shredding it I tried some from the very middle of the roast. I only let it rest for 20 minutes. We were really hungry. How long would you recommend?

[SuperDave]

recommended rest period is 1 to 2 hours, purely for meat juice re-absorption. 

[Walt]

More rest time is better.  1-2 hrs is good, 3-4 even better. If you want flavor deep into a primal cut then you should inject. The brineing is great (wet or dry) & if you add seasoning to your brines even better. However, many seasonings are not h2o soulable. So...injecting is the best way to impart flavor in to thick cuts.  Smoke is not going to penetrate that deep. If left in the fridge overnight it will help but it still is not going to migrate completely to the center. With pulled anything its not as important because after pulling and mixing you manually redistribute the smoke and seasonings. 

I like to brine and inject even with pulled meat but more importantly with anything sliced.  Some pureists like minimal seasoning interfering with the natural flavors. I'm from Louisiana so by no means am I a pureist, we season EVERYTHING!

[smokedaddy]

Can you share your injection recipe or give me an idea of some things to try.

[Walt]

I dont have a set injection I use for any cut of meat.  This is where I usually get creative to coincide with the flavor profile of the rub & brine. Divot has some regular injections that many members seem to speak highly of. Look in the marinade, brine & injection section for more options. The member UWSFAE (might have a few extra vowels in that?) has some good ones too.

[DivotMaker]

Smokedaddy, you won't ever get good smoke penetration all the way into the middle of a pork butt, or any other large cut of meat.  But, when you pull the pork, the interior meat gets mixed with the outer meat (where the smoke flavor is), and it blends together.  Stick with what you're doing, just don't serve the "middle" meat by itself!