Serious question, why does everyone insist on cutting pork shoulder with the grain?

I see it all the time in videos and even from the guy who trained me, but cutting with the grain makes the final pulled pork way too stringy. I switched to cutting across the grain before smoking about a year ago and the texture difference is huge, the meat shreds into perfect bites. Am I the only one who does it this way?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_hart41mo agoTop Commenter

Wait, you cut across the grain before you even smoke it? That's actually genius... I never thought to do it that early. I always just fought with the stringy mess when pulling it apart after. My last cook was so fibrous, it was like eating pork spaghetti. Gonna try your method next weekend for sure.

river9521mo ago

I mean I feel like that just lets all the juices run out though.

daniel_gonzalez1mo ago

Pork spaghetti" is a perfect way to describe my first few attempts, which were basically a stringy disaster.