Smoked Pulled Pork

[bojack]

looking for some input about smoking 2 8lb. pork shoulders(butt). i've got a large smoker that burns wood in the fire box and can hold 6 or so pork butts in the smoker box. never smoked a butt before so i'm looking for some do's and don'ts about this. i've smoked 6lb. salmon for christmas and it was fantastic. i'm always looking for new ideas. any help or suggestions would be welcome. thanks. bojack

[rps]

Step 1: The evening before you intend to start smoking, mix salt (I use pickling salt) in enough water to cover the two shoulders. The end result should taste like the ocean. Then add enough sorghum molasses to the water to turn it light tea color. Put the shoulders in the water and weigh them down. I use an ice chest for this process and use unopened sacks of ice to keep the meat down and cold. (Note: If you buy Wally World meat, it probably was injected with brine or broth as they processed the meat. Look on the wrapper. If they added broth or brine they must say so on the label. If the meat has been brothed or brined, skip this step and next time look for meat you can brine yourself.)

Step 2: Early the morning you will begin, remove the meat and dry it. Then rub it with a dry rub. I make my own rub in one of those coffee grinders with a whirling blade. I put a table spoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of paprika, a tablespoon of cumin seed, a half teaspoon of celery seed, a teaspoon of coriander seed, a half teaspoon of mustard seed, two teaspoons of chili powder, a teaspoon of oregano, a teaspoon of mixed peppercorns, and a trace or twelve of cayenne pepper. The amounts are approximate because I don't actually measure, and I never really do it the same twice. I grind everything to a powder and rub the meat. I prepare the fire while the rub cakes on.

Step 3: Make sure your fire never raises the temp in the cook pit above 225 and try to stay between 180 and 200. Yes, it will take forever to cook that way, but, trust me, low and slow is the only way to go. I cook the shoulders fat side up so that the melting fat bastes the meat without washing off the rub. I don't have a two chamber unit. I use a big kettle and use hickory nuts wrapped in a foil pouch in which I poke a few holes. The pouch goes on the lump charcoal (small amounts) and helps make the heat more indirect. The shoulder stays as far away from the heat as I can mange in the kettle. I typically will smoke my shoulders through four doses of charcoal and nuts on the first day. The second day I will give it a couple more doses. By then the crust is black/brown. I then finish the shoulder in the oven at 190 degrees. That way I can have a total cook time of 15 -18 hours without staying up all night. Wrap the shoulders in foil, then in brown paper sacks. Let them sit on the counter for one or two hours before you pull the meat.

Somewhere on this forum, I posted my recipe for North Carolina yellow BBQ sauce. Try it.

My preferred service method is to put the pork on the bun, soak it in the sauce then layer a big spoon of horseradish cole slaw on top of that.

That is my advice, but I am sure many others have their own ways. The Ozarks are full of experts on "Q."

[snagged in outlet 3]

If there is one piece of advice on smoking butt, it is that fat renders at 165 degrees f. The meat will come up to that temp relatively quickly, then seems to never get hotter than that. It's called plateauing. You think your close to being done but a good size roast can sit at an internal temp of 165 for many hours. Once the majority of fat is rendered it will scoot right up to 200 degres and will moist and tender. If you try and hurry this process you either have burnt meat or fatty meat.

Don't get discouraged it's melting out all the fat out of the meat slowly. You can read about it in many BBQ books and I even googles it and got alot of hits. Bottom line is, low and slow and let that fat render out.

SIO3

[Gavin]

Here's a good recipe..

Smoked Boston Butt

 5 to 6 pound Pork Butt or Picnic Roast

 Rub

o 4T Salt

o 2T Pepper

o 2T Parsley

o 2T Colemans Mustard (Dry)

o 2T Onion Powder

o 2T Garlic Powder

o 2T Paprika

o 1T Oregano

o 1T Rosemary

 Grind any coarse spices such as parsley, oregano and rosemary in a coffee grinder until fine

 Mix all spices together

 One "Big Gulp" cup of hickory chips in water for one hour to overnight

 One Bar-BQ Sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's or whatever you like)

 One bottle dark beer (Stout or Porter)

 1/2 gallon apple juice

 Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Mustard (Squirt kind)

 Crisscross a couple of three foot long pieces of plastic wrap

 Rub extra virgin olive oil OR mustard (squirt kind!) on pig (This is glue for the rub)

 Rub the Rub - All of it - Don't worry about it not sticking, leave it lay on the plastic

 Fold the plastic wrap around the pig tightly. Repeat with three or more wraps of plastic

 Put pig in the fridge for 2 to 5 days turning every 12 hours or so - It will self marinate

 Light your smoker:

o Put chips on chip pan in the bottom

o Put apple juice in water pan and top off with water

o Put pig on rack fat side down.

o Don't open to look! The pig has not escaped! Smoke for 6 or 8 hours

 Now open to look! Take out pig and wrap in heavy foil and put back in smoker

 Top off water pan with water and cook for another 6 or 8 hours depending on the outside temperature

 Remove pig and let cool slightly in the foil. Open up and "Pull" into fine shreds with two forks

 Eat it as is OR serve with sauce OR put in roasting pan with beer and sauce and simmer

Note 1: For a presentation pig: Wrap in cheesecloth and douse with olive oil before placing in smoker - Does nothing for taste but looks good for judges

Note 2: Put pig on top smoker shelf and beef brisket on bottom to marinate with pig drippings.

[mclothier1]

^^^All good advice

But... the rub prep can be skipped alltogether if you dont have the time, Ive had some great pulled pork by slathering with yellow mustard and sprinkling on the rub right before it goes in the smoker.

Since you got a stick burner, just keep your fire under 225 and you'll be fine, pork butt is very forgiving, and even mistakes are very tasty!

One other piece of advice, buy a digital temp probe, either the remote kind where you can watch your temps from inside the house, or one with a cord, either way its all good. The butt will plateau at around 160-165 as said above, just dont panic and crank the heat, let it do its thing and you can leave it in there till it hits 190-195 then pull it and wrap in foil, place in a cooler with towels for about an hour which will help redistribute the juices.

When your ready to finish it, pull the bone out, it should just slide out, and then take a couple forks and use them to pull the meat apart, OH...dont forget to chop up the bark and add that in to the mix, its the tastiest part!!

and heres a recipe for an excellent 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 disolves the Sugar well. Then add the remaining ingredients.

[jjtroutbum]

Never could get it lit after rolled in giant paper. lol good recipes fellas

[mosouthpaw]

rps is right, gotta brine it with salt and molasses...

skip the store bought boston butt and buy from a butcher.... better meat.

[jmoore]

Favorite twice smoked 'butt:

Dry rub with seasonings of choice

Place roast fat side up, ad pack 1/2" of brown sugar on top

Place in smoker at 225* smoke to an internal tem of 160* or so (about 5-6 hrs), spraying with applejuice/white vinegar solution every hour.

Double wrap in hd foil continue to cook at 225*-250* for an addional 4-6 hours depending on size.

Remove from smoker, pull out bone, break meat into large chunks, place in large foil pan, shake on some dry rub, and add 3/4 cup 'real' maple syrup, mix well.

Add a couple pieces of wood to smoker fire, place pan on smoker for an hour or so.

Pull or chop pork to texture desired.

[bojack]

thanks guys for the input. i'll be doing this on the 15th for about 25-30 people. one question~~with all the molasses,brown sugar and real syrup, doesn't that make the meat to sweet and take away from the smoke flavor of the meat? never done this so you guys know best but just asking.

again~~thanks for all the input. i'll let you know how it turns out.

[taxidermist]

I think its a lot simpler than most posted.

Cavenders Greek Seasoning is about all you will need for a rub.

Give the butts a coating the night before and allow them to sit int he frig.

I use a meat therm. and take the butts to a temp of 175F, when done it should pull apart with a couple forks. A properly cooked butt will fall apart when dropped on the counter.

a large butt will take about 3 hours to cook at 235F, kind of the plat as mentioned.

As for wood, dont use wood that is old and moldy and covered in mildew.

Seasoned wood, and if you want once the fire is going blackberry brairs, wild cherry and fruit wood will do better thant most nut woods. Stay away from Black Walnut.

Several years back at a Memphis in May comp. I took best with this simple recipe and really poed the high dollar cooker guys off.

Cavenders is available at Wal MArt and many other grocery stores. if all else fails they are in Harrison AR>

http://www.greekseasoning.com/

http://www.cavendersseasoning.com/