Pulled Pork by ChihuahuaTN

ChihuahuaTN

ChihuahuaTN's Basic Pulled Pork Smoke 

I’ve been reading a lot of posts from new egg owners asking questions on how to smoke a butt or picnic for pulled pork.

Choice of meat:

I prefer Pork Shoulder/Picnic cut. The definition of a Picnic is "A subprimal cut from the lower portion of the shoulder. A more economical but also fattier cut than the butt. When the bone and fat is trimmed from this cut it results in a very rich flavored roast. The meat from this cut is excellent for making juicy barbecued pulled pork. It may have the bone in it or the bone removed and rolled and tied.” I usually pick this up at Kroger, Publix, or my local Butcher.

Others prefer Boston Butt as their choice for pulled pork. The definition of a Butt is “A subprimal cut from the upper portion of the shoulder. The roasts from this cut are available bone-in or boneless. The meat from this cut is often used for making pulled pork.” They range from 5 to 12 pounds and these can be found at Sam’s club/Costco cryo-packed with two butts per pack. You can also find them in supermarkets, or if you have a source at a meat wholesaler/butcher you can also purchase them. These tend to yeid, more meat because they generally are not a fatty as the shoulder.

Preparation:

About 12 hours before the meat goes into the egg, I may elect to trim a little fat/ eliminate any excess or uneven parts.  After this I apply a coating of a rub of choice, and wrap in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. There are many people that place a coat of yellow mustard before the rub to hold the rub on and add to the bark. The mustard taste cooks out.

I usually inject my pork with apple juice with a hot sauce, some people don’t inject at all.  There are many injection recipes on-line find one you like.

Time: 

I have found that at 225F Pork Shoulder/Picnic cut is around 2h per pound and that Pork Butt is a bit less. 

Fire Box Preparation.

You are going to keep a fire going for 24+ hours more than likely.  You will need to accurately prep your fire box this is very important. I usually use my Shop-Vac and get rid of any old lump/used lump and clean out the ashes and left over dregs. I usually don't take the firebox pieces out… but clean around the edges and especially the bottom part of the fire box (remove the ash).

I place several large pieces of lump and place them in the bottom of the egg in the center.  Then I continue to add large pieces to the egg building from the outside towards the center, being even. I also add in some wood chucks to these layers. Once the large pieces are done I go to medium pieces ect and continue this process. When you get to the top of the firebox, I place some wood chunks on top of the lump then continue place more lump pieces. When I have reached around halfway up the fire-ring I add some of the more medium to small pieces till the top of the fire-ring  (small pieces on top-large –largest on the bottom).

Rig Preparation:

There are many people who are very creative, there are many accessories for the egg here is what I do…

I use the plate setter wrapped in foil with the legs down I then add the grate , I then use a disposable aluminum pan which I fill with beer (to catch the drippings) and on top of that a smaller grate where the pork will rest (see photo)

Make sure every few months you calibrate your dome temp gauge by adding to boiling water and making any necessary adjustments.

Cooking:

Start your egg and get it locked-in to 225-240 degrees F. I personally don’t use anything fancy like DigiQ EX ‘s  I just use my dome temp gauge (calibrated) and a meat probe. My personal wood choice for pork is apple with hickory (a fruit wood combined with a hard wood). I unwrap the meat stick in the digital probe and place the meat in the egg, fat side down. I don't flip butts because it interferes with bark formation. Fat side down helps protect the meat if you have a temp spike. I let the pork go till a temp 195-205 , I don’t peek at the meat, I only check to make sure the temp is btw 225-250. 

Once the pork has hit 195-205 temp,  I double wrap in foil and let it rest for 1.5-2hs in a cooler wrapped in towels and then I shred. I will often leave the pork in for 4-7 hours as wrapped in towels in my yeti cooler after 7 hours shredding the pork will still burn my hands!!!! I try to shred after 2 hours 90% of the time.

Alternative method:

After the pork gets over 100F you can spray it every hour with anything you like. I prefer to utilize fruit juice and booze (bourbon) because the sugars in the fruit juice and bourbon will caramelize and add to the bark.

Foiling Method:

Some people like to  double wrap it in aluminum foil when the meat gets to about 165F. Put some of your spray of choice in the foil to help braise the meat. Past 165f very little of the smoke gets absorbed so you can finish cooking from this point on in the oven set at 250F. Once the pork has hit 195-205 temp I double wrap in foil and let it rest for 1.5-2hs in a cooler wrapped in towels and then I shred. I will often leave the pork in for 4-7 hours as wrapped in towels in my yeti cooler after 7 hours shredding the pork will still burn my hands!!!! I try to shred after 2 hours 90% of the time.

The Plateau:

Almost all butts and briskets will hit a plateau where the temps of the meat stops rising…please for Pete’s sake don’t  raise the temp as that will dry out the meat. The meat is absorbing a lot of heat at this point while the connective tissue is
breaking down (this is what makes the meat tender)…low and slow !!!!

Pulling the Pork:

I use my hands and large forks to shred the pork after it’s un-foiled. The bone falls out on its own, and I break it apart into big pieces and I then go through each piece and the unwanted parts bone and extra connective tissue. I keep some of the fat and add it to some of the vac-seal packs if I intend to freeze anything.

Emergency Finishing Sauce!       

If for some reason your pork comes out to dry you can always add a finishing sauce. This recipe has saved me many times !

 SoFlaQuers finishing sauce:

1 Cup Cider Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1 Teaspoon Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning

1 Teaspoon Course Black Pepper

1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Warm the Vinegar up enough so that it dissolves the Sugar well. Then add the remaining ingredients.

Once all your ingredients are mixed together randomly squirt this over the pulled pork, then kind of mix it up with gloved hands. This adds very little heat (despite the Red Pepper) and mellows out the stronger, gamier parts of the Shoulder. The Vinegar also helps break it down even more for some REAL juicy pork.

Pics:

SmokeyPitt

Wow this is a very thorough walk-through.  Thanks for posting it.  Lots of great ideas in there. 

One minor thing is you mention plate setter legs down, but it is legs up in the pic. 

TnJed

Nice write up!

ChihuahuaTN

bump

beachsmoke

Good lesson thanks for help