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Wicked Pulled Pork-1st P.P. on the Egg on the 4th-Pix Intensive

The ribs I posted last week (Wicked Good Ribs) from the Wicked Good Barbecue were so good I could wait to try the Wicked Pulled Pork recipe and the 4th coming up marked the perfect time to do it. Like the ribs, this recipe took First Place for the iQUE BBQ team in the 2009 Jack Daniels World Championship and this is supposedly the exact recipe. Another reason for doing it was the two recipes used the same rub, pork marinade and BBQ sauce and I had leftovers from the ribs. I've included a few pictures from when I made the sauce last week, but for more you can use the link above.

This marks the first time I've made pulled pork using the Egg, and I gotta tell you it was such a joy compared to my old CG Smokin' Pro Offset Smoker. It was wicked humid and wicked hot and I only had to go outside to the Egg one time to make a temp. tweak. All other trips were to baste or foil or remove the pork butt.  The Maverick ET-732 with it's longer range worked anywhere within my house and I worked a regular work day on July 3rd while monitoring the cook.I fired up the Egg at 5:00 and took it to 250 degrees grate temp. I mixed apple chunks throughout the WGWW charcoal for the smoke. The cook took 13 hours for the 7 pound Boston Butt. 

After that I rested the meat and then pulled it, sauced it and put it in FoodSaver bags. On the 4th i heated a pan of water to 170 degrees and tossed in two 1 pound bags of the sauced pulled pork. You heat them for 45 minutes and at that temp you are not drying it out, just gently heating the meat. If your dinner time is delayed you just keep the bags at 170 and your food still comes out great. This method has several advantages:

1) You can smoke the meat several days or even a week ahead of time when it is most convenient for you.
2} You are not trying to figure out how to get the pork shoulder to finish up at X:00 PM for you to eat it at Y:00 PM. 
3) You don't have to pull all-nighters to get the pork to finish the next day for your supper time. You can start it early in the morning and it finishes in the evening and you just pull it and store it.
4) Saucing the pulled pork before it is vacuum sealed acts like a super marinade injector, infusing the pork with the sauce and flavor.
5) Because you have a 45 minute reheat time on the day you wish to eat, dinner or suppertime is very predictable. 45 minutes, plus the time it takes to heat the large pan of water on your stove. It used to take 45 minutes to heat the water on my old electric cooktop so I'd start getting ready about 95 minutes before I wanted to eat. With my new cooktop and it's TurboBoil (rapid boil) burner it took under 3 minutes to bring a very large pan of water to 170 degrees.

For those of you who are interested I took some pictures of the FoodSaver part of the operation, and they are included here too. OK onto the pictures.

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The IQUE dry rub used: Turbinado sugar, kosher salt, paprika, chili powder, chipotle chili powder, 5 peppercorn blend, cumin seed, granulated onion and granulated garlic.





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The iQUE Rub had all of the larger spices ground in a spice grinder to make a fine powder which was mixed with the powdered spices in a large bowl. The finished iQUE rub was stored in the fridge. I used some for the ribs last week and more for the pulled pork on the 4th.





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The iQUE BBQ Sauce I made for the ribs was also used for the Wicked Pulled Pork. It used brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, corn syrup, Worcestershire sauce, IQUE rub, chipotle powder, cumin powder, tomato powder, hickory powder, mustard powder, Szechuan peppercorns, mixed peppercorns, garlic powder and thyme.





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The finished BBQ sauce after being coked down on the stove. It too was used for last week's ribs and this week's pulled pork.


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The iQUE Pork Marinade sauce from ribs last week. It uses some of the IQUE BBQ sauce, white grape juice, vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. The sauce is brought to a simmer and gets used or stored.





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Here some of the stored iQUE Pork Marinade is injected into the Boston Butt on the night of July 2nd.





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The meat is rubbed with the iQUE Rub and then is wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight for 8 hours.





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It is 4:45AM and I am firing the Egg up. The plate setter is installed legs up. There is a foil drip pan on the plate setter and the s/s grid on top of the legs. I have mixed some apple wood chunks throughout the WGWW lump. The smoking temp today is 250 degrees grate temp and I have the Maverick ET-732 grate probe installed to monitor the grate temp.





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The Boston Butt is out of the fridge after it's overnight stay and the plastic wrap has been removed.





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The Boston Butt is on the Egg, together with the food probe from the Maverick ET-732. It will be taken to 165 degrees before the next step.





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About 7 hours later and the Boston Butt has hit 165 degrees. It returns to the Kitchen to get sauced.





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The iQUE BBQ Sauce is applied to the meat and it is back on the Egg for 2 more hours.





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The freshly sauced Boston Butt going back on the Egg and the 2 hours later when it comes off and returns to the Kitchen to be wrapped in foil.






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The foiled Boston Butt is back on the Egg until it reaches 198 degrees (not 200 but 198??)





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The pork shoulder has a wonderful dark bark.





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The pork shoulder is placed in a baking pan and some of the Savory Pork Marinade is poured into the pan. The pan is covered in foil for 1 hour. This is just like the ribs which were foiled to finish instead of being returned to the smoker.





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The pork is being pulled. I tried using bear claws for the first time and frankly I quit  using them in frustration about 1/3 of the way along. I need to see if there is a video showing how to use these. It is possible my frustration was due to user error. I finished pulling the pork by hand.





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The pork is pulled, it has been doused with the reserved liquid from the glass baking pan and I have added in some iQUE BBQ Sauce.





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The sauced pulled pork is being stored in FoodSave bags. I use the Kitchen scale to weigh out 1 pound portions which I then vacuum seal.





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Five of the 1 pound bags (shown here) went into the freezer for use in two weeks and two went into the fridge for use in the freezer.

Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.

Comments

  • brianwdmn
    brianwdmn Posts: 371
    Wow, just wow!
    Marietta, East Cobb, GA
  • SmokinDAWG82
    SmokinDAWG82 Posts: 1,705
    Jim you are amazing! What else can I say.
    LBGE
    Go Dawgs! - Marietta, GA
  • dweebs0r
    dweebs0r Posts: 539
    Great cook and excellent documentation as usual.  Thanks for sharing!  
       -Jody Newell (LBGE & a 36" Blackstone griddle).
    Location:  🍺🍺  The back porch, Munford, TN.  🍺🍺
  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,660
    One word: Awesome!

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • U_tarded
    U_tarded Posts: 2,041
    Everytime I see a thread by you I get giddy. The storytelling/pictures are always top notch. As always this looks like a home run.
  • pwg56
    pwg56 Posts: 93
    U_tarded said:
    Everytime I see a thread by you I get giddy. The storytelling/pictures are always top notch. As always this looks like a home run.

    +1000 your parents are very lucky to consistently have "best I ever had" meals from you!
  • Hotch
    Hotch Posts: 3,564
    Thanks for sharing this.
    Large BGE, MiniMAX BGE, 2 Mini BGE's, R&V Fryer, 36" Blackstone Griddle, Camp Chef Dual Burner 40K BTU Stove
    BGE Chiminea
    Prosper, TX
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,168
    @jfm0830 Wish I could shake your hand-you get it and your parents definitely deserve it.  Enjoy the time you still have with them! 
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Mkline
    Mkline Posts: 180
    Epic, that's one epic cook.
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    lousubcap said:
    @jfm0830 Wish I could shake your hand-you get it and your parents definitely deserve it.  Enjoy the time you still have with them! 

    @lousubcap it would be my pleasure to shake your hand, it sounds like we are of like minds. Most of the good things in my life I owe to my parents, most of the bad things I brought on myself. I am so happy I have found a way to bring some fun and enjoyment into my parent's lives.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • BuckeyeBob
    BuckeyeBob Posts: 673
    Wow, that looks just outstanding. Have never seen a pulled pork recipe that sauces before pulling and then goes back on to cook some more. Great job and thanks so much for sharing.
    Clarendon Hills, IL
  • DMurf
    DMurf Posts: 481
    @JFM Your posts are great. Bacon crusted buns?! How can you compete with that? Looks like a great cook and meal, you have inspired me to get out of my comfort zone. 
    David
    BBQ since 2010 - Oh my, what I was missing.
  • Gamecockeggman
    Gamecockeggman Posts: 1,329
    Seriuosly!!! Love the post and if it tastes as good as it looks you had a great day. nice post and great cook!
    Go Gamecocks!!!
    1 XL, 1 MM
    Smoking in Aiken South Carolina
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    Daaaaayyyum! Absolutely brilliant. I look forward to your posts. You've raised the bar with this one.

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • COegger
    COegger Posts: 58
    lousubcap said:
    @jfm0830 Wish I could shake your hand-you get it and your parents definitely deserve it.  Enjoy the time you still have with them! 
    +1
  • rhodges
    rhodges Posts: 17
    Looks good! Only thing is I grew up in eastern north carolina and we'd never put any of that dressing on our bbq, only vinegar based sauce! Anything else is sacrilege and you would punished accordingly.
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    If it is any consolation, that dressing is vinegar-based.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • Fantastic cook and post. I recently got their burger book and BBQ book, so great to see your real world test drive of the pp recipe.
  • pwg56
    pwg56 Posts: 93
    jfm0830 said:
    Thanks to everyone for looking and for your kind comments.
    pwg56 said:

    +1000 your parents are very lucky to consistently have "best I ever had" meals from you!

    You just identified the thing I like best about this hobby: Sharing the end results with others and seeing the enjoyment they get from trying new things.

    My parents are part of the so-call Greatest Generation. They want nothing for themselves, other than to see their kids have a better life than they did. And they grew up in some pretty tough times. My parents would never go to a fancy restaurant and get the kind of food that I am able to make for them. But they seem to love coming over here and trying whatever I make for them. So this is my backdoor way of getting them into "fancy restaurants". All of the food competitions cropping up leave me totally cold. What interests me is challenging myself to find interesting recipes and do the best possible job bringing them to life. And words can't describe the satisfaction I feel seeing the smiles on my parents faces and hearing comments when they try something new for the first time and really love it. Or a few weeks ago when my dad got up from the table and walked over to shake my hand and thank me for his Father's Day dinner. Priceless.

    Awesome. I love it! Please also know you are adding so much to the forum with your posts and all the pictures. I went out and bought that wicked burger book completely because of your posts cooking from it.. Although complicated, it seems like its all possible the way you methodically lay it all out. It seems like soon I may be purchasing that bbq book now too!
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    Thanks, you guys are all too kind!

    @pwg56. Take a look at the barbecue book at the store before you just buy it. While there are the great award-winning recipes from the Jack Daniels championship, there are also a lot of recipes from when they go tailgating or are cooking for themselves at the competitions. To me a lot of these look great and should be a lot of fun, but your mileage may vary. So take a gander before you plunk down some cash. The recipes in the barbecue book are like the ones in the burger book in terms of complexity and then some. Nothing you can't do, but they sure aren't quickie cooks.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • Dyal_SC
    Dyal_SC Posts: 6,023
    WOW!!!  Amazing looking cook, Jim!  =P~ =P~ =P~
  • Texag00
    Texag00 Posts: 14
    Looks great! The bacon crusted buns are a great idea. Thanks for sharing....I'll have to try it
  • Beaumonty
    Beaumonty Posts: 198
    I am incredibly impressed. Great job. Please keep it up. When I research a new recipe or technique, posts like these are invaluable.
  • Solson005
    Solson005 Posts: 1,911
    Another great post with awesome pictures to make us feel like we were a part of the meal! Sounds like you will have requests for pulled pork on the egg quite often now! 

    Great job! 
    =D>
    Large & Small BGE, CGW Two-Tier Swing Rack for BOTH EGGS, Spider for the Wok, eggCARTen & and Cedar Pergola my Eggs call home in Edmond, OK. 
  • Looks fantastic!!
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'