My 1st attempt at "Pulled" Pork

Well, I've heard the people on the other side of the pond rave about Pulled Pork, so I decided it was about time that I tried one myself.
Firstly I had to find a friendly butcher that would be prepared to cut the piece I required, the top half of the pork shoulder, commonly referred to as a Boston Butt or pork butt (I still don't know why it's called that, as it's nowhere near the rear end of the pig). This task having been achieved, I set about preparing the pork.
I injected the meat with Apple juice and then applied a dry rub, I used a mixture of SR Mediterranean and Ribber City Rub.
I then put it into a zip lock bag and refrigerated it for 24 hours.
Once removed from the fridge, I injected again, but this time I used Coke, and applied a bit more of the rub.
Had to get up at 4.00am to get it done in time, Roxy advised that I should look at between 1 - 1.5hrs/ pound of meat (my butt was 8lbs). The meat was put on the Frontier at 5.30am and 12 long hours later, the internal temp had got to 193 degF (again Roxy suggested pulling it off at 195 degF, but I guessed it was close enough.
This is what it looked like.


Wrapped it in foil and then 2 old towels (don't tell the wife) and popped it into the cooler box to rest.

Pulled it at 8.00pm, it was just as hot as when I took it off the cooker, thanks to the towels and cooler.


I must say I was very pleased with the result and two of the people we had over for dinner, who didn't like pork... loved it!

Congrats on your first pulled pork Ian

Bet theres more to come.

Its the same over here, no one can imagine (or would even consider) cooking a piece of pork for 10-15 hours, but once its on the
plate its gone in seconds and they want more.


Cheers,

DM

Looks pretty darn good Ian for your first try..

Looks like it pulled real good as well.

Congratulations dude..!!

Ian
Sounds and looks great but I am concerned about your apparent drug use!!
"I injected again, but this time I used Coke"

Pete

Looks great Ian, glad it turned out. Did the butcher charge extra for the cut, or did you find out what they call that?

Mike it cost about $20.00 for the 8lb butt... the butcher doesn't have a name for it, but they usually mince it and use it for sausages.

If you slice the butt about 3/4 of an inch thick you get some awesome chops that will stand up to low and slow BBQ'in and come out very good.

What a shame to grind a perfectly good but to make sausage..

Ian,

Don't take this the wrong way, or think I'm coming on to you, but your butt looks good.

The barbeque world is the only place I know of where a guy can get away with saying that to another guy.

Another technique that some use is to pull the butt off the smoker when the internal temp hits 165*F, wrap in foil with some apple juice, and return to smoker until the internal temp hits 198*F to 200*F. Pull from smoker, allow the butt to rest in cooler wrapped in towels, then pull meat.

That does work fine indeed and I do it at home when I need to cut the time down.

Ian asked me for some advice on how to cook the butt and I gave him my method for smokin butt that I use in comp.. Not that I gave him my secret recipes or anything..

I think it is best to start with a more traditional method and adjust things as ya go until you find the right way for you. Foiling does kinda wreck the bark but it does create some amazing jus that can be mixed back in.

Roxy wrote:...Not that I gave him my secret recipes or anything..

What??? Not gonna share your secrets???

You're right...lots of different way to bbq...that's part of the fun!

I used the ProBBQ Frontier to compete last year up here in Canada and I had some excellent success with the cookers. I got 3 calls in 2 comps using it which ain't too bad at all IMO.

Lookin' good Ian. When I have the time I also cook it uncovered, but usually do the foil thing at 165*

From what I understand, the term Boston Butt comes from the colonial days when they were stored in barrells that were called butts.
Whether this is true or not, I really don't know, (butt) since I don't have a better explaination.......

Way to go Ian!!! Another dirty little secret if you want to feed a group pulled pork is to have your butcher cut the butt in half horozontally so that it splits the bone creating a thinner cut. You can diminish you cook time considerably.

U.J.

It also give you two more sides of that beautiful bark.