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Sous Vide meets BBQ: Boston Butt = Carolina Pulled Pork

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    Sous Vide meets BBQ: Boston Butt = Carolina Pulled Pork

    After cleaning out the freezer to make stock this past weekend, I rescued a Boston butt that had been buried on the pork shelf. I decided it could be the next contestant on the continuing sous vide meets BBQ adventure. I left the butt in the cyrovac, dropped that in another vacuum bag and sealed that up. It went in to the magic hot tub for 24 hours at 160F.
    When time was up, I pulled it out, snipped off a corner and reserved the liquid in a Pyrex measuring bowl. The plan was to throw it on the Weber for a couple of hours to get smoke and bark but we have been plagued this last week with thunderstorms complete with deluges of rain and amazing lightning strikes. I have personally witnessed folks get zapped by lightning when I was on active duty...I don't mess around with it and did not light the KBB. I could have waited until Saturday morning to smoke the butt however our weather is going to be constant through the weekend...so plan B. I pulled out a lipped/rimmed baking stone and roasting rack, removed the fat cap or what remained as most of it had rendered off, and covered the fat cap side of the butt with oakridge bbq's pork and chicken secret weapon rub and the other side with MMD.
    I put it into the oven at 250F for an 90 minutes and then bumped it up to 300F for about an hour. TBH I wasn't watching the clock much, I was just looking at color, well to be really honest, waiting for my wife to get up and go to the kitchen and then asking her what color the butt was. When I got the golden brown I wanted along with a good crisp texture, I removed it from the oven and pulled it.
    While it was in the oven I had whipped up some sauce, no measuring cups were used, and I am not Bobby Flay, so take these measurements with six grains of salt, kosher salt not sea salt or table salt, those are different size grains. This is what went into the pot:
    • 2 cups of reserved liquid
    • 1 cup of George's Hot BBQ Sauce
    • 1/2 Sweet Baby Rays
    • 1 1/2 cup apple juice
    • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
    • 1/4 brown sugar
    • 1 TBS MMD
    • 1 TBS Oakridge BBQ Secret Weapon

    I brought all that to a rapid boil removed it from the heat, then placed it back on low heat until it began to bubble again and shut it down. I have to say, that recipe may replace my standard Eastern NC BBQ sauce recipe, it is flippin' good!

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    So the big question is how did the pork taste. The short answer is not even close as good if I had dry-brined it first, rubbed it first, and then cooked it on the Weber. However, this sucker was tender and moist. The intramuscular fat was rendered but present, truly like butter. Once pulled and sauced, I would have no problem sharing this with friends. I think the next time I decide to sous vide a butt or two (which may be a good solution to large cooks and not much time on event day); I will dry-brine them first, then rub them, sous vide them, re-rub them and put them on the Weber to get a better comparison. The best part about these experiments is the testing that happens at the end...
    Click image for larger version

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    #2
    Good info.

    Comment


      #3
      I'd eat that. That is screaming burrito right now.

      Comment


        #4
        I usually go a bit higher when SV'ing pork for pulling: my go-to is 75-76 C / 168-170 F. It's a trade-off between moisture loss and fat and collagen rendering. I think at the high end the meat is more pullable without a dramatic extra moisture loss. (For slicing, I'd stay under 68 C / 155 F.)

        To me SV pulled pork tastes both moister and less moist than BBQ pulled pork. The meat fibres themselves are more tender and with more moisture, but it lacks the lubrication that full probe-tenderness gives. And like martybartram said, the fat is more apparent yet fully softened.

        All in all I'd say that I prefer BBQ for pulling and SV for slicing, but that's just me.

        Comment


        • martybartram
          martybartram commented
          Editing a comment
          That's a good description. I kind of cut the difference recipe wise. The recipes I say for 170F were for 12 hours so I went with 24 hours so I could start and finish in the evening after work. How long do you go at 170?

        • dtassinari
          dtassinari commented
          Editing a comment
          I usually go about 16 hours but I don't think 24 would ruin it.

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