Friday Pulled Pork

[Reds Fan 5]

Another work from home day so time to smoke something for dinner. Pulled pork. 7.5 lb bone in shoulder, Weber 26”, KBB, SnS, apple chunks, Memphis dust. Homemade KC and bourbon sauces.

Will update throughout the day. Nothing like glowing coals before sunrise.

[hoovarmin]

I love that sight in the early morning

[Reds Fan 5]

hoovarmin I agree. Although at 32 degrees this morning it is taking the grill FOREVER to get up to temp. I’m going to be a half an hour behind schedule when I put the shoulder on.

[Ann-Marie in the backyard]

I did pork shoulder last Sunday, when the high temp only made it to 44. That was my first (relatively) cold weather long cook, and it took about 90 minutes longer than I thought it would. The learning curve can be steep, but when dinner's at the other end, I learn quickly!

[smokin fool]

Jack the temp up to 280-300 you should be fine.
Flurries here this morning, pee me off, better get the snows on tomorrow

[Reds Fan 5]

Ann-Marie in the backyard, I've smoked things in cold weather but I've never started in the dark. It took about 50 minutes to get the cooker to 225.

SMOKIN fool, I tried to crank it up and it wouldn't crank! As noted above it finally hit 225. When the sun came up I cranked it quickly to 250 or so. It's been running about 245. All good, but, man, it was slow to wake up.

[Skip]

Nice to get an early start. Have fun today!

[NCSmokin]

One great benefit from working from home. Can pretty much smoke any time.

[Reds Fan 5]

More time to cook, indoors and outdoors, has been one of the bright spots in the pandemic. My current binge is Jacques Pepin videos on You Tube. They remind me great cooking is actually simple, it's ridiculous there are people who can't cook, much of what passes for cooking show today is absurd.

[Reds Fan 5]

Mid-cook update: As noted in a couple of comments above, it took forever for the cooker to get to temp. Once there it has been rolling along nicely. About 5.5 hours into the cook. It's been running about 245 degrees. Shoulder is at 135 degrees so the stall is likely coming soon. Good bark formation.

The only hiccup so far is the SnS is burning fast. The temp dropped from 245 to 203. I looked and it had burned through almost a full load of coals in 5 hours. No problem adding new coals so all is good. I've also had to refill the water twice. Air temp is about 40 degrees, some sun, no wind, no precipitation.

Day after taste test of the sauces I made last night was successful. I forgot to note in my original post the sauces are Aaron Franklin's sweet bbq sauce and Meathead's Tennessee Hollerin' Sauce.

[barelfly]

Thanks for the sauces - was going to ask you about the bourbon sauce. Of all the sauces I’ve seen on this site, I don’t recall the Tennessee Hollinerin sauce. Off to search!

enjoy that pork!

[Reds Fan 5]

Thanks, barelfly. The sauce is on the free site. It's easy to make. This is blasphemy here, I know, but I like Franklin's sweet sauce better than the KC recipe on this site. Franklin's is simpler and both times I made the AR recipe it tasted too much like steak sauce.

[barelfly]

Franklins sauces are good, and yes, very simple to make. I like his regular, espresso and vinegar sauce as well. I haven’t tried the fig/ancho though. Need to try that at some point.

And thanks for the point in the direction. Already found it and ready up. Will have to make some of this Hollernin’ sauce!

[Reds Fan 5]

Late cook update: Been running about 248 all day. Burning through coals in the SnS like crazy. 2.5 loads of coals so far at the 10 hour mark.

Hit the stall at 145 IT. Came out of it in about 1:20 minutes. Hit the dreaded second stall at 165. Starting to cut it close to being on time for dinner. Decided to wrap. Temp moved to 175 and is slow from there.

3 hours until scheduled dinner time...

[Reds Fan 5]

Final results: 12.5 hours. Probe tender at 199.5. Held for about an hour. As expected wrapping at the second stall softened the bark but not dramatically. It was a hit with our guests. Both sauces paired well with it. Very happy with the results. As all of you know, fun way to spend the day.

[troymeister]

Reds Fan 5 Are you using the regular size or the large size SnS in the Weber 26? I have used the regular size SnS in the 26 in warm weather and it took a long time to come to temp.

[Reds Fan 5]

troymeister I am using a regular SnS in the 26”. I always use more coals than the SnS folks recommend because of the size difference. That may not have been enough given the cold morning temps.

The good news is once it was up to temp it held steady all day. The only adjustment I made was when I wanted to get it through the second stall. It did burned quickly, though. I went through nearly 3 loads in 12.5hrs.