A pulled pork cook one step at a time


 
C

Charles H.

TVWBB Super Fan
9 1/2 pound pork shoulder with my rub.
After reading many different pork rub recipes I made my own on the fly.
Each ingredient is sprinkled on by eye until it looks about right in the order listed.
Kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, sugar, brown sugar, black pepper, paprika.


Pork shoulder initial rub by chashint1, on Flickr

The charcoal ring.


Full ring 1 by chashint1, on Flickr


Full ring 2 by chashint1, on Flickr

The chimney.


Chimney by chashint1, on Flickr

The shoulder right before it went into the WSM.


Pork shoulder rested rub by chashint1, on Flickr
 
The meat went into the WSM at 6:00 pm and the temperature on the grate was 162 degrees.
At 7:00 the temperature was 208 and at 7:30 it was 235.
It is 8:55 now and the grate temperature is 239.

I plan to cook a naked fatty in the morning for breakfast.
When I crack the WSM open to put in the fatty I will post some more pictures.
 
I love live update posts.

I picked up some maple bob Evans sausage to try my first fatty here, soon.

Keep us posted...don't forget the pics...
 
The WSM is chugging along at 234 degrees.
With any luck there is not going to be anything to do (except sleep) until morning.
 
Had to get up at 2:00 to make a pitstop so checked the Maverick while I was up.
Grate temp 226, meat temp 169.

Got up at 6:00.
Grate temp 199, meat temp 169.

Put the fatty on and adjusted the intake to ~1/4 open (other two intakes fully closed).
At 6:30 the grate temp is 230 degrees.

It's to dark for a picture, but the pork shoulder looked a little bit like a meteorite.
I had to scoot it over a little for the fatty and it felt like it was cooking good.

I am monitoring the IT of the fatty too, when it's ready I will get a picture when I pull it.

Edit here...
8:15, WSM running at 234 degrees, meat temperature 174, fatty temperature 147.
Everything is great.
I am hungry and want to speed up the fatty so I just opened the the intake to 100%.
The grate temperature is up to 244 and climbing, that fatty should get ready a lot quicker now.
 
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These pictures are taken around 10:00.
The Weber thermometer is the fatty probe, and the Maverick is displaying the grate probe.
After I opened two intakes 100% to get the fatty finished up the WSM achieved 277, the cook started yesterday at 6:00 when I poured a full chimney of lit briquettes into the center of a fully loaded fire ring.
Amazing the cooker is still running strong 16 hours later.


WSM temp at 16 hours by chashint1, on Flickr


There was no peeking until the fatty went in at 6:00 am.
At 10:00 this is what I have.
The shoulder needs a little more time but it's real close.


Pork shoulder 16 hours in by chashint1, on Flickr


Breakfast fatty, next time I will pull as soon as it hits 160.
I was afraid 160 might not be done enough for me, but now that I have cooked one I am sure 160 will be just right.


First breakfast fatty by chashint1, on Flickr

And finally the shoulder is ready to be wrapped and put in the cooler.


Ready to go into the cooler 11-15-14 by chashint1, on Flickr
 
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Once the feeding frenzy starts there won't be time for anymore pictures.
I plan to sprinkle the pulled pork with some rub I buy at Baker's Ribs BBQ joint if I think it needs any additional seasoning.
For sweet BBQ sauce there will be KC Masterpiece Original and Carolina Gold (mustard based sauce I made from a recipe on Amazing Ribs website). There will also be some Baker's Ribs house sauce, which is a real nice red BBQ sauce that is not sweet nor too vinegary.
The side dishes will be beans, cauliflower and maybe broccoli.
I doctor up Bush's Original Baked beans with crisp bacon, chopped onion, green pepper, brown sugar, BBQ sauce, catsup, and mustard cooked until the liquid is reduced.
If I didn't over smoke the pork it should be a great feast.

Thanks to all for looking.
 
The good news is the pulled pork was very good, and more good news is ... I think I can make it better.
The things that were great:
Tenderness was spot on.
Moistness also spot on.
The meat pulled apart easily in long strands, it was pretty cool and now I want some bear claws.

Things that can be improved:
Reduce smokiness, or use different smoke wood.
Change the texture of the bark, make it soft and tender like the meat.
Get more salt penetration into the center of the meat.

I will use cherry the next time to change the smoke profile.
I will inject the meat with salted apple juice to see if that gives it the flavor boost I am looking for, it doesn't need much but it needs a little something.
While I really like a crisp significant bark on brisket and think it adds flavor and character, I didn't prefer it for the pulled pork. There was all this tender meat and strewn through it was chunks/strips of tougher more chewy extra smoky bark. I will wrap it in foil next time so the bark is steamed soft and will be more similar to the meat, wrapping it will also limit smoke exposure.

I hope this does not make it sound like the cook turned out poorly, the meat was very good, I tend to nitpick myself and look towards the next cook while I am chowing down on a giant pile of pork wedged into the overmatched bun.
 
Looked dang good to me. I prefer light smoke flavoring most my cooks rarely smoke more than the first couple hours of the cook
 
Oh man, that chewy bark mixed in is the best part! We dig through it and fight over it! ;)

I will agree, I love the flavor of the bark but it needs something (besides smothering it in BBQ sauce to give it flavor) like you said, inject small amounts of dissolved salt or something. Wonder if doing salt injections would give it pockets of too much salt or wonder if it would evenly distribute itself?

Thanks for sharing!
 
Jeff Holmes said:
Oh man, that chewy bark mixed in is the best part! We dig through it and fight over it! ;)

I will agree, I love the flavor of the bark but it needs something (besides smothering it in BBQ sauce to give it flavor) like you said, inject small amounts of dissolved salt or something. Wonder if doing salt injections would give it pockets of too much salt or wonder if it would evenly distribute itself?

Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

Hummm now I have something else to worry about. :)
 
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