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Found a way to make pork shoulders shred way easier
Been doing whole hog breakdowns at my shop in Santa Fe for about 8 years now. Always dreaded pulling pork shoulders after smoking, that connective tissue fight is real. Tried all the usual stuff, letting them rest longer, different temps, nothing clicked. Then about 3 weeks ago I decided to score the fat cap in a crosshatch pattern before smoking, like half inch deep cuts. Made a world of difference. The heat got into the seams way better and the collagen broke down more even. I pulled that last shoulder in under 5 minutes flat. Any of you guys tried something like this or got another trick for shoulder prep?
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lee62718d ago
Scored my last butt just like that, crosshatch about 3/4 inch deep. Made pulling way easier, collagen just melted instead of fighting me the whole time. Got those big chunks falling apart in like 4 minutes flat.
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park.riley13d ago
I did the same thing with my last butt and it was night and day difference lol. Used a sharp knife and went about half an inch deep crosshatch and the thing practically fell apart when I hit it with the claws. Previous ones I didn't score at all and I was in there wrestling with stringy bits for like 10 minutes. The collagen just gives up way faster with those cuts. Definitely doing it from now on.
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