Pulled Pork - WOW!! from Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives

BigWader

Decided yesterday to try and replicate a pulled pork I saw featured on Triple D.  Can't remember the name of the joint where it was on the menu but the owner/chef apparently won some comps and placed high at Memphis in May.  With the last minute decision I thought I'd try it this way since there was no overnight process - it was prepare and straight on the grill.  Here's how it goes...

The special touch seems to be injecting with Italian dressing - strained to remove the particulate and then incorporating the chunks into the rub.  The oil in the dressing is purported to increase the heat transfer internally and I guess the acid and salt work on the meat.

I used regular Italian and a bit of Chipotle Lime dressing I had to make sure I had enough. 

Mixed the chunks with mustard and put a coat on the whole pork.  Topped that with a homemade rub that has 50% turbinado sugar to make sure I'd get a good bark. 

With the egg stabilized at around 250 grate I put chips (apple, hickory) and put the pork on I let it go for a couple hours before going to bed.  Got up at 7:00 and found my temp dropped to 195 grate so I jiggled the firebox grate and the charcoal a bit and it came back up to 260 pretty quick.  Pulled it to rest at 190, wrapped tight in foil and into the cooler and pulled for dinner after a few hours. 

The result was the best pulled pork I've done.  Simply way more moist internally than any other I've done.  I see myself making it this way again for a crowd and get more feedback.

henapple

Sounds great...looks good.

Fred19Flintstone

That looks great!  I want to give this a try.  Thanks for sharing!

Z_Eggineer

Good idea on oil inside.

With mixing oily chunks into rub, were you able to get a crunchy bark?

Zooker

Pretty!  Good attempt at making it healthy with the brussels sprouts and carrots....and Oktoberfest.

Skiddymarker

great cook, thank you. 

My Dad used vinegar in everything to enhance the flavor, much better than salt and he didn't overdo it. I wonder if the vinegar in the dressing helped to enhance the flavor? 

One of the reasons we like a vinegar based slaw on pulled pork sammies. 

BigWader

@zooker - The brussel sprouts and carrots (raw) were mostly for my daughter - because I need to set a good example - I ate them too.  The Oktoberfest was in honour of Eggtoberfest - since I wasn't able to go

@Z_Eggineer - I mixed the chunks with the mustard for the rub.  Since they were strained I didn't think the were too oily.  I felt the bark was the best I've put on a pork but I also went heavy with my sweet rub since I was trying to set a good bark.

 

BigWader

 

Skiddymarker said:

great cook, thank you. 

My Dad used vinegar in everything to enhance the flavor, much better than salt and he didn't overdo it. I wonder if the vinegar in the dressing helped to enhance the flavor? 

One of the reasons we like a vinegar based slaw on pulled pork sammies. 

 

 

I had friends that used to make Italian Veal chops - bone in veal chops, vinegar,  a splash of wine, salt, breadcrumb, garlic powder and fresh parsley. They'd let the veal chops marinate in the mixture (a good hit of vinegar) and man did they come out good.

Z_Eggineer

Ok, that makes sense then.  Good job!

cspearce2

Awesome Cook...will definitely try this...

SmokeyPitt

Thanks for sharing.  I did a little investigative Googlin...

http://youtu.be/zBgZpom-UmA?t=1m29s

Honky Tonk BBQ. 

BigWader

SmokeyPitt said:

Thanks for sharing.  I did a little investigative Googlin...

http://youtu.be/zBgZpom-UmA?t=1m29s

Honky Tonk BBQ. 

That's the one!  After rewatching it, seems I've got a couple tweaks to try for the next one 

pasoegg

well done and thanks for a nice pic path to the finished product....that really helps

Hillbilly-Hightech

Bookmarked this - looks really good!! 

I've gotten my pulled pork down to the way I like it, but we can always see if certain tweaks can make a good recipe GREAT, and the injection of the Italian dressing definitely seems like it would add more moisture & flavor!!

Thanks for the post!!

SmokeyPitt

BigWader said:

SmokeyPitt said:

Thanks for sharing.  I did a little investigative Googlin...

http://youtu.be/zBgZpom-UmA?t=1m29s

Honky Tonk BBQ. 

That's the one!  After rewatching it, seems I've got a couple tweaks to try for the next one 

Seems like you had it pretty close!  I did hear him say he mixed apple juice with the liquid injection, and beer with the mustard "slather".   One other thing I noticed is he was doing a whole shoulder (butt and picnic).  

Thanks again for sharing the idea.  I am definitely going to give this one a try. 

xraypat23

hmm....i've got a spitjack, and im pretty positive i can inject the italian dressing in without straining because of the size of the needle. Might have to give this a go sometime this week. I'll report back if it's worthwhile(in my eyes.)

BigC

Bookmarked. This is a must-try! Thanks a million for sharing.

Lowflyer

Gotta try. Bookmarked.
Thx!

Stargaze

This is how I'm going to do my next pork butt.  Thanks for sharing!

BigC

@BigWader - Trying this for the first time today (first 2 pics of the prep)...Planning to take final product to 8-year-old son's camp out this weekend for sandwiches! Hope it makes me a hero!!  Thanks again for sharing...Also, thanks to many others whom I have learned from as well...More pics to follow...

DonWW

Bookmarked this.  Bookmarked the YouTube site.  Made a recipe page for future reference.  This will be my next butt cook, no question.

BigC

Halfway there...Good-looking bark...not touching it again until 205*!!

wnbasac

wow i always wanted to try pulled pork on the egg and now i will! tks guys you rock

BigWader

@BigC - that's looking really good!  Can almost taste it

BigC

Done. VERY fun cook.  Can't wait to try it!  Will report back...and thanks again, @BigWader et al!

SmokeyPitt

Man BigC...the color on that butt is just gorgeous.  Can't wait to hear how it turned out.  

BigC

One tip I can share...If you are a new egger (like me) don't forget a drip pan! A lot of oil in the injection in addition to "regular" drippings!

boatbum

Ok,  have been wavering over whether to try injecting or not.  This pushed me over. Going to try this.

DonWW

Did this recipe yesterday.  Turned out excellent.  Super flavor, super moist. 

Awesome.  Totally awesome! 
Oh, wait.... I've seen that somewhere before....