Really fast pulled pork

[Henrik]

Hi all,

I felt in the mood for another cook today, and I thought I was gonna challenge myself. I bought a really nice boston butt weighing in at 2.5 kilos, or 5.5 lbs. Just the right size! The challenge was to see how fast I could get it done.

The plan
Cook hot. Wrap after the stall, when the bark was good enough (not perfect, just good enough).

The gear
My Big Green Egg
The Smobot, managing the top vent for me.
BGE charcoal (oak + hickory)

Timeline
The day before: I rubbed the butt liberally with my own KC Royale pork rub. Left it in the fridge overnight, covered.
11:00 - fire up the grill
11:40 - put the meat on, wait for the grill to tune in to 140° C (285° F). Close the lid and don't open it.
14:40 - three hours in, check meat temp. 75° C (167° F), decided bark was good enough, wrapped with dual layers of aluminum foil.
14:45 - put the wrapped meat back on, cranked the heat up to 150° C (300° F)
16:15 - checked meat temp, was 95-96° C (203-204° F), took it off, into the faux cambro.
18:15 - unwrapped. The meat still held 77° C (171° F).

So, in essence: smoke for 3 hours. Wrap, cook for 1.5 hours. Total cook time 4.5 hours. Rest for arbitrary time, I was aiming for one hour, but due to errands and other distractions it rested for two hours.

Key techniques
The egg. Really moist air in it. I will do this on a kettle also, but then a large water pan is mandatory.
The wrap, or Texas Crutch


Man, this was FUN!!!


The pork was super juicy, one of the best I've ever done. The flavor was just right, with balanced smoke and delicious pork flavor. Epic!

I didn't spray, inject, or anything. I only opened the lid twice.



Here I am, applying the rub




Here's the butt, ready to be wrapped after 3 hours




And the final product, juicy as can be, I saved all the 'au jus'




So, were there any sacrifices? Yes, I didn't get the optimal bark. But given the time savings, I can live with that. This would be real fun trying in my stick burner, where the air flow will build a lot more bark. In that case I'm sure I would have to wrap a lot sooner too.

[gcdmd]

Good job, Henrik. You should write a book. Oh, that's right.

Just kidding. I have your book but not in front of me now. BTW, there were a couple of spots where the Swedish was not translated. Do you happen to know offhand and can you correct them for us?

[Huskee]

I think it was just all the curse words, probably left in Swedish intentionally! Henrik

[Henrik]

Lol! Not fit for print!

[HouseHomey]

Henrik it was that kitchen Swedish Spanish that everyone speaks.

[LA Pork Butt]

Looks good! Good record keeping. How thick was the Boston Butt? I usually do 10 pounders a good 4” thick. I don’t think I could cook one that fast.

[Henrik]

This one was 4 inches thick. Should've mentioned that, since it matters. Good point!

[LA Pork Butt]

Henrik thanks. Mine like yours usually hit the stall in about 3 hours.

[Skip]

Looks very good Henrik !! Good choice on the Rub Too!!

[Steve B]

Very nice Henrik. An inspiration to us all. I’m gonna try this next butt cook.
Moisture in my LSG will be no problem. It will hold 3 gallons of water.

[Henrik]

The LSG is an amazing smoker!

[Spinaker]

Nice work Henrik! I love to cook butts hot and fast. They can take thereat so there really is no reason not to cook them fast. I wrap at about 175-180, but that is only because I love that bark. I also go up too about 325 F and usually I am using the PBC. Maybe I will try it in the BGE next time.

[Henrik]

Thanks! I will wrap later next time, bark is king after all.

[Steve R.]

I will usually go low-ish and slow-ish with butts until the bark gets the way I like it, then wrap and crank up the heat to fast forward the process. I think doing this and then allowing for adequate hold time of 1+ hrs is just fine.

[Henrik]

It sure is. This was just a fun test.

[RonB]

That's very good to know.

[EdF]

No wood?

[Henrik]

No, I think the BGE charcoal adds a lot of labor in itself.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Does your tub have much sugar in it? I’ve had the sugar scorch when getting above 300F? Did you worry about that at all?

[Henrik]

There sure is some sugar, but not as much as in many. So I didn’t worry about it, it worked out just fine:-)

[HouseHomey]

The rub is fabulous.

[Thom Emery]

I did 4 butts Saturday at 325 degrees
Yep 4 hours

[Henrik]

Cool!

[Troutman]

My experience with hot and fast is about the same as yours Henrik, it gets finished quite satisfactorily but just doesn't have the depth of bark I really like. I'm still a 275-280* F guy, I'll sacrifice the extra couple of hours for better bark. I mean what's the hurry?

[Henrik]

You're absolutely right. Usually I'm not in a hurry. Let bbq take it's time, it is part of the charm. I did this to expand my repertoire and learn new things. Just because I can :-) That doesn't mean I will cook butts this way all the time. But I'll do a few more butts to see if I can improve the bark and shorten the cook time. Again, just because I can. It's fun, and I learn new things.

[HouseHomey]

Open up the kettle and you will get great bark. 300° + or - 10° is just fine. I leave it sit where it lands. 275° works great for ribs too!

nice post!

[Henrik]

Thanks! I actually think the kettle is better for this, since the air in it is less humid.

[HouseHomey]

Either way Henrik you get great flow. Kettle chambers can be moist and flowing or dry and flowing and anything in between. Their nature is opposite of the BGE efficiency. So I would guess.

[PaynTrain]

Henrik , I have used my BGE to turn out tasty pulled pork in 4 hours, running with a butt sitting in a pan (no flare ups) on the place setter, running 400 degrees. Lost a little bark, but the rest is still top notch!! Good post man, great read.

[Henrik]

Thanks! I knew people had tried this before me, good to hear your experiences! And you cooked hotter than I did. Cool, will do minor tweaks the next time, but my MO stays basically the same.