How to pull the pork

[Paul Brown]

Are there any videos out there showing the best/easiest way to pull the meat off the butt when finished smoking?
Thanks,
Paul B

 

[Jeff R]

Never looked for a video. If it is hot, two big forks will work. If it has cooled, just put on two latex gloves, tell it to cough, and dig in with your hands.

I prefer to do it by hand when I can because I can pick out any fat that needs to be discarded and I end up with cleaner meat.

 

[Paul K]

Welcome Paul,

It's pretty basic. You can use your hands only, or ordinary forks, or special tools such as Bear Paws. Since the meat is so tender, it will pull apart very easily regardless of tools and technique used. While this video is somewhat long, if you forward to about 6 minutes into it, you'll see the basic technique that most use.

Paul

 

[Dave Russell]

Below is a youtube video of Chris Lilly, of Big Bob Gibson's BBQ fame, a very successful restaurant and competition bbq team out of Decatur Alabama. Don't focus so much on his chopping technique, which although speedy for several butts at once is quiet messy in a kitchen. Instead though, focus on how soft DONE and tender pork butts are. They came right off the pit and didn't rest in foil for a long time, either.

I cook to the same tenderness and when I'm ready to pull I'll put surgical gloves on over knit gloves. I then take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the butt right down the middle against the grain. If EVENLY cooked to tenderness that'll practically make the butt "pull" itself, but I then simply make sure all the chunks are no larger than thumb sized or so and remove any gristle or large pieces of fat.

"Pulled" doesn't mean shredded. The chopped method of Chris Lilly is simply quick and great showmanship. The more time you take babying the meat the more it dries out, just like with anything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8M6KOkyw8

 

[Sean H]

Originally posted by Jeff R:
Never looked for a video. If it is hot, two big forks will work. If it has cooled, just put on two latex gloves, tell it to cough, and dig in with your hands.

I prefer to do it by hand when I can because I can pick out any fat that needs to be discarded and I end up with cleaner meat.

I like to pick the fat out too. It gets discarded in my belly.

 

[Dave Russell]

Originally posted by Sean H:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff R:
Never looked for a video. If it is hot, two big forks will work. If it has cooled, just put on two latex gloves, tell it to cough, and dig in with your hands.

I prefer to do it by hand when I can because I can pick out any fat that needs to be discarded and I end up with cleaner meat.

I like to pick the fat out too. It gets discarded in my belly.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dean, I love how Gary Wiviott calls fat, "Mrs White" and bark, "Mr. Brown". Nothing should go in the trash but the bone, unrendered fat cap, a piece of gristle or two, and ONLY the very largest pieces of fat that are simply to big to hide in all the heavenly porkiness.

 

[Tim Y]

I use these gloves and dig in:
http://www.texasbbqrub.com/bbqgloves.htm
They stink to high heaven at first, but I really like them.

 

[Stefan B]

I also use the same gloves as Tim Y.

 

[j biesinger]

I tend to remove anything other than muscle. I start by separating the butt along the natural seems trying to keep the muscles intact. Once they're cool enough to handle, I scrape away the outside membrane and break the meat into pieces.

I realize the popular method is to leave all the fat and connective tissue in the mix, but I prefer a cleaner product.

 

[John Solak]

Insulated rubber gloves is the ticket. Being able to use your hands makes for quick and easy work.

 

[Russ Sylvester]

Ok, I've tried this and believe it or not it actually works.

Pull the bone out. Put the whole butt into a zip-lock bag, get most of the air out, and zip it up.

Start punching. That's right, punch that bag with your fist. Watch the pork as it breaks up to get the level of 'pull' that you want. When you get where you want it to be, unzip and dump it out. Go through and remove all the fat pieces. The fat won't break up so it's very easy to see.

Serve it up!

I swear this works.

Russ

 

[Tim Quon]

I use a pair of white cotton utility gloves (for insulation) then I use latex gloves over these. Works great!

 

[Dave Russell]

Me too, Tim. You get much more dexterity with the layered thin glove approach. I only use my thick "bbq gloves" for rotating/turning and pulling meat off of the grate.

 

[Jerry N.]

Originally posted by Tim Quon:
I use a pair of white cotton utility gloves (for insulation) then I use latex gloves over these. Works great!

That's how I do it! Plus I have a knife handy to do a little chopping as necessary (which isn't much). The meat breaks up, but I'm particular about cleaning out the fat. You have to do that by hand.