In the Pulled Pork Doldrums...

[jfmorris]

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I've reached a plateau, or a level of BBQ saturation in my blood stream. But for some reason, as I read folks plans on what they will cook for Memorial Day, and see mention of "pulled pork for sure", I just cannot build excitement.

I've been mentally tallying the number of 8 to 10 pound Boston butts I've smoked since I got my offset in 1996, and doing about a dozen a year for myself, a 8 to 12 a year many years to give away, some fundraiser smokes (84 butts at once!), engagement parties (8 to 10 at once), and so on, I am fairly confident that my Boston butts cremated in the backyard, to borrow an expression from our old friend Danjohnston949 , is up somewhere between 600 and 700 at the moment.

Sure it ain't professional scale smoking, but its a lot of butts when I think about it, and all in all, aside from rubs and accoutrements like NC style sauce, KC style sauce, and so on, pulled pork is pulled pork is pulled pork. With smoke as a spice of course. I don't even consider what my wife or mother would do in a crock pot the same thing.

I've varied it up a few times the past few years with Korean BBQ style, but even with that, I just no longer can build up excitement about smoking another butt.

Maybe its my general malaise in cooking this calendar year, partially due to health issues Yvonne is dealing with, that is affecting me.

Anyone else feel this way about that most humble of BBQ cuts, the humble Boston butt aka pork shoulder?

It did just dawn on me.... I saw Steven Raichlen rotisserie cook a Boston butt, and I've never done that. Maybe that will build some excitement, haha!

[Jfrosty27]

I never do pork butts. While certainly a good thing to eat now and then, it’s at the bottom of my bbq menu list. Just kind of ho hum to me. And I think I have cooked less than 20 of them! So I hear you Jim.

[STEbbq]

I don’t do pork butts very often but if I were to prioritize pork demand in this house it’d probably go ribs, bacon, pork chops, pigskit, then butts. Maybe just not the ideal mechanism for delivering pork flavors to the table. Of course, I never have to serve more than 3-4 so I don’t need the scale of pork butts for service.

[captainlee]

All my bbq now I'm searching for different flavors but still enjoy the cooking. Maybe you need to take a break. We have really cut back on brisket, maybe one a year now. Everybody, family and dogs, are coming for Thanksgiving this year, a total of 16 humans and not sure of the dog count. Brisket may be on the smoker for additional meals as most will be there for 3 to 4 days.

[LA Pork Butt]

Jim, I’ve lost track of how many I have done. I still do them, but for family and friends. I am not competition level and am not interested in that. I’ve done enough that I reached competency and the challenge is gone. If you are anything like me you are a man in search of a challenge. Once competency is reached the thrill is gone.

[Jim White]

Saturday I did the cook for our annual gathering of 50 or so folks for the Supper Club at our church. The organizers sent the first draft of the info sheet for folks to me with pulled pork as the entree I would cook. But I had already told them I had done enough butts for that group and I wanted to do pulled beef.

Although I struggled through a few operator errors cooking 19 pounds of Angus chuck roast on one side of my LSG Adjustable, the final product came out really well. We wound up at the church instead of our house because of the rain threat. I knew things would be okay when I pulled the lid off the first hotel pan to start pulling the beef and someone on the far side of the banquet hall yelled "Jim, I can smell you from over here!" (They did finally clarify that they meant the aroma from the beef).

[klflowers]

We can guess

[au4stree]

I love pulled pork, I cook it all kinds of ways, but have yet to conquer carnitas. The rotisserie is good, highly recommend. Bark seems to set better, like when I do it on my PBC. Much like you are with pulled pork, I am the same way about pork ribs, I just don’t love them. I much prefer beef ribs.

[bmillin]

Bingo! Carnitas is a great way to cook a butt. Carne Adovada..

[jfmorris]

Glad to know I'm not alone in this!

Any time we have a pot luck at church to go to, or my wife tells me she needs to provide meals for a family for whatever reason, I love being able to pull a butt out of the deep freeze and toss it on the smoker. It's an economical way to feed a good number of people.

I did do a couple of butts as "porkstrami" in recent years, and it was really good - different texture than brisket, but for 1/3 to price per pound. Tasso is another thing you can make with a butt, and I have a friend who swears by his buckboard bacon, and I need to try curing a butt for that too.

I'll keep the butts in the freezer this Memorial Day, and save them for a rainy day, a pot luck, or maybe curing.

[LA Pork Butt]

Hey Jim, last year I used a Mexican rub on a Butt to make a smoked version of Pork Carnitas at a church event. It was different and there wasn’t any to take home.

[Oak Smoke]

If I do a pork butt anytime soon it will be to make a huge batch of tamales. They are so good and freezing doesn’t hurt them at all. We freeze ours at 1 dozen to a package. They are an easy meal to thaw and heat.

[HawkerXP]

Tamales.

Some of us north easterners don't know how.

[jfmorris]

I am intimidated by the masa/corn husk side of making tamales! I think I could make fillings easily enough though...

[Oak Smoke]

jfmorris It’s very easy. With 10 minutes practice you’ll be an expert. My biggest complaint about assembling tamales is that it’s so boring. That’s why I like having the kids here so we can form an assembly line. With just a little help you can turn out a bunch of tamales.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Just a suggestion, whenever I get bored of a protein, especially a cheap and easy one like pulled pork... I find a funky recipe. Try something Asian like with honey, ginger, and some sort of heat. Try something Middle Eastern like chermoula or whatever. If it works on poultry or fish chances are good it will work on a butt for pulled pork with little or even no modification other than going extra heavy on the rub unless you add some more seasoning after you pull/shred.

[Mosca]

I do one a year. That is enough.

[BBryans3]

I don’t do many pork butts since I started making sausages.. but they are surely a big party menu item

[tstalafuse]

You are not alone. I get the doldrums about brisket, ribs, chicken, and pork butts. I am not much on seafood, lamb, or goat. Maybe we do need the scientists from Jurassic Park to bring back some of the dino species to see how they would cook up. Much like ItsAllGoneToTheDogs I try to spice it up with different injections, spice, or techniques. Or, maybe you should cook a goat this weekend or order something exotic like camel, giraffe, zebra, or mountain lion...

[TripleB]

I love the pork butt. So versatile and forgiving. It is really the only protein I cook in my PBC. But so many things you can do with pork butt....sausage, carnitas, posole, soups, stews, kalua pork, on and on.

What I really don't eat and not that interested in is brisket. Give me pulled pork, ribs or chicken before brisket.

[JoeSousa]

I never really cook pork butts for just normal meals but do a few a year for events, parties, etc. (probably 10-12 butts a year) and every time I cook one I wish I would do it more often. They are delicious the day of and makes for some great leftovers. It is easy to seal up a couple pounds in the vacuum sealer and have in the freezer for some meals down the road.

One of my favorite, easy uses for the leftovers is to just add some to a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese.