Sous Vide/Smoker Question

The wife bought me the Joule Sous Vide for a Christmas. I’m wanting to try a little experiment with it and a pork shoulder. Usually I buy a pork shoulder, brine it overnight, then smoke it until it gets to 202 degrees. Then I let it sit and make pulled pork.

Should I smoke it for, say, three hours, and then sous vide it to 202? How would y’all go about it? I don’t want to ruin the bark from the smoker, but I always want a more even cook through the whole shoulder.

I do not have one but think I would try sos vide to say 190 then smoke

You might try smoking for 3-5 hours or until it reaches an internal temp of 150F. Just try to build up your preferred smoke flavor and level. Then bag and SV at 170 for another 8 hours. I don’t think you need to go to 185 or higher with SV. It’s a different effect temp wise than cooking and you get tenderizing at a lower temp than cooking since you are not losing moisture. It will come out super moist and super tender. If it it too soft for you or not the way you like, just run it again.

Give these bags a try. Savoursousvide.com. They will take the heat better than a ziplock and don’t require a vac sealer.

I've messed around with the same thing and have yet to find the right way to do it. If you smoke it first, you lose the bark in the bag. If you sous vide first, it doesn't take the smoke nearly as well. I haven't tried it yet, but next time I am thinking about smoking for a couple hours, hitting the sous vide and then finishing it on the grill to get the bark back.

This is the answer.

Smoke first for a few hours and make sure the meat is cold when you throw it on. Then sous vide, and finish either on the grill or in the oven.

I’ve done several pork butts and briskets this way. It’s a little more work than just smoking, but the results are consistent, and if you plan ahead, you can time things out perfectly.

You can add a little curing salt to your rub if you want to fake a smoke ring, too.

I also usually let the meat rest in the fridge overnight before removing from the bag & finishing so it can reabsorb some of its juices.

I also wouldn’t go any higher than 165 with sous vide. I think I took my last butt to 155 or maybe 160.

Here’s a good link with some detailed explanations.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/07/sous-vide-barbecue-pulled-pork-shoulder-recipe.html

I agree. I do something similar with duck breasts. I sear the skin to start the crisping process. Then I sous vide to get my internal done temp. I then finish off back on the grill or skillet to get the crispiness back in the skin. It works out great.

This is from the weekend. The skin/bark is nice and crispy but yet perfect done temp throughout.

Personally I don't think I would try it. Sous Vide is awesome but it's not for every application. Some of what I am about to say is mentioned above. If you Sous Vide first you will not get the smoke profile you want. Cooked meat takes far less smoke after the surface temp reaches about 150-160 degrees. If you smoke it first you lose the bark, but you can get that back.

If I tried it I would smoke it to about 160 degrees. Fat begins to render at about 140, but it's a slow process. So I would Sous Vide it at 160 for several hours. I'm talking like 16-20 hours. Then I would pat the ham dry, very important to get a good crisp, and set my oven to broil and put it in there until it crisps up. Please take most of this as guess work as I have never done it. If you were not overly concerned about the smoke profile, I would Sous Vide first and smoke second. I think it will come out good either way for sure. Probably even great. It's just a long time to wait for food.