Cooking pork shoulder overnight?

[MikeG]

As I type, I'm marinating a 5 lb butt end piece of pork shoulder for pérnil. If it were a whole shoulder with a lot of skin and fat, I wouldn't have any qualms about letting it roast overnight, but I'm not sure I can get away with it with a small piece without it drying out? I want the meat to completely fall apart, but also want it to stay moist. (It does have some skin and a little fat, but my roast is on the lean side for shoulder.) Can I cook this relatively small piece as long as 7-8 hours? At what oven temperature?

[alkapal]

this may be of interest to some of you -- re the "stall" http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/810605

[scubadoo97]

Thanks alkapal. I read about that a few weeks ago. There is also mention of this in the Modernest Cuisine. It doesn't really change what we have been doing for years but does make you more conscious of what's really happening so you have better control the environment

[ChiliDude]

Before we had our kitchen renovated , we did exactly that because all the electric oven timing controls did not work when we bought our home as 2nd owners. I bought 8 to 10 pound bone-in pork shoulders to use as pulled pork for sandwiches.

We would put a oval rack in the old fashioned white spotted enameled roasting pan, cover the pan, set the oven control at 275, and turn on the oven at 11:00 p.m. The shoulder was tender and easily hand shredded by 7 a.m. in the morning. The meat was frozen until needed. The shredded pork was bathed in a homemade BBQ sauce.

In 2004 we renovated the kitchen with new electic ovens, yes 2 of them, one stacked on the other and, of course, separated from the cooktop. WE STILL ROAST THE PORK SHOULDER OVERNIGHT. Why? Because we would not leave our home during the roasting process in case of some occurrence that either would prevent us from returning home or some oven failure that could cause damage to the house.

[MikeG]

Thanks everyone. Well I started to get a little nervous about it drying out, so decided to try an oven temperature of 200F. The roast hadn't been frozen but was still at cool room temperature when I put it in the oven, but this sucker is taking a long time to cook!

After putting the roast (uncovered) in the oven at 8pm, I happened to wake up around 3am and checked it, but the internal thermometer was hovering only around 150F, so I turned the oven up to 225F. But after a few more hours, it had still only inched it's way up to 167F. I'm going for melt-in-your-mouth tender, so finally, I've cranked the oven up to 300F hoping to get it done (and pulled apart) before I have to leave the house. So I guess the moral of the story is you certainly can roast pernil "low and slow", but not too low! Next time I'm thinking I'll try 225-250F from the outset...

(edit) Well, by 8am (12 hrs & several temperature manipulations later) it had only reached 185F but I have to get out of here so I cut it up. It's a decent pork roast, but it's not "falling apart" tender, so I'll definitely have to try a higher temp the next time.

[scubadoo97]

When it was creeping around 150 it was in the stall. Covering it would have sped it along more so than pushing the temp up. 225-250 is a fine range for cooking this cut

[MikeG]

I'd never heard of this "stall" business but of course it makes sense in hindsight. I almost turned the oven off (from 300F) to just leave the roast in there for the rest of the day to finish cooking and then "rest" but I had an inkling it would be a long day and it was, so probably not the best idea to have left it there for another 12 hours in what would've ended up being a pretty cold oven!

Next time, though, and there will be a next time soon, I'll get a bigger piece and turn the oven up a bit higher. This came out OK and isn't "tough", but is definitely sliceable rather than falling apart into chunks when you stick a fork in it.

[scubadoo97]

The stall happens around 150 and the temp doesn't rise for a long time. Most references will tell you this is due to the connective tissue breaking down, have a beer and wait it out. Once out of the stall, at around 170-180 the temp will rise quickly.

More recent explanation is that it is due to moisture evaporation and you can minimize it by foiling

[chefj]

I cook boneless 5-7# pork shoulders overnight 10 - 16 hours very often at work.
I have had no problems wit over cooking and always get great, moist, pull-able pork.
I use 200F and cover loosely with parchment or foil.

[bagofwater]

Cook it at a very low temperature, 220-240f.

I wouldn't recommend covering in foil. If you do, it will cook faster, as you will mitigate the effects of any evaporative cooling that may take place while cooking. Foiled, a butt that size could be done well before the 7 or 8 hour mark, meaning you're going to end up with overcooked pork.

Have a heat baffle between your meat and the heat source in the oven, as well as a heat sink of some sort (pan of water should suffice), so that you're not blasting some area of your pork butt with too much radiant heat.

When you get back to it, the pork may not be ready, but at least it will be in the finishing stages. You can always foil and crank up the heat at the end to push it over the line.

[BiscuitBoy]

I follow bittman's pernil procedure, and have never cooked that badboy longer than 4 hrs, with all the lovely fall apart goodness....I think 7 to 8 is pushing it. I'd set your timer to click off after 4 hrs, 275 or 300º. Longer time lower temp? In the oven? Never did it

[monavano]

I wonder if covering it with foil until later in cooking will help with moisture.

[mariacarmen]

definitely cover it with foil. i've made pernil using about that size a piece of pork, and cooked it for 6-8 hours, covered with foil, at about 225, as woodburner says, and it's come out just fine.

[scubadoo97]

Covering it will shorten the stall and over all cooking time

[woodburner]

Should be fine overnight. At 225 or so, it will probably take 9-10 hrs to get to 200 internal -- perfect for pulling.