For pork I tend to do "by feel" as well but I get it to 180 internal as a rough guide. I'd rather verge on overcooked, and less moist, than undercooked. When pork (particularly ribs!) are undercooked (cooked in the sense of over 165, but not tender) they adhere to the bone and the stringy texture of the meat that invariably wedges itself in between teeth and gums is unappealing to me. But I've roasted pork ribs until you'd think they would be way overcooked, and aside from being a bit too fall off the bone, they definitely have stayed moist...just so much fat in them! I'd be much more careful with, say, pork loin, which will dry out if you look at it too sternly.
But for something like pulled pork, I usually am going to toss it with some kind of sauce anyway, so I'd rather it get fully done and tender (if a bit drier). I haven't done pork shoulders in forever though. Lately its been mostly ribs, chicken (spatchcocked), steaks, and occasionally cured meats for the meat slicer (canadian bacon from cured pork loin and pastrami from corned beef).
Topic: more smoking . . . (Read 7035 times)
