My first attempt at pulled pork was tough...literally. I followed the Traeger recipe to a "T" and it came out hard to pull apart and just wasn't that tender. It was a real let down after all that time...but ultimately, I think the problem was I followed time as opposed to temp and I think it should've stayed on a while longer.
So...I finally decided to try again this past weekend (I wasn't timid...just have been busy working on figuring out ribs, chicken and steaks). Photos below and lessons learned at the bottom.
She was 3 pounds, give or take a few ounces.
Took my friend's advice and seasoned early...covered it in Meat Church's Honey Hog and put it back in the fridge for 2 days.
I'm too new to the game to know how Meat Church stacks up against others...but I know I like this rub, and their Holy Cow rub (have used it on beef short ribs and it was well received).
My buddy said he starts at 180* for a few hours to get a little more smoke flavor, and I had the time so I went with that. I used the Traeger probe, which I hadn't been using since I got the OXO Thermocouple Thermometer that was reviewed on AR (https://amazingribs.com/thermometers...mometer-review). I was worried the Traeger probe was a bit inaccurate, so I thought I should give it a test. Turns out it was only off by a few degrees.
Had to check on it...couldn't resist. I spritzed it with a water/apple cider vinegar mix (1:1) a handful of times throughout the cook...not on a strict timeline, but probably every 60-90 minutes.
She's getting close. After about 5 hours at 180*...I wasn't planning on going that low & slow for that long, but I took the kids on a bike ride and forgot to bump it up before we left and just didn't think about it while we were out. But the internal temp seemed to be climbing at a good rate so I let her ride.
Then I cranked it up to 225* for about an hour, then up to 275* for about an hour, and finally to 300* just to get her up the last 8-10 degrees so we could eat at a reasonable time.
Giving it a little time to rest.
Finished product. It was well received by the family (except my daughter...but she's 5 and hates everything we cook). I was a little concerned because it didn't just pull apart like it does in the YouTube videos. I had to work a little bit with the forks, but it tasted great and was a success for the most part.
We didn't sauce the finished product...just set out ramekins of different sauces so we could try a few. Our favorites were Hak's Chipotle Bourbon BBQ sauce and Jones BBQ sauce out of KC (https://www.jonesbbqkc.com/products/...angy-bbq-sauce).
Lessons Learned:
So...I finally decided to try again this past weekend (I wasn't timid...just have been busy working on figuring out ribs, chicken and steaks). Photos below and lessons learned at the bottom.
She was 3 pounds, give or take a few ounces.
Took my friend's advice and seasoned early...covered it in Meat Church's Honey Hog and put it back in the fridge for 2 days.
I'm too new to the game to know how Meat Church stacks up against others...but I know I like this rub, and their Holy Cow rub (have used it on beef short ribs and it was well received).
My buddy said he starts at 180* for a few hours to get a little more smoke flavor, and I had the time so I went with that. I used the Traeger probe, which I hadn't been using since I got the OXO Thermocouple Thermometer that was reviewed on AR (https://amazingribs.com/thermometers...mometer-review). I was worried the Traeger probe was a bit inaccurate, so I thought I should give it a test. Turns out it was only off by a few degrees.
Had to check on it...couldn't resist. I spritzed it with a water/apple cider vinegar mix (1:1) a handful of times throughout the cook...not on a strict timeline, but probably every 60-90 minutes.
She's getting close. After about 5 hours at 180*...I wasn't planning on going that low & slow for that long, but I took the kids on a bike ride and forgot to bump it up before we left and just didn't think about it while we were out. But the internal temp seemed to be climbing at a good rate so I let her ride.
Then I cranked it up to 225* for about an hour, then up to 275* for about an hour, and finally to 300* just to get her up the last 8-10 degrees so we could eat at a reasonable time.
Giving it a little time to rest.
Finished product. It was well received by the family (except my daughter...but she's 5 and hates everything we cook). I was a little concerned because it didn't just pull apart like it does in the YouTube videos. I had to work a little bit with the forks, but it tasted great and was a success for the most part.
We didn't sauce the finished product...just set out ramekins of different sauces so we could try a few. Our favorites were Hak's Chipotle Bourbon BBQ sauce and Jones BBQ sauce out of KC (https://www.jonesbbqkc.com/products/...angy-bbq-sauce).
Lessons Learned:
- Go with a bigger piece of meat...after all that time, it was a bummer to not have more leftovers. And with pulled pork freezing well, I should've done an 8 pounder to get more ROI.
- Cut the strings off. I'd never really seen any photos or videos of tied up meat, but I also never saw suggestions to remove it. I wish I had, as there was a bit of fat I would've cut off and I would've liked to have seasoning and bark on the meat that was hidden in the middle. It would've cooked faster, I'm guessing, which wouldn't have worked as well for my timeline. In the end it didn't have a significant negative impact, but I would do it differently next time.
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