Pulled Pork Disaster - What Happened?

Wazoo

Our neighborhood does a Cinco de Mayo block party each year. We did it yesterday, Saturday. Got two 9-lb pork shoulders, bone inside with fat cap on top - I've done many before, to include multiples, w/o a single problem - meat just falls off. Anyway, started at 8:00PM Friday night @ 250-300 degrees and they were done at 6:00AM. When I brought them in, the meat was tough and not in any way close to a "pullable" condition. Had to cut them up and dice the meat to get into a shape to make several batches of ABTs. What happened? Did I get an old goat instead of a tender pig?

Unknown

Wazoo, if you have successfully done this before, my guess is that you got some bad meat. Either that or you had too much tequila, and somehow overlooked an important part of the process. I doubt that.

The Naked Whiz

Wazoo,
My guess is that you "blasted" through the plateau and didn't give the meat time for the collagen to turn to gelatin. A 9 pound butt should have taken 18 hours or more. I think your temperature was too high (check the thermometer) and that the cook just went too fast.[p]TNW

Bob V

Wazoo,[p]Whiz brings up the important point again for briskets and pulled pork. It isn't so much the finishing temperature as *how long it stays in the 160-180 zone*. That zone is plateau where the collagen and connective tissue breaks down, making for a more tender piece of meat after it is all gone. [p]How long it stays "in the zone" is really more art than science, since it will depend on the piece of meat. Saying that, though, I've only made mistakes on the "too soon" side, and never on "too long".[p]This cooking for plateau stuff has really changed the way I approach cooking on the Egg -[p]Bob V

Unknown

Wazoo,[p]Your meat just wasn't done enough.[p]Dave