The Pulled Pork Thread

[Moliere]

I yank the bone and remove the visable fat. Then with two forks I just pull it apart. If done right it should just fall apart.

Yep, I also use two forks. It's usually too hot to pull apart with fingers unless you put on rubber gloves, which isn't appetizing.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Soooooo, how do you pull the pork? Is there an approved method or do you just rip it apart?

I prefer kitchen tongs:



Works like a charm.

And whatever you do, DON'T SHRED IT. Leave it in chunks.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Aight, here's what I do for a nice brown butt....

I buy my butts with the bone still in since it's a lot of fun to pull the pork in front of the guests and pulling out a clean bone from the butt always gets a couple "wows" and "gasps" from the guests.

I see what you did there.

I don't trim my butts because the ones I get (local butcher or Costco) are usually prefectly trimmed and ready to go. They obviously don't have a fat cap like a brisket.

For the rub I mix the following (modified from the VWB website):
1/8 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar
2 Tablespoons table salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the sop I mix the following over low heat:
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
3 Tablespoons ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons table salt
2 Tablespoons Turbinado sugar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
Any left over rub

I do prefer the turbinado sugar as I think it holds up better in the smoker and gives a sweet pork, but which I'd attest to the higher heat threshold, however Jeff is probably right that it doesn't make a difference. Brown sugar would be my #2 choice and I'd likely never use white sugar. FTR, turbinado sugar is excellent for ribs that you are going to finish on a grill as it will make a difference with the higher heat.

Put a thin layer of mustard all over the butt and then put a generous amount of rub on it. If you want to inject some of the sop into the butt go ahead and do that now. I like to inject but don't always.

I plan about 16 hours for the smoke. My Weber Bullet can usually go 16 hours on one ring of briquets unless it is abnormally cold outside. The smoke usually ends up lasting 12-14 hours but I plan 16 just to be safe and since I can hold a smoked piece of meat in the cooler for up to 5 hours, finishing early is not an issue.

Anyway, put the butt on the rack in the smoker and let it go for about 8 hours. Then sop the butt every hour until it is done. The sop will smell like vinegar, but the vinegar taste won't come through and it'll just leave a good tangy flavor.

I like to pull the butt when it gets around 190 degrees. You have to be careful with a bone in the butt since it can mess up temperature readings. Make sure to probe the butt a couple times in several different places to get an accurate reading. I find that 185 is cooked enough to pull, but I prefer 190. I don't wrap the butt in foil since I like to sop it through to the end.

Once the butt is pulled I'll then wrap it in foil and let it rest in a cooler or oven to hold until I pull the pork. I prefer to serve on toasted rolls or buns, a bit of mayonnaise on the bun, slaw on top of the pork and a bit of sweet BBQ sauce (I like Rudy's sissy sauce for pork).

Wow. 12-14 hours in the smoker is a long time at that temp. I am surprised it takes that long to hit your target temp. Interesting.

I can't imagine you need to mop to keep it moist, so I am guessing this is mainly for the tangy flavor you mention. I think I will give this method a shot next time. Sounds like fun.

Rudy's sissy sauce is good stuff.

[Moliere]

I see what you did there.

I felt dirty the whole time I was typing that post. There's more unintended innuendo in that post than in all my other posts combined.

Wow. 12-14 hours in the smoker is a long time at that temp. I am surprised it takes that long to hit your target temp. Interesting.

I can't imagine you need to mop to keep it moist, so I am guessing this is mainly for the tangy flavor you mention. I think I will give this method a shot next time. Sounds like fun.

Rudy's sissy sauce is good stuff.

I forgot to mention that I smoke at 225 degrees. I had one butt go for 16 hours and one go for 12 hours and several inbetween. Butts are interesting in that they seem to plateau more than briskets, so even if hte temp gets up to 170 fairly quickly, it will likely stay there for hours and I've even had the temp fall a couple degrees before rising again.

But yes, 12-16 hours is what it takes for me to get to about 190 internal temp.

[CJF]

I forgot to mention that I smoke at 225 degrees. I had one butt go for 16 hours and one go for 12 hours and several inbetween. Butts are interesting in that they seem to plateau more than briskets, so even if hte temp gets up to 170 fairly quickly, it will likely stay there for hours and I've even had the temp fall a couple degrees before rising again.

But yes, 12-16 hours is what it takes for me to get to about 190 internal temp.

This is my experience also. Most take abou 14 hours. I've had as little as 12 and as long as almost 18 hours. Unwrapped, a butt stall can last a long time. The mop adds humidity and keeps the bark from becoming too tough when going 12 plus hours in addition to adding the tangy flavor.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I don't recall seeing Boston Butt, but they always have picnic roasts minus the bone (simply labelled shoulder) at our Costco. It has nice marbling and seems to be very good quality, but you have to buy two at once. As you may know, both the butt and picnic are part of the shoulder. Both are not tough to find, so you could get just one somewhere if you wanted to.

Correction: I think I was mistaken. Costco sells Boston Butts, minus the bone. Not picnic roasts.

[Jeff Lebowski]

This is my experience also. Most take abou 14 hours. I've had as little as 12 and as long as almost 18 hours. Unwrapped, a butt stall can last a long time. The mop adds humidity and keeps the bark from becoming too tough when going 12 plus hours in addition to adding the tangy flavor.

Don't forget to post your mop/injection strategy.

Purchased a nice big stainless steel injector last night on Amazon.

[Shaka]

Don't forget to post your mop/injection strategy.

Purchased a nice big stainless steel injector last night on Amazon.

I'm going to try and find a local dealer. Maybe Gygi's has one.

[CJF]

Don't forget to post your mop/injection strategy.

Purchased a nice big stainless steel injector last night on Amazon.

I'm not sure how much of an impact injecting has since most runs out, but I've had good success overall so I keep up the routine.

My injection recipe
3/4 cup of apple juice
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar (plain white sugar because it dissolves faster than raw sugar)
1/4 of salt (regular table salt for the faster dissolve)
A couple of splashes of Worcestershire sauce
A spoonful of pork Better Than Bullion
Stir a few times every few minutes until everything is completely dissolved. Inject all over the butt. I put the butt into a big pirex pan that will catch all the fallout injection. I will reuse this until I have as much of the injection as possible in the butt. I then rub. This allows some of the rub into the holes left from injecting adding a little flavor below the surface but also plugging the holes a little so all the juice doesn't come out when moving the butt to the smoker.

The Mop is very simple. I make it a couple of days before so the flavors blend well.

3 cups of white vinegar
1/4 of cayenne pepper
1/2 to 1 whole lemon sliced up
Dash of salt

Once the butt hits about 160 degrees I apply the mop every hour. I use a silicone brush and just paint the butt all over. I go as quickly as possible to avoid too much heat and humidity escaping the smoker.

Full disclosure. I know I've mentioned this in the past, but almost all of my smoking recipes come from Chris Lilly. I've tweaked here and there, but they are very close to his exact recipes. This is one of those recipes. They've won the pulled pork Memphis in May something like 9 or 10 times with something very similar. It's good stuff. I think the guy is brilliant.

[Drunk Tank]

I'm not sure how much of an impact injecting has since most runs out, but I've had good success overall so I keep up the routine.

My injection recipe
3/4 cup of apple juice
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar (plain white sugar because it dissolves faster than raw sugar)
1/4 of salt (regular table salt for the faster dissolve)
A couple of splashes of Worcestershire sauce
A spoonful of pork Better Than Bullion
Stir a few times every few minutes until everything is completely dissolved. Inject all over the butt. I put the butt into a big pirex pan that will catch all the fallout injection. I will reuse this until I have as much of the injection as possible in the butt. I then rub. This allows some of the rub into the holes left from injecting adding a little flavor below the surface but also plugging the holes a little so all the juice doesn't come out when moving the butt to the smoker.

The Mop is very simple. I make it a couple of days before so the flavors blend well.

3 cups of white vinegar
1/4 of cayenne pepper
1/2 to 1 whole lemon sliced up
Dash of salt

Once the butt hits about 160 degrees I apply the mop every hour. I use a silicone brush and just paint the butt all over. I go as quickly as possible to avoid too much heat and humidity escaping the smoker.

Full disclosure. I know I've mentioned this in the past, but almost all of my smoking recipes come from Chris Lilly. I've tweaked here and there, but they are very close to his exact recipes. This is one of those recipes. They've won the pulled pork Memphis in May something like 9 or 10 times with something very similar. It's good stuff. I think the guy is brilliant.

Do you inject right before putting it on the smoker? I watched a video where the guy wrapped the butt in Saran wrap and then injected. Then into the fridge overnight. Then mustard slather and then apply the rub before putting it on the smoker.

[FN Phat]

Do you inject right before putting it on the smoker? I watched a video where the guy wrapped the butt in Saran wrap and then injected. Then into the fridge overnight. Then mustard slather and then apply the rub before putting it on the smoker.

I was waiting for you to chime in here.

[CJF]

Do you inject right before putting it on the smoker? I watched a video where the guy wrapped the butt in Saran wrap and then injected. Then into the fridge overnight. Then mustard slather and then apply the rub before putting it on the smoker.

I inject, rub, and put on. The Saran wrap idea is an interesting one. I will have to give that a try.

[kccougar]

JL, can we get that coleslaw recipe? It looks perfect - I hate goopy coleslaw.

[Jeff Lebowski]

JL, can we get that coleslaw recipe? It looks perfect - I hate goopy coleslaw.

Uh-oh. Busted.

I used a bag of pre-cut cole slaw and some LiteHouse coleslaw dressing.

I have messed with homemade coleslaw sauce recipes and have never found one that seemed so much better that it was worth the effort. The trick with coleslaw is:

1) Don't use too much dressing. Just enough to coast the slaw but no more.
2) Don't mix it up until right before you are ready to eat it. That way it is nice and crunchy. It doesn't take long at all for it to get soggy if you let it sit for a while.

[kccougar]

Don't worry about it. If I knew there was such a thing as coleslaw dressing I would have already tried the same thing. Thanks!