An utterly ridiculous, absolutely absurd, yet curiously effective way of pulling pork
Steven Raichlen posted a short video on his instagram of a novel way of pulling pork. Here are two screenshots I took. I think they speak for themselves.
Works amazing. Done in less than 30 seconds. Although, I will tell you from experience to also us a stainless steel bucket because it can also shred the plastic buckets..
Use to use the bear claws and they did work well. Then I learned that I could use our mixer with the batter beater attachment. That works very well, just don't over do it or you will get puree. At least I know how to make pork puree for my more senior years.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
I can see this as effective if you gotta pull a BUNCH of butts, and need to do it quick. And a 5 gallon bucket certainly will contain the mess better than my Kitchenaid mixer bowl will!
That said, I prefer pulling by hand, using the bear claws to separate the pork initially, letting some of that heat and steam out, before I dig in with my nitrile gloved hands to separate fat and gristle out. I've had too many butts over the years that had stuff I wanted to discard, and wouldn't want to mix in using a blender or paint mixer and drill.
I will say there was one time in 2017 where I was pulling 9 butts by myself at 2am, for a big engagement party the next day, and might have been tempted to take a shortcut like this if I had known about it back then!
LA Pork Butt I never held butts before pulling until about a year ago, after seeing your advice to do so. It does help tenderize things and make the pulling easier for sure. Bark softens a little while wrapped in foil but that's ok.
jfmorris what I meant by
separation was not the pulling, but the separating of unwanted interior fat before you pull. I usually cook to 200 internal and the hold with carryover temp finishes the cook. I am always disappointed if I serve without the hold.
Kamado Joe Big Joe III
Pit Barrel Cooker
Camp Chef Flat Top 900
Weber Performer 22
PowerFlamer Propane 160
Meater +
Thermoworks Smoke
Thermoworks Thermapen
Temp Spike
I really like my bear claws, I find them very controllable and quick. I would not want to plunge my gloved hands into that hot, steaming pile of meat though, way too hot. Of course, I only ever have one at a time to deal with and I don't begrude the five minutes it takes me to pull.
The only thing I look to discard is that lymph gland, and I find them only once in a while, presumably the ones I tend to get are cut from the animal at a slightly different position (not clear on these details) or are packaged boneless (or both). Been awhile since I had a butt that included it...
jfmorris I'm in the same boat as you on fit. I got a case of XXL black nitrile on Amazon about 5 years ago. They fit great and even work over glove liners - XL cotton ones that aren't a perfect fit but work fine. I'll try to find links if I can... for you, and also because my case is just about out and I need to order more.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
I prefer pulling pork by hand with cotton insulator gloves inside XL food safe nitrile gloves. That way I can sort out the pieces of fat that didn't render well.
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