26 lb American Wagyu Chuck Roll and 2-11 lb Bone-in Shoulders
Cooking for my son’s first birthday today, about 40 adults, so I decided to make this as stress-free as possible and start everything early.
The beef:
26 lb American Wagyu chuck roll
No trimming needed; very little exterior fat cap
Seasoned heavily with Meat Church Holy Cow
On the smoker at 12:00 PM at 225°F
5 hours: 92°F
6 hours: 108°F
9 hours: 139°F
9¾ hours: 145–146°F
10 hours: ~152°F throughout
Bark was fully set, so I wrapped in butcher paper at 10:30 PM
Bumped smoker to 250°F
At 5:30 AM it was probe tender in some areas but still tight through the thicker muscles
Kept cooking until it was probe tender everywhere
Off at 7:00 AM
Total chuck roll cook: ~19 hours.
The pork:
Two bone-in pork shoulders
22 lb total, roughly 11 lb each
On at 6:20 PM at 225°F
At 10:30 PM they were around 125°F
Went to 250°F when I wrapped the beef
Left completely unwrapped the entire cook
5:30 AM: both around 185°F
Probe tender and off at 7:00 AM
Total pork cook: ~12 hours 40 minutes.
No spritzing. No wrapping the pork. Beef only got wrapped once the bark was where I wanted it. I didn’t cook either meat to a specific finishing temperature — they came off when the probe slid through every section with basically no resistance.
Now everything is getting a long hot hold before lunch.
Biggest lesson: start way earlier than you think you need to. Finishing at 7 AM for a lunchtime party is infinitely better than trying to force a giant piece of beef through the finish line while guests are showing up.
The bark on all three pieces came out absolutely filthy.