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Need Help!1st time pulled pork

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    Need Help!1st time pulled pork

    Hello everybody,

    I cooked my first pulled pork the 31st, here how it went:

    I cured the pork butt with salt overnight in the fridge;
    Temp between 220-250 F, just at the beginning reached 270;
    at 161 F meat temperature, it stalled for 3 hours and I had to go with the texas crutch;
    eventually temp started to increase again and I took the meat off when it reached 195';
    total cooking time about 9 hrs.

    Taste was good, but it was a little dry, any clue why?. Here the pics:

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    #2
    Did you collect the juices from the crutch and pour them back in after shredding?

    Comment


      #3
      And a tray under the pork to catch drippings will also help. Also, a big clod of meat could use two or three days dry brining.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by SMOG MAN View Post
        Did you collect the juices from the crutch and pour them back in after shredding?
        Yep, but I think it'wasn't enough juice and the meat, after been shredded, was too dry I suppose...

        Comment


          #5
          One of the main reasons why pulled pork seems dry is that it was pulled and left to sit for a bit. You have to cover the pork after pulling. Once you pull the pork. All of that moisture is spread out over a large surface area and that moisture leaves the meat pretty quickly.
          Here are a few suggestions
          Make sure you dry brine for at least 12 hours before cooking.
          Don't pull until people are waiting to eat. The faster the meat goes from pulled to eaten, the better it will be.
          Once pulled, cover the serving dish or bowl with foil to retain moisture.
          If your still having problems you can inject. I have used commercial injections and apple juice. The commercial injections work better because of the phosphates but Apple juice works pretty well too. I hardly ever inject, unless its a cook off or something. You should have enough moisture that you don't need to inject.

          I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions.

          Comment


          • lelex
            lelex commented
            Editing a comment
            Thank you Spinaker, I'm planning to give another try within a couple of weeks, I'll surely follow your suggestions and let you know how it's going.

          • Spinaker
            Spinaker commented
            Editing a comment
            Cool man! lelex Let us know.

          • LA Pork Butt
            LA Pork Butt commented
            Editing a comment
            lelex I will second Spinaker. I would holding it in a faux cambro for a couple hours helps. I usallly cook over night to serve for noon. I generally plan on 16 hours - 1 hour stabilizing cooker, 11-13 hours in cooker without wrapping and 2-4 hours in the faux cambro.

          #6
          Dry pulled pork?, here's how to save it - put one cup of apple juice or grape juice (white) in the microwave and slowly pour it into the pulled pork. This will make it so incredible moist. Magic!

          Comment


            #7
            Main reason for pulled pork to be "dry" is, it was a lean piece of pork. Some of the "juiciness" of pulled pork is meat juices but to a large extent it is fat. Lean pork cooked low & slow = dry. Find a fattier cut &/or don't trim too radically. Good luck.

            Comment


              #8
              From an intramuscular fat staid point HorseDoctor is correct... that combined with collagen are going to make up the majority of the moisture in a pork butt... I disagree a little with HorseDoc about the external fat. It isn't going to make that big of a difference... It will not penetrate into the muscle/meat... In fact some people trim the fat cap off or mostly off in order to get the maximum amount of surface area for bark. The only thing it may do is prevent some water from evaporation but water needs to evaporate from the surface for bark formation. The amount of fat you trim can be determined by a number of factors including type of cooker and where the heat source or hot spots are going to be (fat cap can act as a good heat shield if needed).

              lelex , I'm not sure exactly what all you did outside of your post... however... if you can: wrap your PB in foil and hold it in a faux cambro or oven with a low temperature setting (160-180) for at least an hour if possible. This can make a big difference. Also as Spinaker said... don't pull until as close to serving time as possible. Personally I usually inject my PBs with a salty solution because it serves as a quickie brine. Also I save all the juice I can, run it through a fat separator, and then pour it back over the meat once it has been pulled... however... if your meat is already pretty dry all you are doing is slightly covering or masking it by doing this.

              Sometimes you just get a stubborn PB that no matter what you do it just doesn't want to cooperate...

              Best of luck on the next cook.

              Comment


              • Spinaker
                Spinaker commented
                Editing a comment
                Thanks Nate! I forgot to mention the Faux Cambro!! Duh...........

              • Nate
                Nate commented
                Editing a comment
                Spinaker ... hey man forgetting to mention it is one thing... forgetting to do it or not having time to do it is another... which I'm ashamed to admit I have suffered from more than once.

              #9
              I pre-rub (has salt so it serves as a brine) and I inject with apple juice, 1/4 cup of garlic olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of my rub. Instead of putting it in foil at crutch time, I put it in a large Lodge dutch oven. If the butt is too big to fit in one, I section it off and put it in two. When I pull the pork it remains in the dutch oven and rests. The dutch oven trick really seems to work well for me for moisture. When I have fresh peppers in the summer I will dice them up with onions and garlic and will put that in the pot, too. It's not traditional but it also adds some moisture.

              Comment


              • tbob4
                tbob4 commented
                Editing a comment
                Thanks Spinaker.

              • Nate
                Nate commented
                Editing a comment
                Dutch Oven trick sounds interesting and a little similar to boating them in a pan... but the dutch sounds a lot cooler!

              • tbob4
                tbob4 commented
                Editing a comment
                Nate - It's so much nicer than the pan. I started doing it a few years ago and it has the advantage of fitting nicely not only in my smoker but my Vision grill, as well. You can camro the whole dutch oven in a cooler, as well.

              #10
              I always have a large tin foil pan under the smoking rack/meat and keep it filled with at least an 1" of beer at all times, throughout the smoke. Serves to keep moisture in the chamber and also catch the drippings for easier clean up. I've never used the TX Crutch, nor have I ever needed to add juices back to the pork once pulled and my Butts always come out moist and juicy.

              I also do the big "no-no" in here and wet brine my Butts for at least 12 hours in an apple juice, beer, salt, bay leave and a little bit of my dry rub mixed in mixture. I know, I know, the molecules are too big to penetrate, butt my Butts are never dry!

              In checking out your photos, I don't see a bone in your Butt. I'm no expert, but I would think if the Butt was de-boned, that might be a possible reason for the dryness? Anyone know if that is true?

              Comment


                #11
                Hey guys thank you for all your answers, I found all of them interesting and I'm going to follow all of your suggestions on my next cook! To answer a couple of your questions: the pork butt I had it was quite lean indeed; it was deboned even if I aked for a boned one (can you say that?), but it's not that easy to make the butcher over here in Italy understand what you really want, next time I'll try another butcher

                Comment


                • tbob4
                  tbob4 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  You have to demonstratively use your hands in conversation to get your point across. I don't know what the gesture is for "bone in" vs "bone out", nor would I dare to guess. But for me, less lean would just be a gesture to my stomach!

                #12
                One of mh suggestions that I saw which I do is to add butter. if I'm serving for a group. When I pull my pork I have to eat a piece to see if it needs any. If it seems dry or is gonna sit for awhile I'll go ahead and mix it in. Something to think about

                Comment


                  #13
                  Ditto the already great advice. My process in a nutshell: make sure you dry brine, collect all drippings, use a digital thermometer and check for doneness using a probe (when it gets to your target temp make sure a probe goes in like butter, if not keep cooking), when you pull it wrap it in foil and keep in faux cambro for a minimum couple hours. Pull as close to serving time as possible and add your saved drippings and if it's still not moist enough add some butter and apple juice.

                  Comment

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