first time pulled pork


 
M

M Krulee

TVWBB Member
hi all - i need some advice....

i'm doing my first pulled pork tonight - also my first overnight cook. I bought an 11 lb bone in pork shoulder "picnic roast" at walmart -didn't look closely enough at the store so i missed that! duh!!. i get home, pull it out of the package and notice it has a thick layer of skin on one side. so...i went ahead and coated with oil and put on my rub..but i'm wondering do i need to cut that off before it hits the WSM tonight? or can i just put it skin side down and let 'er rip? help...any suggestions??
 
I think you were looking to get a bone in Boston Butt. Your gonna want to trim that fat off and reapply the rub. The smoke will not penetrate the meat through the fat. The picnic has a lot of bone to it. The Boston Butt is rectangular in shape. Did you get the whole picnic or just the lower part? If you got the whole picnic the Boston Butt is located at the end, you will see a a thin blade of bone on that end where as the picnic has a round bone.
 
Yes, remove the skin and most fat underneath it. Skip the oil. Reapply the rub. Expect a long cook. Run the temps a bit higher to shorten it a bit.
 
ok - thats what i thought. i probably can't get all the fat off but i can trim it pretty close. thanks guys!!
 
ok guys - need more advice. the meat went on at about 10 last night. i stayed up till about midnight to make sure temps were steady (about 240) and the off to bed. got up this morning at 6 (Ca) and checked on the pork - what a wonderful smell first thing in the AM - and my temps were at 185. i was a bit surprised as i thought about 12-14 hours on this cook for 11.5 lbr with a big bone. i did the fork check and it just shreds up nicely - also gave a bone a nice wiggle and it seems to move easily too. so here i am at 6:30 am with my pork done - but we're not eating till mid afternoon. i've got it wrapped in foil in a cooler with towels but it won't stay warm for 8 hours - i think. any suggestions as to how to handle this? here are some pics of before and after....

first pulled port
 
Ive had this happen once to me too. I wrapped up some brick pavers in foil and heated them up on my gas grill (an hour or so) and then put them in the cooler with the pork. I did have a layer of towels between the pork and pavers.
 
M, I have been in that situation myself. I am not sayin' that the meat won't hold in the safe zone for 8hrs, but if you decide it won't and I probably wouldn't hold that long either, I would make an ice bath deep enough to hold the meat in a container. Don't let the meat get wet, rapidly cool the meat to the safe zone and put in fridge. Since the meat is fall apart already this shouldn't take too long. Oh, don't put the meat in a cooler on the floor if you have a dog, like I did. Reheat meat to serving temp later and all will be well.

Mark
 
mk - any suggestion on how best to reheat it? i'm guessing i will wait a couple of hours (watching temps) and then pull it. i just don't want to dry it out later...
 
Don't forget to take more pics and let us know how it all came out. Kevin, is the master round here. Always has GOOD advice.

Mark
 
I leave the fat cap on and place cap down on the grate. I used to trim butts but have learned that you dont have to. There is a thin layer of meat betwen the cap and the butt that I love the most. Its my hidden treasure.
 
I don't trim butts either. Picnics, as in the OP (which I also cook, but don't 'barbecue'), I do.
 
Because if I am making pulled or sliced Q'd pork I much prefer the texture of butts. I use picnics for pernil and a couple other things. Other than for those though I don't buy picnics. (Actually, I don't buy them at all. If I have pigs off the slaughter I'll make pernil or something else with the picnics. I don't ever purchase them.)
 
Nah. They're everywhere. I don't shop at warehouse stores so I don't know their labeling. They're probably just labeled differently. Many members here buy butts at Costco. Apparently they only sell them boneless, but that's no big deal.

'Picnic' is always the arm. Butts can be labeled 'butt', 'Boston butt', 'shoulder', 'shoulder roast', among other names.
 
Outside of the WF in Tulsa, Okla is not a good place for food (not a good place for many things, actually). Very hit-and-miss. I've yet to find decent pork at retail or, better, a pork farmer (I've not had time to research the latter fully).

Supposedly WF is building in OKC. That would be good.

Weather supposed to be crummy this week. I'm in Houston at the moment, but headed to Fla.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top