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Suggestions for the n00b - Perfect Pulled Pork in progress
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Thank you wile_e8 for the post. I really enjoyed reading through your thoughtful descriptions & observations. I have two children under the age of 4 right now, too, so time is short for me as well. Your well laid out post was the reason I decided to become a member of this site & just wanted to take the 2 minutes to thank you!
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You did good, wile_e8 ... it is REALLY hard timing a Pork Butt... I try not to wrap, but when push comes to shove on time, I usually end up doing it.
Ya know Franklin did a wrapping experiment on brisket with foil vs butcher paper... I am waiting for someone to try that with pulled pork... hint hint _John_
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Or you could ignore me and start it when you wanted instead of waiting ><. Some people like a thick bark, but to me cooking without wrapping creates a bark that is way too thick and dry, wrapping gives you most of the flavor but not the hard crust. You can spray or baste near the end etc but wrapping is just easier. A lot of people start by wrapping and then wonder how cooking straight through tastes, you got that out of the way first so all the cooks will be easier now.
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So after getting all the sides ready, fretting over the temperature, eating, and cleaning everything up... the pulled pork turned out ok. It reach 196 at 6:15 and I took it out to rest.
I only had about 15 minutes before I started shredding it though. The bone wouldn't pull out at first because it was really stuck to the bark, but everything on the inside just fell off.
The bone is sitting in the top right of the bowl. I shredded it, and it was super tender. The only problem I had with it was with the bark - it seemed pretty tough and hard, and wouldn't pull apart like the meat on the inside. I've never actually made smoked pulled pork before, so I don't know if it's supposed to be that hard. Didn't notice a definite smoke ring either. It did taste good though.
I made baked macaroni and cheese and got some cole slaw and biscuits from the store to go with dinner, but somehow my phone didn't take the picture I had with the shredded pulled pork and other fixing all lined up. But it looked really nice. And the meat was really good and tender. My son ate it right up, but my daughter took some convincing since she fights eating the "skin" on any meat that has been grilled and has char marks. She wouldn't touch any of the bark. I liked mine with some of the Lexington Dip I made up for previous cooks.
So it didn't turn out bad, but I think I can do better next time. Mainly I think I might try wrapping it in foil next time - _John_ mentioned it a couple times above, but I resisted because the recipe said it shouldn't be needed, and my head kept telling me me the small pork butt should be on the short end of the time range right up until it was too late to fix it. And the crutch should make it so the bark isn't so hard next time, right? So a shorter cook with bark that isn't so hard sounds like an improvement to me. And if I get to let it rest for longer than 15 minutes before I shred it, even better.
Thanks for the help, whether or not I actually listened. Maybe I'll try another one of these threads if I try something new, but I don't know what to do. I don't think a brisket would fit on my Weber.
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Yeah, it's 4:30 and it's at 181, so it won't be done early. If I had started an hour earlier, or wrapped it at the beginning of the stall, or turned up the temperature early, I would have probably been fine. I didn't start panicking until the stall was almost over, and then it was too late to do much about it. Lessons from the first time doing something like this, I guess. The good news is that the kids want to go out to the pool again before we eat, so they won't mind if we have a later dinner.
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10:00 update: The temp held steady just above 225 for a while, then started slowly rising after 2 hours once all the wood was in. It got up to 250 and then I almost closed the bottom vents and left the top 1/4 open. Note it's hovering around 235 and I can mostly pay attention to the kids. The temperature of the pork bit seems to be on track with the stalk coming up soon.
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You'll be fine, just takes a bit to settle if you don't get a good light.
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Pork butts are amazingly forgiving with regard to temperature. If it heats up to 275 all that will happen is that it gets done sooner. It will still be tender.
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