Cook the whole shoulder—Boston butt plus picnic—for deeply gelatinous, bark‑rich Carolina chopped pork with balanced texture and vinegar snap.
A no-nonsense guide to cooling, reheating, and holding barbecue so it stays safe and tastes like you meant it. Exact temps, clear time windows, and methods that protect bark and texture.
Get your probes and pit thermometers dead-on with proper ice and boiling point tests, then set offsets you can trust. Accurate temps mean safer food and repeatable cooks.
We ran side-by-side brisket cooks to see what brushing tallow or butter onto butcher paper at the wrap does compared to plain paper. Here’s how to run the test at home and what to expect in bark, flavor, and slice quality.
Phosphates can be the quiet insurance policy for juicy, forgiving pork shoulder—especially when you need to hold, reheat, or cook commodity butts. Here’s when to use them, how to dose them correctly, and a clean, competition-style process that keeps flavor honest.
