The Pulled Pork Thread

[TripletDaddy]

I need to try it again with the spray bottle. I liked the flavor but the mopping process was a pain and it seemed to wash off some of the rub. Spray bottle would be perfect.

Time to smoke a butt.

Lift lid, blast the shoulders with a quick spritz, close lid. Total elapsed time is maybe 5 seconds. I used a silicone brush and it worked fine, but took a little longer and I thought it did mess with the coat of rub a little bit. This can matter in colder weather when each second drops the temp in the smoker drastically.

Achtung: if you go the spray bottle route, make sure you don't put any particulate in your mop....chopped garlic, onion powder that isn't dissolved, etc. It will clog your spritzer and then your $1 spray bottle is kaput.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Spray bottle it is, starting at 165 degrees, right?

Sounds about right.

[MarkGrace]

Nice pic, wuap.

[kccougar]

Pork shoulders on at 11:00. Hoping to pull off around 9:00 tomorrow morning.

EDIT: Crap. Forgot to insert the temp probe. Here comes another temp swing.

[FN Phat]

Spade L Pork?

[kccougar]

Spade L Pork?

Good Eye.

I'm not sure, but I think I'm running behind. After 8 hours I am at 156 degrees with 2 hours left before I had intended to take it out.

[Coach McGuirk]

Good Eye.

I'm not sure, but I think I'm running behind. After 8 hours I am at 156 degrees with 2 hours left before I had intended to take it out.

Ouch. Not even through the stall yet.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Good Eye.

I'm not sure, but I think I'm running behind. After 8 hours I am at 156 degrees with 2 hours left before I had intended to take it out.

Yeah you won't make it.

[kccougar]

Yeah you won't make it.

So what did I do wrong? I even think my grill runs hot. Maybe I shouldn't have paid attention to my probe temp. It was consistently reading 260 when I had the thermostat set at 225 so I dropped the setting to 185, which gave me indicated temps on the digital readout of about 215 and temps on my probe read about 240 through the night. At 8:00 this morning I jacked the temp setting up to 275 and now the digital readout is reading about 280 and my probe temp is reading 320.

[Coach McGuirk]

So what did I do wrong? I even think my grill runs hot. Maybe I shouldn't have paid attention to my probe temp. It was consistently reading 260 when I had the thermostat set at 225 so I dropped the setting to 185, which gave me indicated temps on the digital readout of about 215 and temps on my probe read about 240 through the night. At 8:00 this morning I jacked the temp setting up to 275 and now the digital readout is reading about 280 and my probe temp is reading 320.

Nothing, except start too late. The pulled pork I have done have taken on average t 10-12 hours on the cooker. Looks like you just got a couple of tough butts.

[TripletDaddy]

So what did I do wrong? I even think my grill runs hot. Maybe I shouldn't have paid attention to my probe temp. It was consistently reading 260 when I had the thermostat set at 225 so I dropped the setting to 185, which gave me indicated temps on the digital readout of about 215 and temps on my probe read about 240 through the night. At 8:00 this morning I jacked the temp setting up to 275 and now the digital readout is reading about 280 and my probe temp is reading 320.

Ignore the ambient probe temp. Ambient probes are distracting, IMO. You don't need one. You know that your shoulder is going to need around 9-12 hours to cook. A tri tip takes around an hour or so. Ribs take around 5 hours. Set your hopper temp and let it go. Trust your meat therm. Dropping the ambient temp to 185 just added a few hours to your cook.

[TripletDaddy]

Nothing, except start too late. The pulled pork I have done have taken on average t 10-12 hours on the cooker. Looks like you just got a couple of tough butts.

I've noticed this, too. My first shoulders took 9 or so hours. It set a false expectation because every subsequent shoulder has taken over 10 hours before oven time.

[kccougar]

I've noticed this, too. My first shoulders took 9 or so hours. It set a false expectation because every subsequent shoulder has taken over 10 hours before oven time.

Seems like the typical range was 7-9 hours for Costco shoulders. I allowed for 10 since they were a little bigger. I know my ambient temp reading is accurate so maybe it's just the difference in the placement of the traeger temp sensor and mine set in the middle of the grill. When we grill at "225" we are really cooking at 260.

[FMCoug]

Pork shoulders seem to have the most variety in cooking times.

[kccougar]

At least it tasted good when I finally got to eat it! I had to leave for the game when the pork was still at 190 degrees so my wife waited out the last five, pulled it, then bagged it and put in the fridge.

Today I invited my sister's family and my parents over to help us eat. I laid the pulled pork out in 9x13 pans with a little bit of chicken broth in the bottom of the pan for moisture, tightly foiled the pans, and heated in the oven at 250 degrees until the meat was hot. Still moist as well.

I had rolls from Moochie's Cheesesteaks to serve the pork on and we had coleslaw on top. No pictures .

I served a variety of sauces, but a new favorite for pulled pork is Guy Fieri's Carolina #6 "slop and mop" I found at Harmon's. It's a thin sauce, mostly tangy and a little sweet. Different from the sauces I usually like, but I really enjoyed it on a pulled pork sandwich.