Advice on Pulled Pork

[MrSkimo]

How did it turn out?

[MrSkimo]

Yes, that will work...

[Thunder77]

Since we are talking about pulled pork here, I need to ask a question. I grabbed a hunk of meat at the grocery store, and didn't realize until later that it was a "pork shoulder picnic" and not a butt. Is that ok to use for pulled pork?

[Huskee]

Perhaps not germane to the OP, but just thought I would share my recent experience. I recently acquired a GMG Jim Bowie Pellet grill so I could handle more meat than just my Weber Kettle could do. Making the switch from charcoal to pellet has been a little trying, but going okay. I had things dialed in pretty well with my Weber.

I put in two butts about 8 pounds each (from Costco) about 11pm on Saturday night. No crutch. Cooked at 225F. When I woke at 7am the meat was at 168F. At 9am it was up to about 175F, and I had to move it indoors to the oven because I had to start some prime rib outdoors, and I kicked the temp up to 275F. Rushed home at 1pm Sunday to get the pork, but it was only at 170F. Realized that it wouldn't be ready for church social. Left it in the indoor oven until almost 4pm at 275F when I had to move it back outside to use the oven for pie. It stayed on my pellet grill until 8pm at 275F and had just reached 192F. I went ahead and took it off instead of waiting for 203F. The meat was fantastic...perhaps the most tender I have ever done. But WOW - 21 hours to get to 190F? I'm sure that I lost some heat in the transfer from outside to inside and back. But still....Holy Stall batman.... I was thinking that the pig was going to rise again in honor of Easter.

That's the very reason why I wrap at ~180. So many people don't wrap thinking wrapping ruins your bark, which is not true if you wrap at the right time. I just don't want to be waiting that long for the meat to get done, wasting (to me) time and fuel when it's not necessary. The last unwrapped butt I did took 16hrs and it was only ~4-5lbs. It was excellent, but not 16 hrs excellent! I don't use a SIFI cooker either, so that is part of why I personally don't want such a long cook. Mine too only got to the mid 190s and since it had taken so loooong to get there, it had softened and all the magic happened and it didn't need the 200+ target.

[MrSkimo]

Perhaps not germane to the OP, but just thought I would share my recent experience. I recently acquired a GMG Jim Bowie Pellet grill so I could handle more meat than just my Weber Kettle could do. Making the switch from charcoal to pellet has been a little trying, but going okay. I had things dialed in pretty well with my Weber.

I put in two butts about 8 pounds each (from Costco) about 11pm on Saturday night. No crutch. Cooked at 225F. When I woke at 7am the meat was at 168F. At 9am it was up to about 175F, and I had to move it indoors to the oven because I had to start some prime rib outdoors, and I kicked the temp up to 275F. Rushed home at 1pm Sunday to get the pork, but it was only at 170F. Realized that it wouldn't be ready for church social. Left it in the indoor oven until almost 4pm at 275F when I had to move it back outside to use the oven for pie. It stayed on my pellet grill until 8pm at 275F and had just reached 192F. I went ahead and took it off instead of waiting for 203F. The meat was fantastic...perhaps the most tender I have ever done. But WOW - 21 hours to get to 190F? I'm sure that I lost some heat in the transfer from outside to inside and back. But still....Holy Stall batman.... I was thinking that the pig was going to rise again in honor of Easter.

[LA Pork Butt]

I would cover or wrap it.

[Finley]

When dry brining with kosher salt on two butts can I wrap the butts or leave them open. I dry brined two racks of baby back ribs with kosher salt last month but I wrapped them with plastic then foil and they were excellent.

[PaulstheRibList]

I am surprised at the shorter cook time by cutting the meat in half. I thought I read Meadhead as saying thickness determines cook time. Are yo cutting the thickness or the length or with in half?

When you cut them in half, you know have a smaller mass, and a lower distance to the middle from an additional side, the one you just cut. The heat can travel in all directions to that thickest center, which is now much smaller (the significant center is) since you cut that large rectangle of meat (pork shoulder) in half.

I like cooking boston butts in half mainly because it gives you more bark. That's more of the smoke penetrating more of the meat and infusing it with flavor, and more of the surface area with the rub and all its joy.

When I order pulled-pork at a bbq joint and it comes all in tiny pieces and no evidence of bark...I just don't want to eat it very much now that I've seen how it can be. This isn't the best pic, but even then you can Clearly See the Mrs. Brown all through the pan! We cooked this for the 120 or so Volunteers at the recent Fresh Start Initiative Day that our District Attorney did, to help up to 250 participants apply for an Expungement of a n arrest/conviction so they can get a job or better job.

[LA Pork Butt]

I am surprised at the shorter cook time by cutting the meat in half. I thought I read Meadhead as saying thickness determines cook time. Are yo cutting the thickness or the length or with in half?

[LA Pork Butt]

jlazar While I only wrap with time constraints, I find that wrapping cuts the stall in half. I do 10# butts for 12-14 hours @ 225 without wrapping. The stall usually lasts 6 hours plus' and with wrapping it is 3 hours plus.

[Masonic Smoke]

You put the probe in the middle of the meat to check temp. Imagine cooking a bowling ball. Now cut the ball in half. Now the probe is half of the half. It will cook quicker. I like to leave the fat when smoking with the fat side down. The heat from my unit comes from the bottom so it kind of insulates the side facing the heat. I wipe the fat off later before pulling. I like to wrap at the stall and transfer to my oven sometime in the night. I'll share my secret. I double wrap but in between I wrap a layer of plastic shrink wrap. I wake up to a house smelling like smoke and spice and then I put in a cooler until lunch time.

[jlazar]

Final question. After I wrapped in foil at 160, it took about 3 hours to hit 201-203. Roughly how much longer will that take by not wrapping? Another 2 hours?

[jlazar]

Thanks FLBuckeye. I will look at that.

[jlazar]

Guy. Thanks for the handshake. Just one of many who have served. I couldn't spend the money for a good offset or something like the Chubby, so when I started looking, I keyed on a smoker similar to the Brinkmann electric that I was used to (and pretty happy with). Just wanted to do charcoal and wanted something better than the Brinkmann version. Comments on the web seemed to put the WSM at the top of that category. Found this site and all the reviews, recommendations after I already had the WSM.

[Guy]

John, first let me thank you for serving our country for 24 years. Would shake your hand if you were here.

Did you look into the PBC before you brought the WSM?