Yep, we used the water pan. I had a couple of chunks of hickory around that I got some years ago for smoking, so we chopped those up and used them as the smoke source.
In smoking the shoulder we blew through about 12 pounds of a 24 pound bag of Kingsford charcoal. Yeah, I know, TRUE BBQ pit masters would have used only hardwood coals pulled from a fire that they were burning along side the smoker, but on a deck in the middle of suburbia that's just not feasible, and lump hardwood charcoal just burns too quickly.
The brine Chris came up with was perfect. He slit the skin in a number of places before brining and that allowed both the brine and the smoke to penetrate to the meat under the skin. It also allowed some of the fat under the skin to melt away. Excellent move on his part, and something I don't think I would have thought of.
While it was resting Mtnwife took me to pick up my car (I had to get new tires). When we got back Chris was sitting in the easy chair with a very satisfied look on his face. He sampled the pork and the white sauce I made and was very complimentary about the combination. I personally had thought the sauce, a slightly modified version of one from Mario Battali, was going to be too vinegary, but when it hit the meat the pork seemed to cut the vinegar to nothing. It just became a mellow sauce.
After we let it rest I peeled the skin back and started pulling it with a fork. It fell apart with absolutely no resistance. It shredded just like it was supposed to.
We put a very serious hurting on that shoulder. I'm still full right now...
