Tried a reverse sear on a pork shoulder and it changed my whole cook

So I've been doing pork shoulder for years, always just smoked it low and slow the whole way. But last weekend I watched a pitmaster named Cal from a BBQ joint in Austin talk about doing a reverse sear on pork shoulder. I thought he was crazy, but I tried it. I smoked it at 225 for about 6 hours until it hit 160 internal, then I wrapped it and cranked my Weber up to 400 for the last hour. The bark came out way more crunchy and dark than usual, and the inside was still super moist. I was worried it would dry out with that high heat at the end, but it didn't at all. I think the trick is you need a fatty cut like shoulder to handle it. Has anyone else tried this method on something other than steak? I'm curious if it works on brisket too.

2 comments

2 Comments

piper17517d ago

Oh man, reverse sear on a pork shoulder? That's a bold move lol. I gotta admit I'm kinda skeptical though. Like you said, it's usually a steak thing and I feel like pork shoulder is already juicy enough without needing that extra blast of heat at the end. The bark sounds legit, but I feel like you could get the same crunch just by not wrapping it and letting it ride at 225 the whole way. I don't know, maybe I'm old school but I'd rather not risk drying out a 10 pound hunk of meat just for a slightly fancier bark.

verab2817d ago

Buddy of mine tried it and his bark was like concrete lol.