300 is on the high end of barbecue, but it’s not going to kill you. You generally want to be in the 200-300F range. Some people like doing their pork barbecue really low. 225F is generally a good temperature to aim for. I like mine a little bit higher, more like 250-265. For a 8-10 pound pork shoulder, I finish at about 8 hours at that temp.
Pork will not pull at 185. That’s chopped pork territory. Each cut of meat is slightly different, but I find pork really starts to pull at anywhere from about 192-200F. You really shouldn’t do these things by temperature. Taking the temp will give you an idea of where you’re at, but when you’re finished, you should look for physical cues:
- The meat looks slumped in on itself, like it can’t support its own weight
- The bone easily pulls away from the meat
- A fork inserted in the pork offers very little resistance
I like my pork not-quite-pulled, so I take it off a bit earlier than that. It’s probably in the high 180s, low 190s.
KEY POINT TO UNDERSTAND: When dealing with collagen-heavy cuts of meat like pork shoulder or beef chuck (in a stew), it takes time for the collagen to transform into gelatin. This is what makes the meat “fall off the bone” or meltingly soft. The meat will tighten up and harden as it goes through its well done stage before “relaxing” from the collagen->gelatin conversion. If you make a stew or pot roast, taste the meat throughout the cooking process, and you will understand what’s going on. Before stew gets that “melt in your mouth” texture, it gets pretty rock hard. Same thing happens with barbecued pork shoulder. Just be patient. As mentioned above, there is a plateau with barbecuing pork shoulder, although by 185 it should be out of its plateau. I suspect your pork needed about one more hour to be done.
Now, does this mean you can’t overcook barbecue? Of course you can. But overcooked barbecue has a different texture to it. It’ll pull (unless you REALLY overshoot), but it will feel dry and stringy when you chew on it. If the pork shoulder is still hard to cut and solid, it’s probably just underdone.
So, tips for next time: try to get your temp more in the 225-275 range (though you can make barbecue at 300), be patient, and use your senses to determine doneness.
And, even though you finished it off in the crockpot, I’d give you a pass for calling it barbecue. I’ve finished off barbecue in the oven after hours of smoking due to circumstances, and have had no problem calling it barbecue. I’d be careful of the commercial barbecue sauces, though. Most of them contain liquid smoke-type flavoring, which to me defeats the whole point of you lovingly smoking the meat outside.