Pulling Pork


 
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Jerry N.

Jerry N.

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I'm planning on doing my first pork butt and have a question about pulling pork (never done it). Can someone describe the process a little? Obviously, you rip the meat apart, but do you try to remove remaining fat, do you use a special instrument, do you separate the different types of meat . . .? On tv, I saw someone just taking the pork and going at it with a couple of cleavers. Any insight would be appreciated.
 
Jerry,
You can use a couple forks, or your hands.
Just make sure there not too hot, or they will burn you.
You can also wear some gloves while doing this.
Either way will work fine.
Be sure to mix the bark in with the rest of the meat.
I prefer to take all the fat out,,, but have seen where some leave it in there and mix it all up.
 
I have some thin cotton gloves, you can get them at Home Depot or Harbor Freight, cover them with food grade plastic gloves. Gives you nice insulation from the heat.

Just start pulling chunks of pork apart. You should be able to do a butt in 3-4 minutes tops. You can make it small pieces or large ones, your choice. If you cook these guys long enough (195-200) internal they will give up and just fall apart. I usually try to get out any remaining fat bombs and end up with a nice product. Shoulders usually are a little less fatty and end up with a little nicer product but they cost a little more. Butts do a great job.

I usually put the butt in a large full size aluminum pan. I kind of move the fat and bone to one corner. I then have a aluminum half pan next to this that I put the good stuff in. I can do four large butts per cook in the WSM and this might yield three half pans of finished product or approx 15 pounds.
 
All of the above works. I tend to use the tight fitting surgical gloves during competition so I can really feel the tenderness of the meat. Some of the muscles are long, stringy, and never really get tender.


Then there are those muscles that are the reason we cook pork--tender, juicy, hard to resist popping a piece in your mouth

Dale
 
Be sure to let the butt rest a while before you pull it. I like to get all the fat I can out of it while I pull it. I like to pull it into about chunks about half the size of my thumb. I give the fat and the bones to the dogs, they love it, and I give my cats a few peices of pulled pork while I am pulling it, everyone loves pulled pork.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>[qb]Can someone describe the process a little?[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>You will see after the butt is done. The meat just falls apart. Take one fork, apply just a bit of pressure and pull to you. (Use two forks and try to look like it is surgery so it looks complected to the woman). Start on the right side of the butt (if your a rightie) and start making pulled pork.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>[qb]Obviously, you rip the meat apart[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>No. It falls apart. You touch it and the individual strands of meat separate. If it don't, wrap in foil and put in a 350 oven for another hour or so. When you take it off the smoker, check the temp in a few spots. Prior posts detail the correct temp.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>[qb]
[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>[qb]...but do you try to remove remaining fat[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Again, not much fat remains in a fully cooked butt. After 1 to 1-1/2 hours per pound there should not be huge chunks of fat or tough meat.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>[qb]On tv, I saw someone just taking the pork and going at it with a couple of cleavers.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That is because they did not cook it long enough or it had been sitting in a fridge somewhere and they heated it up in the microwave for the show. A pork butt will really impress anyone around when you prep it (coat it with yellow mustard) to cooking (they can't understand how a 8 pound pork roast thing will survive 8-12 hours cooking) to resting to when you take a fork and it just falls apart.
 
i understand that in some parts of the country, using a cleaver to chop the pork is standard practice--regardless of whether it is cooked to shredding temp or not. Just a style that the locals are accustomed to eating.

I've used a cleaver on pork, and also on the point of brisket to make sloppy joes. Works real well--and for mass quantities, it is a fast solution.

Dale
 
Lots of good info here. Thanks everyone. This weekend looks too much like rain. I think I will grill this weekend and try for pulling pork next.
 
One mistake I made (once), was when I didn't have enough time to pull the pork right off the smoker, I had to put it in the fridge to pull later. Cold pork is pertnear impossible to pull, best to do it right off the smoker. Now I use jersey gloves with food prep gloves slipped over them like another mentioned he does. It takes no time at all if the pork is at 195 or better.
 
I watched a pbs program put on by uncpbs about the history of BBQ in North Carolina and the commercial establishments were all using a clever on the pork butts. They would refer to a regular chop versus a fine chop. It was obviously much faster than hand pulling and I assumed that was the reason they did it. However, maybe it is a traditional way in NC ?
 
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