The Only Prep Step That Matters When Smoking Pork Shoulder

The appeal of smoking pork shoulder is obviously that you get to eat smoked pork, but the simplicity of prep is also a big upside. While smoking takes a long time — sometimes all day for large cuts of meat — 99% of that time is hands-off. That frees you up to clean, make sides, or just lounge around with a beer. Good times. The main things you worry about when smoking meat are precise time and temperature, and maybe what type of barbecue sauce you'll slather it with at the end. That doesn't mean you can ignore prepping your pork shoulder completely, however. So we reached out to expert Robbie Shoults and asked him what he does to prep a pork shoulder for smoking.

The celebrity chef, third-generation owner of Bear Creek Smokehouse, and owner of Marshall Mercantile and High Horse 1898 has one (and only one) essential step for pork shoulder. "The main prep step before smoking pork shoulder is to make sure that you get it seasoned well before throwing it on the smoker," he said. With its generous fat that's well marbled into the meat, pork shoulder is already perfect for slow-cooking and smoking, so making sure you maximize flavor and tenderness is the only concern. Shoults continued, noting that "pork shoulders are pretty thick, so we make sure to apply a good coat of dry rub all the way around."

While Robbie Shoults uses a dry rub, it's important to remember that seasoning doesn't just refer to the spices and herbs in the rub — it's about the salt. However you season your meat ahead of time, whether it's a dry brine or wet, salt will help flavor the whole pork shoulder throughout, and make it more juicy and tender. This is because salt gets transferred cell by cell and gradually diffuses all the way to the center of meat, ensuring that even the interior of thick cuts like the shoulder are fully seasoned. Salt also dissolves muscle proteins, which stops meat from squeezing out moisture as it cooks and keeps your pork shoulder juicy through the long cooking time.

Many dry rubs include salt that will help with this process, as well as other ingredients that add to the overall flavor. Shoults and Bear Creek Smokehouse make and sell Bear Rubz Grillin' Spices, which contain salt, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, and, per the chef, "a few other spices that we use on everything from brisket to pork shoulders." You don't need much to get the benefits of seasoning, though, as even simple homemade dry rubs will work as long as they contain enough salt. Just make sure you apply it far enough ahead, at least 12 hours, to give the salt time to fully work its magic. Then into the smoker it goes!