Pressure cooked pork shoulder

Last night I cooked a 1.2KG pork shoulder for 45 minutes in the pressure cooker. I was short of time, so I could not use SV or oven bags, both have worked well for me before.

The pork was just cooked, about 62-63C, but the meat was dry and unpalatable, a real let down, not juicy and soft as usual when I used the other methods.

Any suggestions as to what went wrong?

Regards,

Leif

Find more posts tagged with

Recipes Q's

Comments

ttpoker

Did you include pork stock or water? How much did you use? I would typically include around 2 Cups (450 ml) of pork stock when I made carnitas, and it came out great - nice and moist, not at all dry or stringy. Use the leftover cooking liquids, reduce it to a syrup by adding Chipolte powder and Achiote paste (around 1 TSP each), salt, lime, cilantro, more chili powder to taste; use this syrup to glaze the meat. I got this idea from Modernist Cuisine for Home, has served me fairly well so far!

Leif_79611

Thank you for your reply.

I did use 500ML pork stock, plus lots of fennel and aromatics.

I am very surprised with the poor result. The pork was really good quality and well marbled.

Regards,

Leif

ttpoker

How much cooking liquid did you lose? Any chance your pressure cooker let out too much steam during the cook? MC advises to cook for 30 mins not 45 min, but that shouldn't make the meat dry out.

Another thing to try is to store the meat & cooking liquid overnight together so the meat stays hydrated and flavorful, then go back and reduce down the cooking liquid the next day before you are ready to eat.

tshewman

How long did you let it rest before opening? Did you place under the tap and run water around the rim? Or did you let it depressurize naturally? Because of the higher temps, I tend to let it stand for at least 30 minutes before opening.

Leif_79611

I let it rest about 20-25 minutes to de-pressurize naturally, so that was not the problem.

tshewman

That does sound a bit strange. Logic would suggest that if we allow the meat to relax, (depressurize plus resting time in PC) with all that you outlined, I would think it would be moist.

Manfred_18311

Was the shoulder fresh from the butcher? The way you described the cooking procedure

the only failure I could think of causing the said result is frozen/defrosted

meat.

Breaking the cells (slow freeze) and let the meet defrost at temperatures above 7° C for

an extended time will release any of the liquid. No brining or added liquid

(stock) can bring it back.

Leif_79611

It was fresh from the butcher, so that is not the problem.

grant

45 minutes is not very long for a whole-ish shoulder. If you cook it longer you might find it to feel more juicy as more tissue and collagen has broken down. I would say 90 minutes, but also depends on the quality of the pig.

douglas_bd

1.2 Kg seems extremely light for a shoulder. I typically get shoulders (Butt) in the 7-8 lb (~3.5kg) range and my most recent pork shoulder was a massive 13 pounder (~6 kg). Did you have a partial or heavily trimmed shoulder? Maybe that contributed to drying out? Also, 62-63C doesn't seem hot enough to break down the collagen. I'd target a temp above 71C for the collagen to start melting.

Leif_79611

Thank you, it was a part of a shoulder, from the neck end. I think I should have left it to cook longer, but 45 minutes was the average time I could find for this size.