Pulled Pork Question

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sawhorseray
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Pulled Pork Question

Post by sawhorseray » Thu Jan 17, 2013 21:52

After all my computer trials and tribulations of the last couple of weeks I just yanked a little five pound boneless porkbutt from the garage freezer to thaw in the fridge for a few days. I'm leaning towards pulled pork sannys and see where smoking and roasting are involved, the end product appears done at about 195°. Should I be brining this porkbutt in a nitrite solution previous to introducing it to the Pro 100. I like the looks of this CW's BBQ sauce once it all comes out:

[USA] Rocky Mountain "Red" (Barbecue Sauce)

4 cups ketchup
2 bottles (10 oz. ea.) Heinz 57 Sauce
1 bottle (10 oz.) A.1. Steak Sauce
1/3 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
1-1/2 cups apple cider
1/3 cup dark corn syrup
1/3 cup honey
¼ cup molasses
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tblspns. Frank's Hot Sauce

Thanks in advance for the help, never done pulled pork before. RAY
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Post by ssorllih » Thu Jan 17, 2013 22:00

Ray, if you brine it with nitrite you will get ham flavor, if you leave to nitrite out you will get roast pork flavor. But as always if you are slow smoke cooking you should use the nitrite but if you are hot smoke cooking the killers won't live long enough to harm you.
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Post by Cabonaia » Fri Jan 18, 2013 01:03

I'm with Ross. If you use nitrate, you'll get pulled ham. Might be good, but not "pulled pork."
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Post by Cabonaia » Fri Jan 18, 2013 01:04

oops - I mean nitrite / cure #1
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Post by CrankyBuzzard » Fri Jan 18, 2013 01:04

I do butts all the time on the smoker and have never brined or cure prior to smoking.

Now, as for done temperatureure, let the butt tell YOU when it's done. When its done, the bone will pull free from the meat easily and very clean. That temp will be right About 190 internal.

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Post by Chuckwagon » Fri Jan 18, 2013 01:28

If you use nitrate, you'll get pulled ham.
If you use nitrite, the texture itself will change and become more firm. It won't shred as easily as cooked pork.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by sawhorseray » Fri Jan 18, 2013 08:49

ssorllih wrote:Ray, if you brine it with nitrite you will get ham flavor, if you leave to nitrite out you will get roast pork flavor. But as always if you are slow smoke cooking you should use the nitrite but if you are hot smoke cooking the killers won't live long enough to harm you.
Thanks for the replies, I'm going to treat it as a straight-up porkbutt with no nitrates involved. Between the directions of the website (PS Seasonings) and the best advise on the planet earth (CW), I usually draw a pretty fair conclusion as to what needs to be done.. The Pro 100 was meant for this stuff!

For PK Smoke House

1pound -maple cure

1 package of PS Seasoning pork flavoring 289-B

1 bottle of PS Poultry Seasoning

2 gallons of apple juice

4 Cookies Original BBQ sauce or 4 of the Traeger Texas spice BBQ sauce

One wireless BBQ thermometer

One large meat lug

One-two disposable tin pan

Making the brine

2 gallons apple juice

1 pound of maple cure

1 package of 289 pork flavoring

Mix the maple cure and pork flavoring and apple juice together in meat lug. Place the pork shoulders in meat lug. (If you do not have room in refrigerator you can add a bag of ice to keep the meat cool while in the brine.) Let the pork soak in the brine for 6 to 8 hours.

After soaking in brine for 6 to 8 hours pull out the shoulders and apply the southwest dry rub on shoulders all sides. Then place in tin pan Add about 1 inch of the brine to the bottom of the tin pan.

BBQ

Preheat smoker to 225 degrees.

Put pork shoulders in smoker in the tin pan 225 degrees for two hours (dampers closed)

Turn smoker down to 160 degrees (open dampers to 2/3 open top and bottom) add saw dust. Smoking time six to eight hours or until meats internal temp reaches 140 degrees. (You may need to add more saw dust after three hours)

Take out smoke pan and shut dampers down turn smoker back up to 225 degrees until internal meat temp reaches 190-200 degrees. (Six to eight hours)

Let pork cool down before shredding and then add BBQ sauce.

I won't do any of the first half, and maybe some of the second, just the smoker temps part. Time to check for rubs and stuff . RAY
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Post by el Ducko » Sat Jan 19, 2013 01:49

Confessions of a Texan who was transferred to North Carolina for a few years- - I never could figure out why the locals would go to the trouble of cooking a whole pig (or pork butts), chopping it to bits, then trying to glue it back together with that sticky, sweet sauce. Shredded wood chips in sauce would taste the same. But then, I was used to Texas-style smoked beef brisket, and never quite adapted. In North Carolina, I smoked my own brisket and pork ribs. ...survival skill!

Moral #1: It's about the meat, not the sauce.

These days, we commute between TX and NC (two sets of grandchildren), and value the time spent in Central Texas where we can eat the local brisket and pork ribs. What little meat is sold as "chopped" is actually trimmings, and is sold to the tourists (...mostly from the east coast).

While in NC, we avoid the local barbecue, because it's difficult to find ribs and pulled pork that aren't sodden with sauce. Worse, the BBQ places in the Charlotte area cook their pork in pans in electric ovens, smothered in sweet sauce. ...not smoked at all. Avoid this at all costs!

Moral #2: If there's no smoke, don't bother.

Toward Lexington and farther east, people actually smoke the pork. They still insist on pulling it, rather than slicing, and insist on mixing in massive amounts of sauce and, believe it or not, slaw. If you can find it without sauce (and especially without slaw), you're in luck. Order the meat with sauce on the side. Good smoked meat, beef or pork, needs no sauce.

Moral #3: Never, EVER, order brisket east of the Sabine River.
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Post by el Ducko » Sat Jan 19, 2013 01:58

Sorry. I was busy ranting and lost my train of thought. Smoked pork butts, like smoked sausage made from pork butts, can be quite delicious. I can't speak to brining, but it sounds like a great idea. Using cure if you slow smoke is good advice, although smoking the whole butt rather than grinding it up gives you a certain amount of protection.

I like to keep the rub simple (avoid using sugar), and I don't mop. I do pork butts like I do brisket- - depend on the naturally occurring fat to keep the meat moist. You may like yours seasoned differently, but I like a simple salt, pepper, garlic rub. It lets the smoke flavor come to the fore.

Enjoy!
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Post by Chuckwagon » Sat Jan 19, 2013 02:43

Ray ol' bud,
Nothing succeeds like a good plan. And you've surely got one! With directions like you've outlined, you can't help but turn it into a success.

I think you'll like Rocky Mountain Red. It's my favorite. It's also the favorite of all my neighbors. The trick of the recipe is in adjusting the vinegar to suit the tastes of those who will drink the stuff.

Over time, I've found that to make the flavor a little more subtle, I can toss a green pepper into a blender with a little water and pulverize it, then add this ingredient to the simmering red sauce. Your guests will wonder where that twist came from.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
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Post by CrankyBuzzard » Sat Jan 19, 2013 03:31

I'm going with the duck (gasp!)

Just smoke it, shred it, serve naked with sauce on the side.

Sorry folks, if you have to slather or drown your BBQ with sauce, you have something to hide... Yes, even ribs and brisket are great without sauce...

Let the meat and smoke speak...

Been smoking for about 20 years and always serve the sauce on the side. Most of the time when we are cleaning up we notice that the sauce bowls are still at least half full, and no, our bowls aren't half a gallon in size. LOL All I do for a smoked butt is to slather it with yellow mustard, coat it with my rub of choice, smoke at 225 until the bone is ready to release, shred and serve...
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Post by sausagemaneric » Sat Jan 19, 2013 06:35

I take a a bone in or boneless butt, cover it with as much Zatarain's cajun seasoning as it will hold. Put in in a 200 degree smoker with steady light smoke for 5-6 hrs. then I wrap it tight in aluminum foil and put it in a aluminum pan and back in the smoker for 2hrs and it will shred real easy. Then you can pour the juice from the aluminum pan over it to "even" the seasoning out in the pork. I usually baste it with a mop of 2 cups red wine vinegar, 1 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup prepared mustard, 1 tblspn. sage, and 2 tblspn. Tabasco during the uncovered smoking time.
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Post by Smokin Don » Mon Jan 28, 2013 18:23

SH Ray, I just posted one on pulled pork the way I do it, no brining, no spritzing and no added liquid when I wrap in foil. I think the butt has plenty of fat in it for the moisture and I just use mustard and Cajun seasoning rubbed on, makes a good bark. I do it 3 hours at 170 deg. smoke mode then go to 225 for the rest of the cook and I take to 200 deg. IT then check with a 3/16 inch aluminum rod and if it goes in like butter it's done. Any sauce I serve on the side. Wrapping in foil gives me a softer bark that I like. Some like a crispy bark and if you like that don't wrap in foil. It will take longer to get thru the stall at 170 deg. to get done. Smokin Don
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Post by atcNick » Tue Jan 29, 2013 03:56

No nitrates for pulled pork. I always go out of my way to by the "all natural" pork butts that dont have the "added solution" either.
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