Tips for Pulled Pork

[Suz BBQ Barnes]

Ok so I knocked the chicken outta the park yesterday and am having guests over for my mom's 76th birthday BBQ on Saturday. I watched the PBC website video for pulled pork and am a bit confused on WHY they make you take it off and wrap in foil and add juice or beer. I think that would kill the bark, make it taste like fruiting a beer or putting vegetables in a cake! I am a purist when it come to smoking meats! The worse thing I do is inject butter into my briskets before smoking them. I don't mop during cooking, don't peak or anything. I always "pre season/marinade" all meat at least two days in advance with salt and rubs, wrap em up tight, put in fridge until ready to go on the smoker.
I would like to try the apple wood Kingsford briquette this time. Any suggestions or just do my thing?

[Jerod Broussard]

I can't remember the last time I wrapped a butt period, much less in the PBC.

I just use regular briquettes, be it B & B or Kingsford, and let it roll.

[Voodoo]

No need to wrap. I think that's just Noah's preference. Most folks here hang the butt until about 160 IT or so, then put it on the grate simply so it won't fall in the fire as it gets tender. I never wrap mine.
Have only used Kingsford Apple wood briquettes once. My temps ran very high that cook. Obviously, it could have been any other of half a dozen factors. If you just go blue bag, you'll be happy.
Have fun and good luck.

[LA Pork Butt]

I only wrap if I get pressed for time, but I do wrap after the cook and put in a faux cambro for 2-4 hours before serving.

[MBMorgan]

I'd stick with the Kingsford Original blue bag briquettes, too. If you want a little apple wood accent, a few chunks or a small handful of chips should do the trick on the PBC.

[Bob's BBQ]

I like bark as well and did a couple of butts on my PBC without wrapping. They came out great. Just keep an eye on your fuel late in cook. I made it on a single basket. I would also vote for Kingsford blue bag and use some wood for smoke. Apple is great with pork.

[Huskee]

If you're careful with your wrapping it won't affect the bark much, if at all. Most folks prefer to not wrap butts as you've seen in the comments, but as LA Pork Butt mentions sometimes you'll value that time saving step if the cook is progressing slower than you expected. No one wants to eat at 8pm when they thought dinner was going to be 6ish. Also, wrapping helps hold in some of the pork's juices, which you can add back to the meat when you're pulling it. What I do is wrap long after the stall- say when the meat is 180 IT or so. By then the bark is killer and when you unwrap it after the hold to shred it it bounces back well and you'll notice little difference. I would NEVER add liquid to the foil, it's just not necessary, brisket, pork butt, whatever. You'll see that if you decide to wrap and don't add liquid that the meat's juices pool up in there. I agree with you, I don't want my meat tasting like applesauce or beer. Keep those items where they belong!

[BigBear]

I don't think you need to wrap either. Meathead says he only wraps brisket. That's good enough for me. Do be prepared for a long cook however. I cooked a PB last Sunday that took me 13 hours and 8 minutes to hit that magic 203 degree internal temperature. I started off trying to cook low and slow at 225 degrees. After 9 hours I started raising the temperature 25 degrees every hour of so ending up with a final pit temp of 325. I added another chimney of charcoal at the 10 and a half hour mark. Next time I will probably start off a little hotter at 250 - 275 to shorten the cook.

[LA Pork Butt]

I typically cook 10# pork buts and don't wrap, any they usually take between 12-14 hours at 225. If it becomes necessary to speed things up I sometimes raise the temp and other times wrap.

[Jerod Broussard]

I don't like to run butts much under 275. I'll allow 250 if it is an overnight cook. Most of the time it will settle b/n those two temps.

[JeffJ]

One trick that Huskee advocates (which I tried and loved the results) is to make sure your butt is in the 2.5 - 4 pound range. If you have a 10 pound butt cut it into 3 equal sized chunks. You'll get a higher proportion of bark to interior meat and the butt will cook a little bit more quickly.

Like some others have said, wrapping is great if you are saving time or are worried about the meat drying out. Butts are so well marbled with so much collagen that is never an issue. Also, my understanding is the PBC tends to run kind of hot, in the 260-270 range. At those temps your stall will be shorter than when cooking at 225.

I've only wrapped on a couple of occasions and it was always to speed up the cook. Otherwise, I only wrap after the cook is done and then go faux cambro.

[LA Pork Butt]

Huskee Please comment. Meathead said thickness determines cook time. Does cutting it into three parts create one part thinner than the original thickness? If not, does it really cook faster or is Meathead wrong?

[Jim Burgin]

Several people mention hanging butts up to a certain point and then putting them on the grill. Why not just put them on the grill the whole way? Thanks. Jim Burgin

[MBMorgan]

My money is on cmczimskey being correct. The PBC cooks primarily via convection ... with a little radiant heat from the coals thrown in. The grill grate adds conductive heat to the equation ... which is much more "aggressive" than the other two.

[pittkappasig]

i have also found, and this just might be inside my own head, that hanging until the 160s-170s and then transferring to the grates allows for some creative ways to stuff more butt sections into the PBC.

[Chuck]

I started just putting the butt on the grate and comes out just fine when the goal is to pull it. I have not been able to determine how hanging it versus using the grate makes an ounce of difference.

[Huskee]

LA Pork Butt No Meathead's not wrong, but it also depends on how your butt comes from the store- is it a thinner roast like cut, or is it boxy & thick? If you pick one up that's thinner to start with you don't have as much wiggle room. I cut mine vertically however possible to maintain the thickness. Sometimes it doesn't save much time doing that sometimes it seems quicker, either way I think it makes a better finished product...

[LA Pork Butt]

@ Huskee Thanks for replying. I usually get 10# butts a good 4" thick, so if Meathead was correct I could've visualize making any difference in the cook time unless you cut it horizontally. Smaller butts I can vizualize a cook time difference.

[PappyBBQ]

I like to keep my butts and chuckies 5 pounds or less. One because they cook faster, and two, because that's about all we can eat in a week!

[_John_]

Wrapped are more moist and I can do them in 6 hours, that said I don't do it anymore, I can still get moist enough without sacrificing bark.

[David Parrish]

Butts come out better unwrapped on the PBC. I've tested this several times. Hang until it hits 160 then put it on the grate until it hits 203.

[Livermoron]

I can't wait to try this...

[rototiller78]

Mr. Parrish, after you pull it when it hits 203-do you wrap it in foil and let it rest or do you dig right in?

[David Parrish]

I dig right in. You can wrap and cambro to hold the meat if you want to eat later, and some say it'll be better if you do, but I've not realy noticed much of a difference.

And who's this Mr. Parrish individual?