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First attempt at pulled pork

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    First attempt at pulled pork

    So today, the weather is horrible but I am cooking anyway. :-)
    It's 70 degrees, but windy and rainy. I'm cooking on a covered deck so at least I'm not wet.

    Here's the pork butt I purchased at the store last night, they only had two fresh butts available. What do you see that is right or wrong with this cut? (wanting to learn) Click image for larger version

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    Maverick is set for 203 degrees on the meat temp. Current grill temp at the grate is 237.

    I put the pork butt on at 7:03am.

    9:15am update
    Grill temp at grate is 223. Having a bit of trouble keeping the temp up. Meat temp is 113. Just refilled the water pan and stirred the coals.

    2:30pm update
    Well, I have hit the stall! Was at 156 at 12:30pm. Stalled for a long time at 158, currently at 162. I am not wrapping it because I want a crunchy bark. Also, I want to see how long it will take to do a traditional smoked pork butt. Resisting the urge to do something and just let the process work... :-)
    Last edited by wjHunter; July 19, 2014, 01:52 PM.

    #2
    I'm not seeing a picture. Did you have problems getting it to upload?

    Comment


      #3
      I could not get anything but a small thumbnail to show up.

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks for the link, it works nicely. Nice butt you got there

        Comment


        • wjHunter
          wjHunter commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks Aaron :-)

        #5
        Try reducing the size of the picture until it's 100KB or so. Use the upload attachment icon on the upper right of the reply window. Click the fullsize option when you see it. Don't use the camera icon.

        Comment


        • wjHunter
          wjHunter commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks David, I think the problem was the size in KB.

        #6
        You can also just use the forum URL to display in the post itself. Like this.

        Comment


        • wjHunter
          wjHunter commented
          Editing a comment
          Hey, thats a great tip - thanks!

        #7
        Looks like a great piece of meat....from the picture it looks like the Butt was cut in half. Enjoy the yummy pork goodness!!!

        Comment


        • wjHunter
          wjHunter commented
          Editing a comment
          Yea, I think you are right. I think the store cut it in half and packaged it as two butts.

        #8
        Don't be afraid if it looks like a meteor crashed into the earth, my first attempt I thought I burned the darn thing. On the inside though, it was incredibly buttery and tasty. Nice!

        Comment


        • Huskee
          Huskee commented
          Editing a comment
          That's good BBQ when it looks burned, fools just about everyone when they do that the first time. That means it's real Q!

        • kirikintha
          kirikintha commented
          Editing a comment
          "real Q!" You should trademark that. That's good stuff!

        • wjHunter
          wjHunter commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks kiritintha! Yea, I'm actually going for the burned meteor look :-) We will see how my family reacts to it tonight :-)
          Last edited by wjHunter; July 19, 2014, 01:53 PM.

        #9

        First Pork Butt was a success. Family all liked it. We only started eating dinner 30 minutes after the time I planned this morning.

        We forgot to take a picture before we started pulling it, but here it is:
        Click image for larger version

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        Details:

        Meat Source: Half a pork butt (sawed in half at the store apparently) from Rocket City Meats in Huntsville AL. Precook weight was 5.97lbs.

        Rub: MeatHead's Memphis Dust

        Smoker: Cooked on a Weber Gold 22" with a smokenator kit. Total cook time was 12 hours, 49 minutes, until registered 203 in the center.

        Fuel: Kingsford Blue/White with hickory chunks - I had trouble keeping the temperature up today. Partly because of the weather (rainy). I wonder if a hotter burning charcoal would have been better?

        Thermometer: Maverick ET-733 and cheap instant read.

        Result: Bark was great, good smoke ring. Most of it was juicy. Very tasty, everyone loved the flavor.

        What I did:

        I applied Kosher salt last night about 8:00pm, applied the rub around 9:45pm. The pork butt went into the fridge until this morning. I started my charcoal about 6:15am, Pork Butt went on the weber at 7:03am. I placed one temp probe from the ET-733 into the center of the butt and the other probe went on the grate.

        I refilled the water pan as needed and added charcoal roughly every 1.5 hours. I experimented with adding 5 or 10 coals at a time to see what effect it would have. I left the top grate half open and controlled the cooker temp from the bottom vents.

        When the maverick probe indicated that it was done, I used the instant read to check the temp in different locations. I noticed that one side was about 8 degrees cooler than the other. Should have rotated it during the cook?

        I did not wrap the butt in foil but left it on the grate the entire time.

        ET-733 Food Probe Temperature Log From Today (Rough)

        Click image for larger version

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        ET-733 Grill Probe Temperature Log From Today (Rough)
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        Average Cook Temp was 230.84

        Thanks for all the help and suggestions!
        Last edited by wjHunter; July 20, 2014, 06:58 AM.

        Comment


        • kirikintha
          kirikintha commented
          Editing a comment
          WOW - great stats! I love stats! Good diary, supa-star!

        • wjHunter
          wjHunter commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks kirikintha! Hopefully everyone can learn something from my notes.

        #10
        Great job, that's classic pulled pork right there, you nailed it! Looks like you had a stall just shy of 165 for...I'm guessing 3 - 3 1/2hrs or so? If you were to wrap it at that point you could probably shave a couple hours' time off. But looks like you got the end results you were after regardless. Yeah, it's a good idea to rotate the butt at least once, maybe 2 or 3 times.

        Comment


          #11
          That looks DAMN good! Great job! The biggest reason I like to wrap (put in a pan and cover with foil) is to catch the drippings to make a sauce from for sandwiches the next day. Like Huskee said, you nailed it.

          Comment


          • wjHunter
            wjHunter commented
            Editing a comment
            Thanks! :-)

            I am wishing I had drippings for a sauce today. Any suggestions for a sauce minus the drippings for sandwiches today?

          #12
          Doesn't look like a first time to me - Awesome looking Smoke and Bark!! I foil for the drippings as well - or you could just put it in a uncovered foil pan so you still get your great Bark and drippings at same time. Great Job

          Comment


            #13
            Ditto, great job! Pulled pork is the BEST.

            Comment


            • wjHunter
              wjHunter commented
              Editing a comment
              Thanks John!

            #14
            It looks really super tadty from here! Comlimenti. I love that black meteor color. Cooking average T was ???

            Comment


              #15
              Originally posted by Aaron 'Huskee' Lyons View Post
              Great job, that's classic pulled pork right there, you nailed it! Looks like you had a stall just shy of 165 for...I'm guessing 3 - 3 1/2hrs or so? If you were to wrap it at that point you could probably shave a couple hours' time off. But looks like you got the end results you were after regardless. Yeah, it's a good idea to rotate the butt at least once, maybe 2 or 3 times.
              Thanks Aaron. I updated the chart above to make it a bit easier to see what was going on. Next time, I will do a better job of logging.

              Based on this new chart, where would you wrap it at (if you were going to wrap it)?

              Comment

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