Pulled pork ala DogFaced PonySoldier

[Finster]

Yesterday, I tried out a pulled pork method shared by realdocBBQ

I started with 1 8 lb bone in butt, and 6 lbs of pork shoulder "country style" ribs.
I cut them into about 20 smaller chunks and seasoned with kosher salt

I let that sit for about 30 minutes while I did some other prep.

Next, I seasoned "liberally" with MMD, and let that sweat for another 30 minutes or so.


Loaded the Bronco up with a mix of briqs and char logs, and 3 chunks of cherry wood.
Dialed it in at 260, and waited for the smoke to clear.


3 hours later, I had the bark where I wanted it, and put them into foil covered pans to finish..



about 2 hours later they were probe tender and reading anywhere from 205 to 210..
I pulled them and just let the pans sit on the counter to cool for about 2 hours.


This is what the results were after resting, and shredding.





Overall, I was pleased with the outcome.


A few notes...
This was my first time deboning a pork butt. As a result, I will be less critical of using Costco boneless butts in the future...lol.

Chunking the butt makes for extra prep work on the front end, but is worth the effort.

When I first pulled the pans off of the smoker, I was a bit concerned as the bark had become soft.
After the 2 hour rest period, the bark had firmed back up, and the meat was still plenty tender enough to pull by hand.

There were plenty of pan juices and I added about 1/3 cup of liquid* and some additional MMD while pulling/ mixing.
* I used White Cran/ Strawberry juice as that is what I had on hand.
The sweetness from the juice added a little balance to the savory of the MMD.

The important thing for me was the process, and that it will be easily adapted to whatever flavor profile I might decide to try in the future..
Currently contemplating a Korean style pulled pork that I recently came across a recipe for.

Thanks to DFPS for sharing his method. I'm sure to be using it again in the future!!

[barelfly]

I’m gonna be smoking a pork butt in a few weeks for our lake week trip and will do this method as well. I do this for a few other cooks, specifically for the surface area of the meat. Thanks for sharing your cook of DFPS method!

[realdocBBQ]

W00T! Excellent work!

I did this again last week, but once the bark was set, I pulled them and braised them in birria sauces. This method is just freaking awesome. All the bark you could want, tender, juicy meat and takes a LOT less time than smoking a whole butt!

Now.... yes, if you want the ultimate in completely crispy, crunchy bark, you can do that.

You can leave them whole and pan them up to manage to capture the juices for mixing later:



But I love the chunked up method. I mix white grape with it. Not a lot, just maybe 1/4-1/3 cup and I love the tiny bit of sweetness it adds.

[HouseHomey]

Birria braise…. Interesting. Sounds like we need to make a birria dry rub…. barelfly ??

[barelfly]

Would be an easy rub to make with the recipe I have - the birria I make, I use the adobo sauce from Alex Stupak, so could just leave out the cider vinegar. But I really like the cider vinegar working with this. HouseHomey

[Finster]

Coincidentally, yesterday turned into a stock the freezer day (I got my rebate check from Costco and spent it all on meat), so I also braised a couple of chuck roasts Birria style!

Made about 8 lbs of hash for beef pot pies that was added to the freezer as well.
All vac sealed and frozen, ready for future week night meals

[HouseHomey]

Looks fantastic!!!

[Grillin Dad]

Did you use the deflector plate on your bronco for this? I'm thinking of doing this on my PBX next time I do pork butts. But with no plate, I'm afraid of burning the liquid in the pans with the meat inside.

[HawkerXP]

Move to the oven once you put in the pan?

[Finster]

I did use the deflector plate.
I did not add any additional liquid to the pans until I was pulling it.

[Finster]

HawkerXP
I finished on the smoker

[tstalafuse]

I assume the cook was faster as well? A normal bone in runs about 10hrs for me.

[Finster]

Faster for sure. About 5 hours total cook time. 2 hour rest.
The meat went on the smoker at 9 am. I had it pulled, vac sealed, and in the freezer, by 5 pm.

[Sweaty Paul]

Love this idea and the chunks for the extra bark bits. I have taken to adding some apple juice and butter with extra rub after I pull the meat. I think it adds some extra pizazz. realdocBBQ I think the barria idea brilliant too.

[captainlee]

I do the same with apple juice and a bit of apple cider vinegar. Sometimes I will add red pepper flakes. This eliminates any reason to inject. Also it comes out great when you vacuum seal and reheat, everything is very moist.

[jerrybell]

Great write up. Thanks Finster. I haven't done butts since I read about the method realdocBBQ uses. This post makes me want to try something similar even more.

[Santamarina]

I need to try this method. When I do whole, bone-in butts they take 14+ hours - because I don’t wrap them, just let the outside bark get all meteorite lookin - and that’s a big time commitment when you’re feeding a stickburner.

This method seems like it would give me the same results in less time…and with even MORE delicious bark.

[realdocBBQ]

To a degree Santamarina - for one, I would go with larger chunks, if you want that meteorite crispy bark, because with smaller chunks trying to go that long it WILL dry out the meat. Usually with a full butt you can go completely unwrapped and it's fine, but not like this, I've found. You'll have to experiment and see what works - I might suggest doing 4 chunks total for a large butt, not 8-10 chunks like I do. Otherwise, you could end up with pork jerky.