Temperature For Pulled Pork

JonHalestrap

I am racked with indecision

Most receipes I see for pulled pork call for slow and low. Where low = 220 and slow is as long as it takes for the pork to get to 190.

So the internal temp of the meat is easy to check with a maverick or similar

But should the 220 be measure at the top of the dome or at the grate ?

Any ideas ?

gerhardk

If they are talking temp of egg I always assume they mean the dome temperature.  If you are doing a low and slow don't get to wound up if it is 240º or even 250º just keep an eye on the internal meat temperature.  I like low and slow and generally have no trouble keeping the temp between 230º and 240º, when people get obsessed with maintaining a certain temperature they end up chasing that temperature from a higher and lower temperature by constantly fine tuning the vents.

Gerhard

henapple

The butt may not be ready at 190...wait till it's tender as butter. Might be 200.

JonHalestrap

OK, so perhaps I am panicing over nothing.. are we saying that as long as the temp is around 200 at the grate and no more than 250 at the dome I will be ok

luist

I did a couple of 3kg turbo butts on Saturday, with a dome temp of 350.

Foiled at 165 and held them in the egg until they read 200.

I'll never do low and slow again, they were excellent.

yzzi

You'll find that the longer the cook goes the closer the grate and dome temps get together.

Griffin

I wouldn't worry too much about temperature on a pork shoulder. They are pretty forgiving and so easy a kid could do it. I shoot for 250F at the grate level, but if its 240F that ok. 270 Still fine. No real reason to go as low as 200 on the grate. That will just cause it to take a looooong time. Try 250F grate/275 dome and you'll be fine.

BTW - some people are doing turbo butts now over 300F. I've yet to try one, but some people swear they get better results and it cooks faster, although some claim that the bark is different. Softer I think since you end up foiling it.

Don_Piero

I always go by the temp at the grate on long cooks. Initially there is a wider spread between grate and dome, but after a few hours, I find the the temps fairly similar.

dlk7

I always do 225 at the grate.  Hook up my Digiq DXII and it stays within a couple of degrees.  I also have a maverick 732 hooked up so it alerts me inside when I hit 190 internal temp.  Then I check the meat doneness with a probe every 15 minutes until the probe goes in and out like pushing through soft butter.

six_egg

+1 for Mickey's Turbo Butt method. I will never do it slow again.

Ragtop99

Without a controller, I would not aim for under 230* dome temp.  The odds of the fire going out increase significantly below 225*.   You can do it and be successful, but why constantly worry about the temp.  Taste and texture of an unfoiled butt cooked at 240* - 275* are excellent.  I've had it hit 290* with no foil and had a very good finished product.  If you aim for 250* and lock in at 235* that's fine; same if you overshoot and hit 270*.

GQuiz

I set grate to 300-375. Wherever it settles, I lock it in. I usually end up 330 at or so. Cook to 165, wrap the foil around the Maverick probe... 2 sheets. Cook to 205 and FTC it til dinner time. The bark is softer, but it is juicy beyond belief. I used mayo and Bad Byron's on Saturday. Injected with apple juice on the grill. Just know there are many correct methods. Find the one you're happy with.

bccomstock

GQuiz said:

I set grate to 300-375. Wherever it settles, I lock it in. I usually end up 330 at or so. Cook to 165, wrap the foil around the Maverick probe... 2 sheets. Cook to 205 and FTC it til dinner time. The bark is softer, but it is juicy beyond belief. I used mayo and Bad Byron's on Saturday. Injected with apple juice on the grill. Just know there are many correct methods. Find the one you're happy with.

Mayo as a primer for the rub instead of mustard?  Interesting.. Never heard of that before.

GQuiz

Turned out dandy. In fact, I could have gone the Au Jus route with all the juice at the bottom of the foil.