The Pulled Pork Thread

[The_Douger]

Ok, my first pair of butts are on the Traeger. They grill is holding steady at 225, I just installed the digital readout temp gauge last weekend. I have done ribs several times just cooking them on "low" but I wanted to try some other cuts and didn't feel that comfortable doing it without better temp control.

Is there any setting as far as the "smoke" gauge that I need to do? there seems to be P1-P15. Right now mine is on P4, and the temp has been fine, so I've just kept it there.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Dang it, y84it. Where is that report on your cook?

[Green Monstah]

Dang it, y84it. Where is that report on your cook?

And the douger too.

[cowboy]

I have done a lot of successful cooks without wrapping. I find wrapping gives me more consistently good results, but you can still turn out a great product without it.

I tried, but didn't start soon enough and had to break out the foil and turn up the heat about two hours before it was time to eat. I cut the money muscle out of a few butts and and they were cooked nicely without wrapping. I also smoked a couple of cheap prime ribs that turned out decent. I hate select prime rib because it is dry, but the smoke helped the flavor and foil seemed to make it less dry.

[The_Douger]

And the douger too.

I need to start taking some pictures of this stuff. I think it's fun to see what others cook, but I feel like a huge novice with this stuff, so I'm not sure how much it contributes to the thread.

The cook went pretty well, everyone really enjoyed the food. I felt like it was a little dry but it was still quite good and flavorful, and better than most of the stuff we buy at restaurants so overall I'd give it a solid 8/10. We went to a breakfast thing and I left the smoker on 225 and P4 and I came home at 1 pm and the temp had climbed to 375, the butts were at 180, and the smoker was smoking like crazy. I turned it all down to 180 for like a half hour, and then back up to 225 and turned it to P0, and the temp the rest of the afternoon was consistent at around 230 or so. I did a mix of hickory and apple pellets. I made a mix of 2:1 apple juice/vinegar and sprayed it for the last three hours from 1-4 about every 20 minutes. I started at 6am and around 4pm it was probing at about 195-197, so I took the meat off and put it in the oven inside at 170 until about 5:30, took it out and pulled it at about 6:15. My kids are not big on meat and they were sitting around picking at the burnt ends and stuff, and really liked the little pork sandwiches.

My wife and her sister made spinach and potato salad, and they made some really good coleslaw that we put on the sandwiches, and we made dinner rolls to put the sandwiches on. My BiL made some delicious beans that had a molasses base, and so it was a really nice meal. My FiL and BiL both mentioned the meat and how good it was. My parents came over as well, and they liked it a lot too.

I'm just more worried about whatever happened that made me have the temp spike while I was gone. Other than that 2h period of time, the temp was really consistent with the new digital monitor I installed.

We used Plowboys Yardbird Rub on one butt and Spade L Pork rub on the other. I think I like the Spade L better of those two. I am hesitant to try anything with a kick because nobody likes spicy stuff around my house besides me.

My wife likes Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, but I've been liking this one called Swamp Boys, and everyone seemed to like the Swamp Boys more as far as sauce.

[Y84it]

Dang it, y84it. Where is that report on your cook?

Coming stand by/

[Y84it]

It has been fun using the Traeger over the weekend. Wanted to test it out before I cooked for the whole family. I decided to cook ribs on Saturday to give it a Test Drive. More on that later.

Sunday Night I brought out the 2 Pork Butts (Costco bone out) out of the fridge and rubbed it with French yellow mustard and Spade L Ranch Pork rub on both used bamboo skewers to plug the cuts in the meat. Set the Traeger at 225. I ended up putting them on the grill around 945pm ( Sunday Night). Checked on the around 11 pm and my and the interior of the meat temp was 90. Set my alarm to wake up at 4am to Wrap. 4am interior temp is 150 decided to pull it anyway and wrap. Wrapped in two layers of HD tinfoil added about a half cup of pure Apple Juice placed back in smoker. Headed off to play Golf. Around 8am I woke my wife up to check them and the interior temps they were 198 and 190. Wife ended up puling them and placing them in oven @ 170. Family was planned for 1pm so I was a little nervous that they would be in the oven to long. Pulled from oven at 1230pm to let them sit. Started pulling meat at 115pm.

Family absolutely loved them! I thought they were good but I think I can do better. I am sure the actual Pulled Pork sandwich would have been better had I not been test tasting so frequently so I was not that hungry.

Pork Butt 5.26.JPG
Pulled Pork B.jpgPPSW.jpg



It was fun thanks for all the Tips. Super excited to try different things on the Traeger. Was fun and easy to use.

[Y84it]

It has been fun using the Traeger over the weekend. Wanted to test it out before I cooked for the whole family. I decided to cook ribs on Saturday to give it a Test Drive. More on that later.

Sunday Night I brought out the 2 Pork Butts (Costco bone out) out of the fridge and rubbed it with French yellow mustard and Spade L Ranch Pork rub on both used bamboo skewers to plug the cuts in the meat. Set the Traeger at 225. I ended up putting them on the grill around 945pm ( Sunday Night). Checked on the around 11 pm and my and the interior of the meat temp was 90. Set my alarm to wake up at 4am to Wrap. 4am interior temp is 150 decided to pull it anyway and wrap. Wrapped in two layers of HD tinfoil added about a half cup of pure Apple Juice placed back in smoker. Headed off to play Golf. Around 8am I woke my wife up to check them and the interior temps they were 198 and 190. Wife ended up puling them and placing them in oven @ 170. Family was planned for 1pm so I was a little nervous that they would be in the oven to long. Pulled from oven at 1230pm to let them sit. Started pulling meat at 115pm.

Family absolutely loved them! I thought they were good but I think I can do better. I am sure the actual Pulled Pork sandwich would have been better had I not been test tasting so frequently so I was not that hungry.

[ATTACH]5858[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]5859[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5860[/ATTACH]



It was fun thanks for all the Tips. Super excited to try different things on the Traeger. Was fun and easy to use.

Feel I need a better picture of this. ;BBQ Pulled Pork 5.15.jpg)

[Drunk Tank]

I need to start taking some pictures of this stuff. I think it's fun to see what others cook, but I feel like a huge novice with this stuff, so I'm not sure how much it contributes to the thread.

The cook went pretty well, everyone really enjoyed the food. I felt like it was a little dry but it was still quite good and flavorful, and better than most of the stuff we buy at restaurants so overall I'd give it a solid 8/10. We went to a breakfast thing and I left the smoker on 225 and P4 and I came home at 1 pm and the temp had climbed to 375, the butts were at 180, and the smoker was smoking like crazy. I turned it all down to 180 for like a half hour, and then back up to 225 and turned it to P0, and the temp the rest of the afternoon was consistent at around 230 or so. I did a mix of hickory and apple pellets. I made a mix of 2:1 apple juice/vinegar and sprayed it for the last three hours from 1-4 about every 20 minutes. I started at 6am and around 4pm it was probing at about 195-197, so I took the meat off and put it in the oven inside at 170 until about 5:30, took it out and pulled it at about 6:15. My kids are not big on meat and they were sitting around picking at the burnt ends and stuff, and really liked the little pork sandwiches.

My wife and her sister made spinach and potato salad, and they made some really good coleslaw that we put on the sandwiches, and we made dinner rolls to put the sandwiches on. My BiL made some delicious beans that had a molasses base, and so it was a really nice meal. My FiL and BiL both mentioned the meat and how good it was. My parents came over as well, and they liked it a lot too.

I'm just more worried about whatever happened that made me have the temp spike while I was gone. Other than that 2h period of time, the temp was really consistent with the new digital monitor I installed.

We used Plowboys Yardbird Rub on one butt and Spade L Pork rub on the other. I think I like the Spade L better of those two. I am hesitant to try anything with a kick because nobody likes spicy stuff around my house besides me.

My wife likes Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, but I've been liking this one called Swamp Boys, and everyone seemed to like the Swamp Boys more as far as sauce.

The "P setting" refers to the smoke setting auger timing that the controller uses. I am not sure what the P-Settings are for your specific controller but here is a list of what they used to be.

Smoke Setting Auger Timing

P-0 15 sec on 45 sec off
P-1 15 sec on 55 sec off
P-2 15 sec on 65 sec off
P-3 15 sec on 75 sec off
P-4 15 sec on 85 sec off
P-5 15 sec on 95 sec off
P-6 15 sec on 105 sec off
P-7 15 sec on 115 sec off
P-8 15 sec on 125 sec off
P-9 15 sec on 135 sec off

When you set the controller to a specific temp the auger runs continuously until that temp is reached. Then the controller goes into smoke mode based on the above table. When the grill's temperature drops 3 degrees below target temperture, the auger will run until the setpoint is again reached. I am not sure why you had the temperature spike, but it is not unheard of. When I had a Traeger, I found P-2 worked well for me (Which is the factory setting). I would look at upgrading to a PID controller if you want more accurate temps. Blazin Grill Works makes one that is a retrofit for their grills, but is easily adaptable to a Traeger. It runs about $250. I use one on my FEC-100 that originally had a Trager controller on it.

[ERCougar]

I tried dry brining pulled pork for the first time a few days ago (just salted the meat 24 hours ahead of time). I can't believe I've never done that before--I thought it was a huge difference. It also seemed to eliminate the stall. I was done way earlier than I thought I would be.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I tried dry brining pulled pork for the first time a few days ago (just salted the meat 24 hours ahead of time). I can't believe I've never done that before--I thought it was a huge difference. It also seemed to eliminate the stall. I was done way earlier than I thought I would be.

Interesting. What was the flavor like?

I am quite sure that the pre-cooked pulled pork you get at Costco has been brined.

[ERCougar]

Interesting. What was the flavor like?

I am quite sure that the pre-cooked pulled pork you get at Costco has been brined.

It just seemed more flavorful all around? Hard to describe and it may just be due to salt just tasting good. I did it for the tenderness and it did seem to keep more moisture in the meat as well. Anyway, it's easy, so I'll incorporate it into my routine. I got the idea from amazingribs, and he says that salt is the only thing that really penetrates the meat, so he dry brines ahead of time, and then applies the rub right before he puts it on the smoker.

[Green Monstah]

ERC,

What kind of salt did you use (Kosher, Sea, Table)?

[ERCougar]

ERC,

What kind of salt did you use (Kosher, Sea, Table)?

I use kosher for everything on the smoker or grill but I don't know if it really matters.

[Drunk Tank]

Last time I was at Bam Bam's I noticed he had what was called Swachos, (swine+nachos=swachos). I always called them pulled pork nachos, but I like swachos better. I made some tonight with some left over pulled pork I snuck away from a cook I did for my cousin this weekend. I layered tortilla chips, black beans with sauteed onions and garlic, beer queso sauce I made, pulled pork, and bbq sauce and repeated this for a second layer. I put them in the smoker @ 375° for 10-15 min to marry everything together and give them a kiss of smoke. I finished it off with sliced scallions, avocado, cilantro and a dollop of sour cream. So delish!

Butts pre-wrap...my cuz bought thew cheapest butts he could find (.99/lb) They were skin on whole picnics. Had to do a little butchery.





In the smoker:



Out of the smoker and finished!