Not Fun Pulled Pork


 

Cliff Bartlett

R.I.P. 5/17/2021
I'll call this an "almost disaster" pulled pork cook. I had an 8.1 lb. pork butt and it was a fairly decent day. Weather forecast called for unsettled conditions and mentioned possible thunder storms late afternoon. This has pretty much been our weather pattern for the past week and nothing significant had materialized. Based on that I figured good to go. Got up at 3:30 am, rubbed down the butt with R Butts R Smokin' Cherry Habanero seasoning. Got my 18" WSM fired up and got it rolling about 4:15 am. Pit temp of 225 and some pecan chunks for smoke. Hit the stall around noon. We had a few things to pick up in town so I checked everything out good with the smoker and off we went. After about an hour I checked my phone for temps and saw that the pit temperature had dropped around 10 degrees. Checked the fan output and saw it was 0% output, meaning not running at all. I knew something had happened and it was way too early to be a fuel problem. We headed home and noticed the dark black sky out our way along the base of the mountains. Crap. Got about 3 miles out and it began to rain and winds out of the south picked up significantly. Closer to home the creeks were rising and water was over the road in two placed. Pulled in expecting the worst... and I got it. The smoker was four feet in under the roof eves, the placement I've used for a number of years in rainy conditions. Well, it wasn't enough today. Checked the fuel and there was plenty but it was sopping wet and out, with the exception of about a six inch circle right in the center of the charcoal ring. Decision time. The IT of the butt was 161, which was exactly where it was when we left. By this time the sky had cleared so I decided to gut it out. Pulled the roast out and placed on table. Pulled the top and midsection off. Pulled the charcoal grate out of the base and disposed of the wet ring of charcoal around the center and also emptied two inches of water from the base. Rinsed and dried the base and reassembled the smoker and placed the new charcoal on the still hot coals in the center. Looked at the butt and it had kind of gray hue to it. Felt like tossing it but didn't. Patted it off with paper towels and spritzed it with apple juice. Back on and was off and running. About two hours later the meat IT was up to 180.....and I'll be dipped if another cell didn't move through. Rain coming down in buckets and the wind back too with a vengeance. Full disclosure here...... I pulled the damn thing and finished in the oven, a first for me. Just took a few pic's of this debacle.

Rubbed down.

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Steam from the still wet smoker. Got it rolling again.

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When the second storm hit, gave up and pulled it.

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Gave it a very brief rest and then pulled the meat. My plan had been to give it a nice rest wrapped and in the cooler for an hour or two and then pulling it. But getting out of bed again at midnight wasn't going to happen. My day had been long enough as it was.

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Thanks for hanging in there with me on this post. Thanks for the look as well. I'll so some sammies later in the week.
 
Happens to the best of us!

Nice looking butt! Glad to see that the Whirlpool gold came to save the day!
 
Wow! When it rains it pours is very true in your case. Looks like you were able to save it. I've had some bad experiences with wind but not any rain problems, basically if there is even slight hint that it could rain I'll use the E320 gasser on the covered patio if I elect to cook outside at all.
 
Looks like the results were good! There was a point in time we had a drought in our area. Somehow miraculously there was a major downpoor anytime I cooked outside. I was thinking the city should have kept me supplied with meat to end the drought!
 

 

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