That title pretty much says it all.  One day, 12 hours and 43 pounds of pulled pork.  Yum.

I did something I said that I would never do again, barbecue pork shoulder roasts.  I had done this one before and I wasn't very pleased with the results.  I think that the bone heats up too much and the meat round the bone gets a bit over cooked.  That being said, I was able to get the pork shoulder for $0.45 per pound at Wal-Mart, so it wasn't the worst decision of my life.  I bought 43 pounds because I was planning on making some for friends and family, so the better price won out.

I prepared all four shoulders the same the night before I barbecued.  I trimmed the skin off each shoulder making sure to leave as much fat as possible and I rubbed each one down with my homemade rub.  It's a very basic rub: brown sugar, chili powder, Cayenne pepper, black pepper, a bit of cumin and salt.  I then packed them away in the fridge for the night to let the flavors penetrate. 

The next morning I put the meat onto the smoker and built the fire.  I used hard wood lump charcoal with pieces of hickory thrown in for flavor.  For the first time ever I used a injection of water, vinegar, brown sugar and pepper.  I didn't think that the liquid would ever stay inside the meat throughout the cooking cycle, but I was surprised to find while moving the meat off of the smoker that some of the juice actually ran out.  I'm not really sure if the injection kept the meat moist or not, but I did not notice any added flavor.

Here is a nice photo of the pork after 12 hours of cooking.  Please keep in mind that this is only half of the meat I smoked that day.

Here is a close-up of one of the pork shoulders.  You can see there how far the meat has shrunk down exposing the bone.  Prior to cooking, the end of that bone was flush with the outside of the meat. 

All in all it was a pretty successful day and it seems if everyone is enjoying the results.  I know I sure did.