Sous Vide: Smoked Pork Shoulder Ver. 1

UPDATED RECIPE: Sous Vide: Smoked Pork Shoulder Ver. 2

I would call this my first really big success cooking with a sous vide or immersion circulator. Something I have definitely learned is that cooking with a circulator is not at all easier; not if you want great flavors. Searing adds amazing flavor and you get none of that with this technique. For this one, I marinated with a dry rub, smoked for a few hours then cooked with an immersion circulator to get a flavorful, juicy and tender pork shoulder.

Apply any dry rub you desire, Alton Brown has a pretty good base to start off with, I added curry powder.

allow the dry rub to set for a few hours. Cover in plastic and store in the fridge.

UPDATED RECIPE: Sous Vide: Smoked Pork Shoulder Ver. 2 A mistake I made in this version was not to put a pan of water under the meat as it cooked. As you can see, the surface is extremely dry keeping from additional smoke flavors to penetrate.

Smoke with hickory (I am not a fan of mesquite, too strong for my taste) for one to four hours. I kept the temp around 250 since all I wanted was some smoke flavor. Many people say the most smoke flavor stops penetrating after about one hour but I let it sit until the coals went out. As you can see, the exterior is extremely dry. I would have gotten better smoke penetration if I had a tray of beer or other liquid underneath the meat as it smoked. A moist exterior allows for better penetration of the water soluble smoke... or so I've read. I'm not a bbq smoke scientist.

Bag the meat up and put in a 60 to 62 degree celsius water bath (I like 61.5 degrees) and cook for one to two days (I prefer 48hrs)

cut across the grain and enjoy