Fall apart tender and smoky, barbecued pork shoulder, cooked low and slow on a 2-burner gas grill.
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Barbecue. Nothing beats a tasty pork shoulder that has been cooked “low and slow,” as they say, over wood smoke. A succulent roast is guaranteed by the prolonged cooking time and low temperature.
Actually, the smoke is what makes barbecuing so appealing in the first place; otherwise, a slow cooker would work just as well.
The problem is that you really need a smoker or a barbecue with a separate box for wood chips to do this properly. I dont have either. I may eventually purchase a smoker, but in the meantime, I do have a 2-burner gas grill that works just fine.
The good news is that you can make a respectable barbecue on your grill if you keep an eye on the temperature and maintain the smoke. It simply requires a lot more attention and finagling.
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Over the past few weeks, I’ve cooked six pork shoulders on my grill to perfect the technique. The strategy I employed to achieve the best results is detailed below.
Instead of an 8-pound picnic shoulder roast, I discovered that a 4-pound Boston butt shoulder roast works best with this grilling technique. With an 8-pound roast, you essentially need to rise early in the morning in order to finish the meat by dinner.
The timing of the barbecue is easier to manage with a 4-pound roast or two 4-pound roasts cooked simultaneously.
For the meat to be sufficiently flavor-infused with smoke, it must be smoked for a number of hours. After that, finishing in a 300°F oven while wrapped in foil is just simpler.
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On a grill, whether it’s gas or charcoal, it’s difficult to maintain a steady low temperature. The last hour or so of cooking’s juices and rendered fat can be captured by wrapping in foil and baking.
BBQ sauce is not really necessary if the meat is well-rubbed and smoked for a long time. However, feel free to add some of your preferred barbecue sauce once the pork has been torn apart at the very end.
Any seasoned grillers out there? I’d love to hear your advice on how to make the best barbecued pork shoulder.