The Pulled Pork Thread

[Drunk Tank]

I felt like my pork on Friday was a solid B (likely a low C, on the tough Lewbowski scale) so I also bought the boneless 2 pack from Costco. I don't want to cook both butts, at this time. Do they freeze ok, precooked? Should I just wrap it in plastic? Since it is likely too big for the ziploc freezer bags, I usually use.

They will freeze just fine uncooked. I like to smoke them and then pull them and then freeze. I just vacuum seal the pulled pork and then pull it out of the freezer as needed. To reheat I just drop the freezer bag full of pork into simmering water for a while.

[Art Vandelay]

Coach,

You mentioned the SYD was more tender, but was there a noticeable taste difference between the two rubs?

Also, how long was you cook time? And did you keep the smoker at a constant temperature or adjust it along the way?

[Drunk Tank]

Coach, that pork looks great! Nicely done! How is the SYD rub? I usually use Butt Rub but I am going to be doing pulled pork for about 400 people so I want to find a rub that has a little less kick to it than the butt rub. I really like the butt rub, but I have had some people complain that it was too hot.

[Coach McGuirk]

Coach,

You mentioned the SYD was more tender, but was there a noticeable taste difference between the two rubs?

Also, how long was you cook time? And did you keep the smoker at a constant temperature or adjust it along the way?

Coach, that pork looks great! Nicely done! How is the SYD rub? I usually use Butt Rub but I am going to be doing pulled pork for about 400 people so I want to find a rub that has a little less kick to it than the butt rub. I really like the butt rub, but I have had some people complain that it was too hot.

I personally really like the SYD rub, it has a distinctly different flavor than the butt rub and is less "hot". It is a nice sweet heat. I find myself doing one of everything I do in this rub.

AV, The large butt was on 225 for about 11 hours to reach 195. The smaller was pulled about 45 minutes sooner. I then FTCed them for about 1.5 hours/2.25 hours before pulling them. The mistake I think I made was pulling the smaller butt when the larger butt hit 185, thinking it would have hit the magic number sooner, being smaller.

[Jeff Lebowski]

AV, The large butt was on 225 for about 11 hours to reach 195. The smaller was pulled about 45 minutes sooner. I then FTCed them for about 1.5 hours/2.25 hours before pulling them. The mistake I think I made was pulling the smaller butt when the larger butt hit 185, thinking it would have hit the magic number sooner, being smaller.

Gotta buy that Thermapen, Coach. No need for guesswork.

[Jeff Lebowski]

These might be a dumb questions, but being as I'm dumb here goes, FTC I think means foil towel cooler. Is it self explanatory? Is there something else besides wrapping it?

If I go with Dude's plan in the oven, he says with some water in the pan. Do you just put a half inch or so of water in with the shoulder or do you protect the meat from the water?

The objective of FTC is to maintain the heat for several additional hours at close to the final temp (~190-195 in this case) to break down the connective tissue and the collagen and make the meat super tender. My theory is: why use a cooler and towels when you have an oven? I put them in my roaster which has a little rack in the bottom that keeps the meat about 1/2 in off the bottom of the pan. I just put some water in the bottom to keep everything nice and moist and I cover it with a lid and close the vents and keep it at 170 deg. I have had great luck with this route. You could also foil the meat and then put it in the pan if you want to more closely mimic the FTC method. Same effect, but perfectly maintained heat. I am partial to not using foil as I have had good luck with moisture without it and I think the foil makes the bark soggy.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Seriously. I had 8 adults, and 4 kids and we didn't put a dent in either roast, will eat some tomorrow, then the baked beans sounds like a good idea.

Make sure you try some pulled pork tacos. They are awesome.

• I may be in favor of cutting the butts into smaller 4-5 pound sections just to get more bark. Yum! Plus they would cook faster.

I don't think that would work. Cooking faster is not necessarily a good thing. You need a long, slow cook to break down the connective tissue and collagen in the meat. A few weeks ago (as documented in this thread) I cooked a couple of small roasts (4-5 lbs) and they were dry and tough. My theory is that you get better results with larger roasts because they take longer to cook and they maintain the moisture better.

[FN Phat]

Do work, Coach. Very nice!

[Coach McGuirk]

I am partial to not using foil as I have had good luck with moisture without it and I think the foil makes the bark soggy.

I think I am done with foil all together. The steaming that takes place just changes too much of what you have done to get what you want. So unless I just absolutely have to, foil is not my best friend.

Make sure you try some pulled pork tacos. They are awesome.

Will do.

I don't think that would work. Cooking faster is not necessarily a good thing. You need a long, slow cook to break down the connective tissue and collagen in the meat. A few weeks ago (as documented in this thread) I cooked a couple of small roasts (4-5 lbs) and they were dry and tough. My theory is that you get better results with larger roasts because they take longer to cook and they maintain the moisture better.

I have been using this site, http://amazingribs.com/ which you all probably know about. It is the most comprehensive site I have seen for back yard cooking. Anyway, after reading your comments i went to see what he thought. he talks about Purposely looking for 5 pounders and also did mention this,

For more crust. Purists will fall out of their lawn chairs when they read this, but a good shortcut is to buy large butts, about 10 pounds, and cut the meat into hunks of about 5 pounds. This will give you more surface area with more crunchy, tasty bark, more smoke penetration, and significantly speed the cooking. The tradeoff is that the meat will lose a little moisture

.

So, I may just give it a shot and return and report.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I think I am done with foil all together. The steaming that takes place just changes too much of what you have done to get what you want. So unless I just absolutely have to, foil is not my best friend.

Don't swear it off completely. I think it works great on ribs, but the key is to put it back on the smoker for 45-60 minutes to recondition the bark.

I have been using this site, http://amazingribs.com/ which you all probably know about. It is the most comprehensive site I have seen for back yard cooking. Anyway, after reading your comments i went to see what he thought. he talks about Purposely looking for 5 pounders and also did mention this,

.

So, I may just give it a shot and return and report.

Interesting. I would be leery of that trade-off because moisture is very important to me, but you would get more bark and more flavor.

[Shaka]

Geez I go on vacation and Coach goes on a smoking frenzy. Coach I promise that was far better than anything I ate on the ship. That looks delicious!

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

It got a great response, I went FTC because I I've dried meat out in the oven before and I was scared. The Dude was right though it did lose some of te firmness of the bark. I got multiple compliments from both families we had over, so I consider it a success.



My pulling skills aren't very good.

[TripletDaddy]

That looks great. What type of pellet did you use?

Buy some bear paws and make pulling fun! (not THAT, sicko, I'm talking about pulling meat. Not THAT, either, sicko!)

[Jeff Lebowski]

Looks great, HFN.

What rub did you use? How long did it take to cook?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Looks great, HFN.

What rub did you use? How long did it take to cook?

It was called "pork seasoning" sold at Albertsons. I'll have to order some rubs online, I went to three stores and nowhere had rubs.

I put it on at 11 last night, took it off at 1:30 temp was 190. FTC until 5, ate at 5:30.

Maple pellet DDD.