This Foil Trick Is Hands-Down The Easiest Way To Triple Pork Shoulder Flavor

While it's easier to make simple, intuitive meats, like the many cuts of steak as flavorful as possible in your pan or on the grill, pork shoulder is much more difficult to get just right. Because it requires longer cooking times and is naturally quite tough, ensuring a pork shoulder is seasoned at the right time with the correct tools will go a long way. We spoke to the esteemed owner of The Grillin' Fools, Scott Thomas, who said that one way to achieve maximum flavor for your pork shoulder (and the pulled pork it's likely to create) is to apply a second coat of seasoning right before wrapping it in aluminum foil.

Wrapping pork shoulder in foil is typically recommended to be done when the meat's internal temperature rises above 160 degrees Fahrenheit and is a great way to fight back against the stall — a phenomenon that barbecue meats like brisket and pork shoulder go through where the temperature plateaus rather than increasing. "I am a big believer of re-seasoning throughout the cook," Thomas revealed. "So much of the seasoning is lost during the cooking process. Some cooks off, some melts into the meat ... adding some more seasoning when wrapping can do nothing but help with the flavor." 

If you're worried about adding too much flavor, don't. "It's hard to overdo it. Once all that bark is mixed with the rest of the pork, it will not be overpowering," Thomas advised. "The ratio of outer tasty bark to interior meat is low on the bark side. So extra seasoning helps to make that ratio a little more balanced."

Now, while the second layer of seasoning is a tremendous way to improve the flavor of your pork shoulder's bark (crust), it doesn't do much in the way of making the inside of the meat more tasty. Seeing as pork shoulder is known for having the potential of being the most flavorful cut of pork overall, you'll want to go the extra mile and take as many steps as possible to ensure your pulled pork is utter perfection. To do so, Scott Thomas recommends utilizing a few different techniques.

For starters, a great way to inject flavor into pork is to, you guessed it, use an injector. "Grab that same injector used for Thanksgiving turkey in a flavor more suited for pork," Thomas advised. This should be done before you put your meat in the smoker, and some even recommend doing so a few hours before smoking the meat.

Thomas said of the next step, "Smoke the pork shoulder in an aluminum pan or over an aluminum pan. That pan will slowly fill with juices as the fat renders out." Then, when it's done cooking, Thomas instructed, "Dust the pulled pork with your barbecue rub that you used for the outside of the shoulder. Then, drizzle over some of those juices from the other pan. Work the juices and the seasoning through the pulled pork." You'll have an extremely flavorful pork shoulder to be proud of.