My kids' school had their International Potluck dinner, and being in the SF Bay Area, we have a brilliant assortment of ethnicities and cultures that bring an incredible spread of food. One of my favorite eating nights of the year... With my wife being Filipina, we have usually brought a Filipino dish (Mmmmm.... crispy pata... if you don't know it, look it up!) But this year, we decided to represent my side, and I brought pulled pork. Started with a 14 lb boneless butt, which basically fell into two halves. Dry brined overnight, and rubbed with the whiskey smoked brown sugar rub I have playing with. The butts went on the grate on the PBC, because even though I trussed them up, they were just too floppy to hang. They went on at about 9:30am. At about 1pm, they had hit around 160 IT, and I had a pretty good bark. At that point, my coals were still going fine, but were really uneven, so I pulled the butts and the grate, and stirred the coals to distribute them. Once everything was back in place, I started painting them with Carolina Treet every 20-30 minutes for the next hour and a half. After the final paint had set, I pulled them (IT was about 165, so I figure I was in the middle of the stall, although I think painting them with sauce might contribute to that). Wrapped them in foil with no liquid, and stuck them in a 275 degree oven. With a couple of other things going on, I inadvertently let them get up to about 205-208, at which they went into the cambro for a bit over an hour. When I took them out and pulled them, they were tender, buttery, and had just the right bit of tang from the sauce. The bark wasn't thick or crunchy, but a nice tender jerky-like consistency. Easily my best butts yet.
I don't really monitor temps on the PBC, but I occasionally stick my Thermopop in one of the rebar holes, just to make sure I am not below 220-ish. I don't know how accurate that is, but it makes me feel better. I know that the pulling the lid off to paint the pig was probably pulling temps up at the end of the PBC cook, but it didn't seem to be a problem, and I think helped the sauce to set.
Anyway, sorry for such a long post, but this was a very satisfying cook!
I don't really monitor temps on the PBC, but I occasionally stick my Thermopop in one of the rebar holes, just to make sure I am not below 220-ish. I don't know how accurate that is, but it makes me feel better. I know that the pulling the lid off to paint the pig was probably pulling temps up at the end of the PBC cook, but it didn't seem to be a problem, and I think helped the sauce to set.
Anyway, sorry for such a long post, but this was a very satisfying cook!
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