The Pulled Pork Thread

[Jeff Lebowski]

During the smoke or during the resting in the oven? So far, neither.

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I like to foil after four hours of smoke. It prevents the butts from getting a charred taste from too much smoke and it results in a moist and tender product. (See opening post). Either way, you should always foil during the holding stage at least or you will run the risk of drying out.

[Shaka]

JL is on the money. I've had the same issue as you and had to leave the butts foiled in the oven for several hours. I used foil roasting pans with a bit of apple juice in the bottom and then foil for a lid. Unfortunately my oven only goes down to 170 but everything seemed to be fine in the end.

[Jeff Lebowski]

About the holding time: you can hold meat for a long time. In fact, for big cuts like pulled pork and brisket, holding actually improves the results as described here:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...eat-is-sublime

Two weeks ago I did a cook for 200 people (pulled pork - 14 butts). I put it on at midnight and it was done by 10 am the next morning. I started pulling at 4:30 pm (it took one hour) and we served at 6 pm. It was fabulous. Then one week ago I did brisket and ribs for 40 people. I put the brisket on at 8 pm and it was done the next morning at 5 am. We served at 12:30 pm, so it sat for 7.5 hrs. It was great.

Furthermore, a few months ago I was in Austin and decided to try the new Black's restaurant. Black's is a famous BBQ joint in Lockhart that has been there for many years but they recently opened up a place in Austin. We were there for lunch and I asked to do a pit tour. The pitmaster was great and spent a long time chatting with me and showing me around. He told me that he was cooking all the meat for the FOLLOWING DAY. The ribs were almost done and the brisket was a few hours from being done. It would all be done by late afternoon at the latest and then they would hold it and serve it the following day. The food there was outstanding, and it proves that you can hold meat a long time.

Some pics from lunch and pit tour at Black's:

[smokymountainrain]

[Pelado]

So I'm cooking a couple pork butts ahead of time for a family event on Memorial Day. One of them is rubbed with Butt Rub. The other is Fast Eddy's rub, a gift from a neighbor who is really into Fast Eddy smokers and supplies. When tasted alone, the rub reminds me of the seasoning on BBQ-flavored potato chips.

Here they are after rubbing and before going onto the smoker around midnight:



And here they are just before I covered them with foil with internal temperatures near 160 degrees:



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[Pelado]

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[Moliere]

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[All-American]

We did our first pork last week. The stuff was awesome. Took less time than I thought it would to get to 195, which meant we had to hold for six hours while waiting for our guests to arrive, but it was clearly no worse off as a result. We served on little wheat flatbreads with raspberry chipotle sauce. Wish I had gotten pics-- it was killer.

[Jeff Lebowski]

We did our first pork last week. The stuff was awesome. Took less time than I thought it would to get to 195, which meant we had to hold for six hours while waiting for our guests to arrive, but it was clearly no worse off as a result. We served on little wheat flatbreads with raspberry chipotle sauce. Wish I had gotten pics-- it was killer.

Six hour hold is no problem at all.

[cowboy]

Six hour hold is no problem at all.

The longest I've gone is 9. Three on the smoker and 6 in coolers. Still hot when we pulled them out. That was brisket, and I think larger cuts will hold better, but I've become a big believer in a good hold time. Kudos to Pelado and AA.

[Joe Public]

I'm in. I just injected two shoulders, rubbed with Spade L, and have them smoking over mesquite lump with some hickory chunks.

[cowboy]

I'm in. I just injected two shoulders, rubbed with Spade L, and have them smoking over mesquite lump with some hickory chunks.

Careful with the mesquite on a long cook. It's pretty strong stuff.

[Pelado]

Careful with the mesquite on a long cook. It's pretty strong stuff.

I've started using cherry for everything.

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[Joe Public]

Careful with the mesquite on a long cook. It's pretty strong stuff.

I agree, but it's what I had on hand. I wrapped the shoulders after a few hours to limit the smoke uptake. We'll see how it turns out.

[Pelado]

Just put the pork on the smoker. I'm using a different cut than usual. Typically, I get the boneless pork butts from Costco. This time around, I picked up some picnic roasts from a local restaurant supply store (Cash & Carry). They also carry the boneless shoulder cut, but I couldn't resist the $1.24/lb price of the picnic roasts. In addition, since they're smaller, they'll probably cook faster and they have more surface area for the rub.

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